Beliefs: Your Strongest And Weakest Suit - Grasshopper

It may be hard to believe but our beliefs strengthen our resolve and weaken our ability to learn.

Think about something you firmly believe in. Now imagine someone is putting forth an argument to the contrary. Do you even listen? Of course you don’t because you believe they obviously don’t know what they’re talking about.

 

Our beliefs can spur us on to new vistas or they can be roadblocks to see our way forward. That’s the two-edged sword known as belief.

 

We are believing beings and that’s not going to end in this lifetime. What to do to get the most out of what we believe to be true?

 

Start noticing our beliefs rather than just having them run in the background. Noticing brings them out into the light of day where we can inspect more fully that which we take for gospel truth.

 

Stop arguing for beliefs that you can’t prove. That doesn’t mean to give up the belief, just stop jamming it down someone’s throat when you can’t validate it for yourself.

 

These two steps - noticing and ceasing argument give your beliefs the opportunity to update themselves rather than having them date you.

 

As absurd as this sounds, I’d bet that some people at one time thought the gum disease known as pyorrhea was hereditary. Then came along this goofy person who advocated ways of stimulating your gums and flossing your teeth. “How absurd, my mother had it, my grandmother had it and now I have it, just the luck of the genes. Nothing you can do about it except die toothless.”

 

As The Grasshopper wrote many moons ago, “A belief is a pattern of thought that has become so automated that we don’t recognize it as a thought anymore. It’s a solid chunk of iced thought that freezes our behavior in place.”

 

You’ll listen to other viewpoints more carefully when you’re not formulating a counter-argument and you may actually learn something new.

 

You can turn a weakness into strength by starting and stopping. Start noticing your unsubstantiated beliefs and stop arguing for them. It’s a two-step process that strengthens your weakest suit.

 

All the best,

John