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RE: Coffee and Philosophy: Duality
Do we really simply "choose" to see the world this way or that? I believe we are shortchanging people when we make such claims. Our brains develop independent of our opinions, by the time we reach a place where we can "choose", we are already believing other people's beliefs . . .
We also have the ability to stop believing them and relearn things.
Do we? How so? Again, any assumptions we make are already framed by what others have told us. Do we really believe we can reset to zero on a whim? My point is not that we are unable to learn, rather, that what we learn remains forever framed by our past; most of which we have had little if any control over.
You're free to read back over my past several months of blogs where I completely broken down my learned views and behaviors and relearned the world as I want to see it. The only limitations on what's possible is the limitations you believe are possible. If you believe you can't change, you never will without an outside stimulus. The stimulus for me was love. People can change though, I'm proof of that. Even reading my old posts to my new ones are proof that someone with no concept of perspective or self can develop each.
I feel we are talking a bit past one another. I am not suggesting we cannot change, I mean my main premise is that change is the one thing we can count on. What I am suggesting is that our capacity for said change remains limited by our beliefs. William James used to argue that there are "live and dead" beliefs. Only those beliefs we have access to can be considered "live", that vast majority of beliefs remain forever beyond our scope.
Now this says nothing about the quality of any given belief--the belief's "cash value" as James called it--rather, it simply reminds us that we work within the limits of our beliefs. Why does that matter? In some ways it does not, in others is expands our cache of beliefs, and thus, our access to more and more "cash value".
I think steemit is going to like William James ;)
It is not easy to challenge core beliefs. You are right, they are developed over time, and are our automatic, unconscious response, much like an emotional reflex.
But they can be identified with effort and determination, and challenged.
I think for me mood plays a major role in whether they gain traction again or not.
We will probably carry them with us through life, but coupled with a dedication to balance insight and allowing yourself permission to let them revisit conditionally, it is possible to gain strength from the very things that once limited us.
The reflex perhaps is automatic, but with the work a secondary thought process can assist in limiting how much they effect self concept.
Not easy, not something I have mastered. But identifying them and understanding their development does help.