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Why All Beliefs Are Limiting

Explore past the boundaries of limitation.

By Summer SheehanPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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Reality is defined as "the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them." So how is it decided of what "actually exists"? For argument's sake, we could say reality is backed up by "proof," and proof is made up of "evidence" that is defined as "facts or information indicating whether something is true." So what is true? By definition it is "something in accordance with reality." With that being said, isn't "proof" just an idea that checks out with our current state of reality? And if that is true, our accepted version of reality is only the current most popular belief at any given time. Remember when everyone thought the world was flat? Probably not because you weren't alive, but regardless it was the "accepted reality" in the past, yet it wasn't reality at all. Minds are currently evolving, but in order to make sense of the present moment, we define it in the least complicated way we know how. This is what leads us to form beliefs: an acceptance that something is true or not, or that it does or does not exist.

A limiting belief is commonly known as a conclusion one comes to that doesn't serve them. For instance, if you believe you are poor and are not capable of getting a better job, the belief may limit you from going after anything better than the current circumstance in which you're unhappy in. But what if any and all beliefs were limiting? Once we come to a conclusion, it tells our mind to settle around that understanding, and base future beliefs off of it. At that point we are forming new thoughts off of previous ones, leading us down a path to an entire mindset based around one single past belief. Humans have only been on earth .004% of earths history, so that is a small percentage of time to have all of the answers to say the least. If you think about it, anything and everything we learn in school or from our parents has the chance to be proved wrong in the future. So why would our own personal beliefs be any different?

Growing up I was a picky eater. In order to get my protein, my mom made me eat eggs every single morning before I left the house. At dinner my dad told me to pretend the steak was gum so I would chew and eat it. I grew up with the belief that getting my protein was the most important part of eating meals, and that animal products were the way to do that. Come to find out by the age of 22 that current research "proves" (and also did back then) that 100% of protein originates and forms in plants, therefore recycling through animals. Most animals we eat for protein are herbivores and get all of their protein from plants. So as it turns out, protein deficiency is actually unheard of in any diet yet I never gave it a second thought because that's what I was taught from my parents that were taught the same. Most of our current beliefs are passed down from previous generations that did not have the resources or technology we have today. It makes me think, what do I actually believe in and how much is "accepted reality" versus actual reality?

You could say that the only way anything manmade was able to exist is by the idea of it forming in the first place. Anything physical formed by man was once a lesser version of itself, and if traced back through time was once nothing. Transportation itself has many different forms, and at one point had none. If you could go back in time and tell a hunter and gatherer that in the future there would be grocery stores full of limitless options that are almost instantly accessible, and kitchens full of appliances to create thousands of recipes, they wouldn't be able to fathom what that would look like. This tells me that hundreds of years from now whatever does or does not exist is not even fathomable to our current mind's imagination, and whatever is to be believed is currently not even an idea.

So if anything that exists was once an idea, then nothing new could exist without it first being an idea. If we can see it in our minds, does that mean it can become physical? It is popularly believed that once you take a hallucinogenic drug, you are not perceiving things as true reality. But if you can form a new idea or thought in your head that isn't seen in your regular state, who's to say what is reality and what isn't? If you can think it or see it, wouldn't you say it exists? Even if it is only a thought at the time, who's to say it can't ever exist? It's been said and believed that you cannot dream of something or someone that you haven't seen before in your waking life. If you have the potential to fly in your dream or hallucinate new colors, your mind must be capable of thinking it, meaning it could already exist in the universe or have the potential of becoming in the future.

Awareness can be used like a superpower. Once you have it, everything in your current reality can change. If you are aware of what you are thinking, you can begin to be aware of what you are not thinking. If you are aware of your beliefs, you can begin to see the limits of your mind, and possibly past that boundaries of limitation. Imagine living in between four walls all your life, and just by forming a new thought or letting go of a previous one, a wall falls to the ground and reveals a whole new world you never thought could exist. Your reality is only defined and limited by what you believe, therefore believing in nothing is the only true way to leave room for something brand new.

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About the Creator

Summer Sheehan

I'm just a girl that thinks deeply and analyzes everything. I used to think of this as a fault that lead to my anxiety, before I realized I could just embrace it instead. Welcome to the unleashed and unfiltered mind of @finding_summer.

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