Beliefs are foundational to who we are in the world we live in. They help us define our direction, our focus, our personality, and contribute to how we blend with society.

And even though we got most of our beliefs by accident, through social, cultural and parental conditioning, we act as though we got to where we are independently through our free will. That is a global myth in dire need of debunking.

Notice how we fight for what we believe in. Notice the accent is on fighting and not on the belief and its genesis. We fight for something we got by accident, and in doing so, exclude (make an enemy of) every other person who got different, accidental conditioning.

The exclusionary results range from minor cattiness to major conflagration. Beliefs are at the base.

No matter how noble your belief, it excludes.

Some beliefs work better than others in society as whole, yet no belief is perfect. Every one excludes.

When you examine the roots of your beliefs, you are inevitably going to see the sprouts of right and wrong. And notice, if you are right about something, someone else has to be wrong - exclusion.

Believe it or not, there is a place where beliefs don't exist. It's a place of internal bliss that all forms of religion list in their creed. The interesting thing is they don't tell you that you have to suspend your beliefs to get there.

Have you ever noticed that anyone who wants to convert you to their belief does it ass backwards. The accent is on teaching rather than reaching. What's more powerful, a sermon on the benefits of heaven or an immersion into heavenly peace?

Do you structure lessons on the "yumminess" of ice cream for a child or do you give them a taste? There's little argument on which strategy works quicker.

Here's my belief: I don't believe that our beliefs are going away anytime soon. Some of them are so ingrained that there is no separation in our mind that we and a certain belief are one. It's never the case. There is who we are, and then there are our acquired beliefs.

But rather than preach, I recommend that you reach. Find the mind quieting exercise that works best for you and notice that when you reach your serene place, there is no room for your beliefs. They are non-existent. Also notice that nothing is excluded. It's a place of pure love where all is included. Some call it heaven.

In order to reach this place, you have to suspend your beliefs. That means you have to give up being right or wrong about something, at least temporarily.

The good news is that after each visit, our exclusionary beliefs weaken a bit when we view them through the prism of peace. We become less about the concepts of right and wrong and more about what works.

Lest you think this is just about world peace and global harmony, consider this: No matter what your desires, in order to have the best chance of achieving them, you have to give up the belief that you can't have them.

This is not an intellectual exercise that you need repeated lectures on. This is more about reaching the place where you can dissolve your limiting beliefs so they don't exclude you from reaching your goals.

All the best,

John