Beyond Beliefs

How To Be Free From Views And Words


Beyond Beliefs. How To Be Free From Views And Words. Collage of monks praying.

Beyond Beliefs?

What does beyond beliefs mean? The traditional meaning of the phrase beyond belief is to describe something as so incredible that it is impossible to believe that it is true.

However, there is another meaning that places greater emphasis on the word beyond, and that is to suggest something that is the other side of belief. Or, in other words, something that transcends belief, and this is the meaning that I am ascribing to the phrase in this short article.






Belief Definition

A definition of belief is something that we accept and believe to be true, but that is not necessarily something that can be proven to be true.

Correct beliefs and polarised positions

In the field of religious beliefs there has been much argument, conflict and suffering over "correct" beliefs, or orthodoxy throughout history.

Correct beliefs and core doctrines are reinforced with public declarations of belief in credes and propositional statements of faith such as the Nicean crede.

This is not limited to religion but applies to political beliefs and societal beliefs such as those about gender and sexuality, "woke" beliefs about social equality, beliefs to do with political correctness and so on.

Then there is the tribalism of political beliefs such as Democrats vs. Republicans in the US and Conservatives v. Labour in the UK, and the tribalism of pressure groups such as the American NRA with their staunch defence of Americans' inalienable rights to bear arms.






Beyond Beliefs - The Suffering Inflicted On Those Who Do Not Agree

The suffering inflicted on the "others", those not like me, non-believers and heretics

Over the past century, countless millions have been killed and genocides have been committed in the name of various political beliefs: the Maoist and Stalinist purges, the killing fields of Cambodia, Armenia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, the thousands of lynchings by the Klu Klux Klan in the southern States of the US.

In previous centuries the religious persecution by state supported majorities over non believing minorities such the persecution of the Cathars by the Catholic church and the burning of Catholics by Protestants and vice versa.

The list is endless, and in all cases:

Believing themselves to be right, clinging to their beliefs, to the point of killing to defend their view of the rightness of their position.






Beyond Beliefs To Balance

The Buddha had something to say about clinging to views, opinions & beliefs.

Non-attachment to things, people and concepts due to their impermanence is a fundamental Dhamma teaching.

The Buddha offered guidance on how we should handle beliefs in the Alagaddupama Sutta: The Water-Snake Simile which he follows with the simile of the raft.

The essence of the teaching is that we should grasp or hold onto the Dhamma [belief] as though it was a raft taking us across a river, our grip on the raft is analogous to holding a water snake properly so that it can not bite you, and to be let go on reaching the safety of the further shore. Thus:

The teachings, the beliefs, are there to serve a purpose and to be released when that purpose is served.

A teaching, a belief, is presented as a guidance whereas as, conventionally, a belief is presented as an immutable certainty.

This video provides a useful explanation of the Buddha's teaching on clinging to views. (If you scroll down and read the comments by "Oxcb" on 19 Oct 2017 he/she observes that in his introductory comments the presenter unintentionally sets the viewer up to form an attachment and a liking for the perspective he is offering!)






The Erroneous View That Thought Can Encapsulate Reality Or Truth

Eckhart Tolle has said that:

"Dogmas – religious, political, scientific – arise out of the erroneous belief that thought can encapsulate reality or the truth.

Dogmas are collective conceptual prisons. And the strange things is that people love their prison cells because they give them a sense of security and a false sense of 'I know'.

Nothing has inflicted more suffering on humanity than its dogmas.

It is true that every dogma crumbles sooner or later, because reality will eventually disclose its falseness; however, unless the basic delusion of it is seen for what it is, it will be replaced by others.

What is the basic delusion? Identification with thought."






Beyond Beliefs - The Limitations Of Language

In "Lost For Words" we discussed how:

- The limitations of language and how the very structure of our language causes us to identify with "my view" and reinforces the sense that our concept of what is real is real, when it isn’t.

- The concepts we employ, the categorizations we apply and the words we choose and use to articulate a direct experience put us in a double bind, because for all that we gain by being able to speak about an experience we lose an equal if not greater amount of the full meaning of that experience by the very process of speaking it.

- There is always a context, and framing, in our choice and use of words. For example, what I mean to say to you in this article and what you hear may not be the same thing!

We concluded that:

"Families and societies have been divided, countless wars have been fought, millions of lives have been lost, over the meaning and interpretation of words."

If we shift our focus to the meaning that lies behind or beyond the words – the meaning that transcends the words – the meaning that can only be fully grasped by experiencing it – then everything changes and divisions and barriers evaporate as we move beyond belief.






Thich Nhat Hanh - Beyond Beliefs

guided mindfulness meditation,guided meditation,"You don’t need to be Buddhist in order to think with understanding and love.

You don’t need to be Buddhist in order to say something nice, full of compassion.

So we say that the five mindfulness trainings are global ethics, for Buddhists and non-Buddhists.

The mindfulness practices are very concrete.

You cannot talk about them; you have to live them."



    "When you get free from views and words, reality reveals itself to you and that is Nirvana."

    Thich Nhat Hanh






Free Download: One Page Summary Sheet With Action Points & Resources

Return from "Beyond Beliefs" to: What Is Spirituality?





English Chinese (Traditional) Russian French German Italian Spanish Vietnamese



LATEST ARTICLES

  1. Like A Prayer - Life Is A Mystery

    It Isn't The Process Of Prayer That’s The Problem, It’s The Way It’s Framed. Regardless of what we feel about Madonna or her song the topic of prayer often arouses strong reactions. Usually, it is som…

    Read More

  2. How Things Really Are - The Inbuilt Design Flaws

    Chaos, Disorder And Decay Is The Natural Order Of Things. Nobody has the perfect life. We all struggle and strive to attain health, wealth and personal happiness. Yet these three big areas: our health…

    Read More

  3. Intuition Or Anxiety - Are There Angels Or Devils Crawling Here?

    How To Tell The Difference Between Intuition and Anxiety. How do you know whether the voice of your intuition is real or just the product of your inner anxiety? Several months ago I was having a drink…

    Read More

  4. What Is Truth - How To Tell A Partial Truth From The Whole Truth?

    How the truth and nothing but the truth is often not the whole truth. My great aunty Flo broke her arm and died. It is true that she broke her arm in 1923. It is also true that she died in 1949. But t…

    Read More

  5. Duality And Life Beyond Your Thinking Mind

    Duality and life beyond your thinking mind focuses on the limitations of time, foreground and background, duality and "stuckness". The first aspect of duality and life beyond your thinking mind focuse…

    Read More

  6. The Conscious Mind Is Limited - Be Aware And Be Prepared

    Being aware is the first stage of being prepared. The conscious mind is limited in so many ways. There are some who would argue that there is no such thing as conscious thought and that it is represen…

    Read More

  7. Your Inner Map Of Reality - Here's Why You Think The Way You Do

    The big picture of how your inner map of reality creates your feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. Your inner map of reality is based on the filters of your own ethnic, national, social, family and rel…

    Read More

  8. The Failure Of Cancel Culture - Suppression Not Engagement

    Why we need to wear our beliefs lightly and develop negative capability. Throughout history people have campaigned to fight beliefs, ideologies, and injustices that they perceived to be oppressive, di…

    Read More

  9. 4 Big Reasons Why We Get Stuck In Our Attempts At Personal Change

    Most People Spend Their Entire Life Imprisoned Within The Confines Of Their Own Thoughts. This first of the 4 big reasons why we get stuck is, in my view, the most important. The "self-help industry…

    Read More

  10. How Do I Change And Why Is It So Hard?

    We Would Rather Die Than Change, And We Usually Do In my experience, the vast majority of people who say they want to change don’t change. Most people reading this won’t change because they don’t real…

    Read More

  11. The Illusion Of A Separate Self - Windows 11 With Self Awareness!

    Beyond the content of your mind you are so much more than you think you are. When we talk of "myself" this is the conventional way of referring to our self image which is in fact the ego's constructio…

    Read More

  12. Finite And Infinite Games - Dazed, Confused & Ultimately Transcendent

    This is not an instruction manual, it is a wake up call! Over this past week I have read Professor James Carse's highly regarded "Finite And Infinite Games - A Vision Of Life As Play And Possibility"

    Read More

  13. The Gap And The Gain - How Your Brain Sabotages Your Happiness

    How Your Lizard Brain Sabotages Your Happiness We are hardwired to measure our progress in any and all areas of life where we have goals and aspirations. We can't not do it. But what we measure and ho…

    Read More

  14. How To Wake Up - 4 Simple Practices To Help You Wake Up Now

    So What Exactly Does It Mean to Wake Up - What Is "Enlightenment"? There is nothing magical, mystical or mysterious about waking up we’re actually having glimpses of enlightenment all the time. Enligh…

    Read More

  15. Situational Communication - Different Strokes For Different Folks

    Situational communication is about taking account of 3 often ignored factors about the other person. You are a situational communicator when you recognise that effective communication is not an event…

    Read More

  16. How To Influence Without Authority - 6 Key Tips

    The secret to how to influence without authority is that you get what you really want by giving other people what they really want. We live in an interconnected world and knowing how to influence with…

    Read More

  17. Change Questions To Change Your Outcomes

    Asking The Right Questions Is Critical For A Successful Change. Every time we initiate a significant change - whether in our personal life or in an organisation - we will most likely over-estimate our…

    Read More

  18. Group Culture - The Invisible Software That Rules Your Life

    Group culture is: "How we do things round here". We like to see ourselves as free agents making our own choices and living authentically but the reality is that The Matrix has many layers and we are u…

    Read More

  19. Why Getting From A to B Is Not Aways A Straight Line

    In circumstances of significant change, the progress from A to B will not be in a straight line. We run our lives largely on auto-pilot. In most circumstances your experience of getting from A to B is…

    Read More

  20. The Art Of Persuasion Planning For Success - Here's How To Do It!

    To be successful in the art of persuasion you must ensure that certain things happen. To be successful in the art of persuasion you must establish a framework of what has to happen to get you to that…

    Read More

  21. The Art Of Persuasion Advanced Communication Skills - Gaining Buyin

    Create The Environment Where They Want To Buyin to Your Proposal In order to build the win-win you have to uncover what it is that the other person really wants or needs, and to do that you have to as…

    Read More

  22. The Art Of Persuasion The One Fundamental Principle - Create A Win-Win

    The art of persuasion is based on the simple idea that you get what you want by enabling the other party to get what they want. Being a nice friendly person with good inter-personal skills may be a go…

    Read More

  23. Communication Persuasion And Change - Key Skills To Survive & Succeed

    It's not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but those who are most responsive to change, the most persuasive, and the best communicators. We are living in an age of unprecedented ch…

    Read More

  24. The Eisenhower Box - What Is Important Is Seldom Urgent

    What Is Important Is Seldom Urgent And What Is Urgent Is Seldom Important. The Eisenhower Box is a time management and decision-making model devised by President Dwight Eisenhower to help him prioriti…

    Read More

  25. Zen Enlightenment [Satori] - The Stink Of Zen

    Lost In Our Delusions About Enlightenment. There is something in human nature - a desire to glamorise, sanctify, objectify and idolise – that elevates people who have offered deep insights to the huma…

    Read More

  26. 5 Zen Mindsets For Mastery - In Any Area Of Your Life

    The Wisdom Of A Person Who Masters In Any Art Is Reflected In Their Every Attitude. The state and quality of your mind has a very large bearing on the quality of your performance in any area of life t…

    Read More

  27. Dealing With The Toxicity Of Online Dating - 6 Key Tips From A Clinical Psychologist

    Toxicity Is The Price Tag Of Accessibility. In the early days of online dating, users were vetted and had to go through a registration process and agree to comply with a code of conduct designed to en…

    Read More

  28. Why Understanding Ergodicity Is Critical To Your Long Term Survival

    How Not To Be Fooled By Randomness. Ergodicity is an ugly word from the world of mathematics. It is an umbrella term for two sets of conditions of probability and outcome. These two conditions form th…

    Read More

  29. Dealing With Imposter Syndrome - Ego Is The Enemy

    How You Frame A Situation Has A Profound Impact On How You Respond To It Emotionally. Imposter syndrome is a psycho-emotional experience of a fear of being found out as incompetent despite ongoing evi…

    Read More

  30. The Challenges Of The Road Less Traveled

    Issues You'll Face When Playing The Long Game. The challenges of the road less traveled is loosely based around the phrase popularised by M.Scott Peck with his book "The Road Less Traveled". This arti…

    Read More



Get new posts by email:









Zen-Tools.Net





Support This Site