On Choosing Beliefs

Most people have no idea how powerful their beliefs are. None at all. And they have no idea they've been programmed. Yes, "programmed" is a strong word, but at the end of the day, I have to call a duck a duck. And our society is full of rigid beliefs that serve the purpose of keeping our ideas small and create broken horses of us so that we keep our sights low.

On Thanksgiving I was having dinner with my family, which includes my mother, sister, their partners, two of my three children, and my nieces and nephews. Sometimes I toss my two cents around freely, and other times I just watch. This time I watched. The subject of homeopathy came up, which is A's (my brother-in-law) soapbox subject currently. He gave his talk and related what he read "debunking" homeopathy and how a person might be harmed by using homeopathy instead of western medicine. Really? And who says that western medicine is the one true way, and who says that belief in a treatment is not the main ingredient in any treatment? Now I understand A's argument that some dilutions are so dilute that the solution cannot even have a molecule of whatever it's a solution of, but why not take the criticism of homeopathy and see if allopathic medicine can withstand the same scrutiny. We as a society give it credibility beyond what's it's earned because we are taught that it's the real thing, and that the action of the medicine is biochemical, therefore scientific and credible. Studies prove. (Never mind that my statistician friend was fired for refusing to alter statistics that the city of Los Angeles didn't approve of.)

The conversation expanded to include other "shams", like a psychic communicating with your relatives on the other side. I do believe this can be faked, and I also believe that it can be genuine. A summed up the critique with "some people don't want to believe that when they die, they're gone." So this made me think. Really. Well, some people don't want to believe that we don't know what happens when we die, and that it is quite plausible that we as spirits do continue to exist. And then I wondered why people find safety in the idea that we're gone when we die. Our beliefs serve purposes.

Later my mother, my son Pa and I were talking about racism. I explained to my 18 year old white male straight able-bodied child that he was at the top of the privilege ladder, and therefore racism, sexism, and able-ism were invisible to him. He'd have to trust those who experience these things to teach him their impact. My mother agreed. She then went on to insist that racism was a part of our nature. Hating others is human nature. It's a fact. She insists, my son nods. Whoooooa, pony!!!!!! What is this "human nature" crap? Who is telling us hate and violence are human nature, and what is their agenda with that? But it happens all over the world they say. The history books describe this throughout recorded history. Double whooooa!! Where did they get the idea that "history" is an accurate record of what has happened? And that science is unbiased? Egyptologists have been terrible about sweeping under the rug any information or ideas that threatened the already chosen story. (See Graham Hancock's Fingerprints of the Gods for multiple examples.)

I believe it is human nature to love one another. I believe kindness is our nature. When I look inside myself I cannot find hate. I don't struggle with my violent human nature. I haven't "overcome" my hate and violence, either, as it was never there. I can't prove this any more than my mother can prove that hate and violence are our nature. At this point, it becomes a matter of choosing a belief. I prefer believing that peace and love are our nature because it is in alignment with my vision of what life on earth can be. If we choose it. It is beyond me, really, why some choose to believe that human nature is to be violent and hateful. That belief excuses violence. It excuses hate. And it excuses the violence continuing. Why would any person want that? Who wants to maintain status quo? Now, the international elite benefit from this belief. They who ultimately decide what is science and what is fact, and want the masses to be afraid and fight and hate each other. Those who engage us in war for their profit. Oh, what a shame, but it's human nature. We are taught this is human nature. Text books will support this idea. (My sister has her degree in psychology, and the emphasis in her studies was evolutionary sociology. It's science, ma'am. Just the facts. No, it's programming.) The elite don't want us to dream of peaceful egalitarianism, for what we can dream, we can create. They want us to believe that the way it is now is as good as it gets. They provide science, facts, experiences, statistics, and history to support that belief. And most of us buy it.

Metamucil or Citracel?

No, I'm not posting about my bowels. Not yet.

I had my eyes examined a few days ago for the first time in nearly 15 years. My progressive bifocals will be ready in a week or so. Me. Ms. 20/20 for years. "Oh, shut up" you say. The receipt they gave me says "myopia" and "presbyopia". Myopia I understand. I was wondering what I had signed up for, like, why bring religion into it? I just want to see better. So I looked it up.

Wikipedia:
Presbyopia (Greek word "presbys" (--??--ß??), meaning "old person") is the eye's diminished ability to focus that occurs with aging.

MEANING OLD PERSON.

I was just born a little while ago, and now I'm old. Do I have to trade my jeans in for polyester? Hiking boots for Keds? Do you think my hair would look better with a blue tint?

Yeah, it's a matter of time before I'm blogging about my bowels.

Finally here

I'm Taurus.
That's not an excuse, just my reality. Stubborn, for better or for worse. Sometimes I wait to check something out because it's all the rage, and this was the case with blogs. Now I have one, too!

I like the story of the blind men who explore an elephant, and when they share their observations, they appear in conflict, yet all are accurate. The world is like that. Thoughts and beliefs often appear contradictory, but are true at the same time. In our society, we are taught that linear thinking, linear cause and effect thinking is the one true way to understand the world. I have also learned that pretty much everything I have ever been taught is wrong. This includes the accuracy of linear thinking.

It is my intent in this blog to explore our realities armed with a wide open mind, wild imagination, and faith in the human spirit to be more than we're taught we could ever be.

sal