by Denis Glick
Have you ever heard the idea that what we believe creates or attracts our experience?
This isn’t a new idea; so perhaps you have. Spiritual sages and masters throughout the ages have been telling us that our experience is caused by what we are believing. The Course in Miracles teaches this.
Recently, more people are awakening to this idea. We hear many teachers saying or suggesting that our beliefs are the key to the reality we are experiencing. For example, Deepak Chopra’s popular book, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, is largely based on the idea that our beliefs are creating our health, and even the way we age.
Some quantum physicists realized that given the very same testing conditions, different scientists were getting different results. These physicists began to realize that the only variable present was the scientist’s expectation of what the results should be.
And in a recent study on the effectiveness of placebos, researchers found that the principle factor in whether a person got well taking placebos was how much the person believed in the doctor.
So let’s look at beliefs for a moment, especially the transparent kind that we look through without seeing. A transparent belief is one that seems absolutely true for us, without any reservation or doubt.
So how do they work? How do our beliefs create the experience we are having?
Let’s say there is a movie projector, and it emits a constant white light. If the white light were to reach the screen, just as it is, the screen would appear white. But usually it is directed through a film which causes the white light to change to colors and images. Change the film, and we change the image on the screen.
Just as the film filters and changes the projector’s light, what we consider true filters and directs our attention. Instead of changing the film to create a different experience, we can change what we believe. Ultimately, it is our attention that solidifies and brings into our awareness the infinite possibilities we call reality.
Here’s the tricky part. Usually, we are so identified with the experience we are having that it is all we are aware of. We become so absorbed in the action of our lives that we have no awareness that beyond our screen of experience, our own beliefs are orchestrating our lives like the film passing through the projector’s light.
Until we separate ourselves from our experience and view events from the outside, it feels like we are the experience. Just as we do in a good movie, we lose ourselves in the action.
How to step out of the action? This is the secret of Avatar.
Feel the freedom in that.
Sound too easy?
The elegance of the Avatar course is its ability to bring us to a whole new level of experience where we can plainly see that even the opinions we have about change are just our beliefs. And more importantly, we can create new beliefs to make change easy and enjoyable if we wish.
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