There have been volumes written on beliefs, emotions, and emotional states; and many theories
about how they are created – most of which attempt to explain how they work within
psychology, physiology, philosophy, neurology, sociology, endocrinology, and psychotherapy.
The question they all ask is, ‘How do we define a feeling, belief, or emotion? Where and how
does it exist in the brain and what is it?’
In modern science, many of the concepts about emotions and beliefs are, in essence, learning
processes of theoretical speculation, with one idea building on the other. To some psychologists,
a feeling is a subjective experience which is the result of an emotional state. We can view the
result of an emotional state through verbal and physical reactions, but we can’t mechanistically
see how they are formed – except by taking an electroencephalography reading to monitor
brainwaves and, more recently, a CT scan. We can, however, surmise that emotions are sent
through the body by way of chemical and electrical messages via the body’s circulatory and
neurological systems.
Some psychologists propose that our emotional states are essentially biologically driven
responses to social and environmental factors. According to these theories, there are six basic
emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. These basic emotions then blend to form more complex emotions. A good example of this would be feeling anger and disgust at the same time, and these emotions blend to form the feeling of contempt. (Please understand that these concepts are at least, in part, theories about emotions.)
None of this, however, explains why we develop a particular belief, or one has been sent down to
us. Is a belief an emotional state? Where is it in the brain? How is it formed? Why does one
person develop certain beliefs and not another?
One thing seems certain: beliefs are mental objects that are deeply embedded in the brain and
like memories can solidify into positive or negative states. Therefore, the next question is, how
do we recognize our beliefs and how can they be changed if needed? Hatred, prejudice, and
discrimination are but a few examples of negative beliefs that can solidify into something beyond an emotion, although they are also a source of negative emotions, whereas beliefs about prayer, meditation, love, goodwill, and so on have a tendency to create positive emotions and feelings.
Some scientists speculate that beliefs solidify in the same way that memories form in the brain,
but once solidified, how do you change them?
Kathleen Taylor, a neuroscientist at Oxford University says, ‘If you challenge them [beliefs]…
then they are going to weaken slightly. If that is combined with very strong reinforcement of new
beliefs, then you’re going to get a shift in emphasis from one to the other.’
This is one part of our work. We are working directly with the right hemisphere of the brain, so the results to be faster as manifestation in your reality.
The brain works like a biological super-computer, assessing information and responding. How
we respond to an experience depends on the information given to the subconscious, and how it is received and interpreted. When a belief has been accepted as ‘real’ by the mind, it becomes
crystallized as a program and placed into the hard drive of the subconscious. As in computing,
the hard drive of the subconscious ‘acts out’ these beliefs, regardless of whether they are negative or positive.
A program can be for our benefit or become a detriment, depending on what it is and how we
react to it. For example, living with the hidden program of ‘I can’t succeed’ may result in losing
everything, even after years of success, or in self-defeating behaviors; and because the program
is unconscious it continues to be self-sabotaging. These types of programs, which likely formed
in childhood, lie deep in the subconscious mind, waiting for the opportunity to be reasserted into reality.
This is also why, as we learn and grow over our lifetime, many of us find that change and growth
are not our friends. When we are children, experiences teach us change can be painful, even
dangerous. Trauma experienced in childhood – perhaps due to changing schools, divorce, death,
or some other reason – causes a bubble of protection to form around the subconscious, as a way
of insulating us from pain. As we grow older, change and growth (as they are perceived by the
Western mindset) are also perceived as being painful. Events such as losing or changing jobs,
relationship break-ups, or our bodies aging, can also mean our perception of change becomes
progressively more negative. As the subconscious internalizes these learned behaviors – some of
which may not be to our benefit – it knows that there are monsters in the deep, and some of these
behaviors could be painful if they were contacted directly and an attempt made for positive
change – and so the bubble of protection stays in place. The older we become, the more and
more difficult it becomes to make changes that might be painful for us, and so the layers of
protection become thicker and thicker. Belief work is a way of piercing through the layers of the
bubble to the subconscious mind and making change without creating pain.
Belief work empowers us with the ability to remove and replace any negative programs with
positive, beneficial ones through the perception that change can be created through the most
powerful force in the universe, the energy of subatomic particles. How this essence is perceived
is up to the individual. Some people might call this essence ‘God,’ but others might perceive it
scientifically. Either way it gives a focal point for creating tangible change in our lives. In this process a belief, which is both external yet internal, is accepted as more powerful than any other
in our minds.