BELIEF THINKING

After you first begin to think about something, representing whatever you are referring to, you next do belief thinking. Now you are taking something on faith. Yet actually, everything you think is an act of faith. Even in perceiving, you are trusting (believing) in your eyes, ears, skin, etc. and assuming that you are not suffering from a visual illusion or any other kind.

Yet above perception, not only does taking things on faith is the governing principle of human information process, every second thought is a belief. In Neuro-Semantics since 1996 we have identified the structure of a belief as a confirmed thought about your first thought. What I’m here revealing that is new is this: every multi-level thought structurally is a belief. Take any initial thought or idea, then think something else about it. Now you have a second thought— a thought about your first thought. Accordingly, as the second thought accepts the first as given, it thereby creates a belief. It creates one of a great many different kinds of beliefs.

As the second thought reflects on the first thought, it thereby assumes its reality as it brings additional understandings to it. This creates what we call meta-levels— values, identity, decision, understanding, memory, imagination, etc. You may value it. You may permit it. You may remember things that support it. Whatever response you make to the initial thought, the implication is that you are assuming that the first thought is true or real. A decision is a belief about what to chose. A value is a belief about what you think is important. A permission is a belief that the thought is acceptable.

What does this mean? It means that believing is a rich multi-layer thought that includes a primary thought and at least one higher thought. In that way, every belief we create makes our thinking about something richer and fuller conceptually. We can also create a belief system —a system of beliefs in which the next higher belief holds the previous levels in place. When this is fully developed, we construct a concept or philosophy— a philosophical understanding of something— of life, of yourself as a person, of your purpose, of your career, etc.

You can now also realize that believing is what you do with and to your perceptions. Primary thoughts are the data; believing is what you do with that data. Beliefs turn data into what you know, into knowledge—and what you know defines what you can do and how you experience yourself. In believing you enrich your perceptions and as a result, you can thereafter literally see your beliefs in the external world. This also means that everything that in the Meta Place is actually a belief.

Beliefs—because we treat them as true— we then respond to our beliefs as rules to live by, as our governing principles, as explanatory frames about life. What you believe operates as your personal the rules of life that you live by. Every area of life operates by beliefs.

To only or merely think—your consciousness would be a continue stream without ever holding anything in mind. To hold anything in mind, you have to classify it with a second thought. At the first level, thinking is passive. Only at the second level does thinking become active.

By thinking about your thinking —you classify it—give it meaning, to wit, you confirm it as a thought to keep. Saying “yes this thought is...” some meta-level classification, a value, a decision, a memory, a permission, etc. you confirm it as special as something to hang on to. In so keeping your thought, you build up a collection of kept thoughts which then make up your inner world, your map of the world, the way you understand the world.

This also describes your belief hierarchy. At the first level of the hierarchy your belief is conscious. At the second and the levels above it—your beliefs will be mostly unconscious. They reside in your hidden (unconscious) mind. These include every kind of belief: Identity beliefs, cultural beliefs, business beliefs, conceptual beliefs, metaphorical beliefs, philosophical beliefs, explanation belief (understanding), and the list goes on and on.

It’s Beliefs all the Way Up We now know what is inside your mind— beliefs. You are a believer and the beliefs you believe —you determine that. The bottom line: you have two kinds of thoughts. You have primary level thoughts (perceptions) and secondary level thoughts (beliefs). Now the nature of a belief is that it is self-fulfilling. What you believe is basically what you get. Beliefs are self-sealing. To do that your belief relies on the confirmation bias so that what you believe, you will find or invent evidence for it. That normally makes beliefs difficult to change. But now that you know this structure of beliefs (this meta-structure), you have a heads up on several great belief changing techniques.