The Power of Belief...

INTRODUCTION

My perception on the power of belief originated, funnily enough, from watching the Matrix Trilogy. Neo, the lead character who was often referred to as "the One", was expected to be the saviour of humankind from the machines. He would be the one to strike a balance or to let the humans win. The problem for Neo was that he was an ordinary human being like every other human being connected to the Matrix system. What made him so different? Could it have been his intellect with information technology, or his arrogance in his selfishness? Towards the end of the first film, one realises that in fact, what made him different was that the tools were presented to him in a much more provocative manner and because he was strong and self-willed. Morpheus presented to him the tools with which he could become like his fellow leaguemen. When Neo became his equal in physical skill, Neo had to learn to be equal in mental skill to that of Morpheus. Neo's support structure was that he had Faith and Trust from Morpheus because he believed in him without understanding that Faith and Trust, let alone why he had that belief. Morpheus simply believes and trusted that belief because of his Faith. The minute Neo begun having the same beliefs in himself, thus adjusted what he would focus on, he too could trust his beliefs and have Faith in himself. It took the mere belief that "there is no spoon" for Neo to believe that he could in fact do anything he wanted so long as he could look past the apparent barriers.

RELEVANCE

If one applies this to our own lives, one will notice that the barriers of perceived reality are what stops people from being strong willed about their thoughts and personal perceptions. We are surrounded by massive fields of energy, auras, and space. Within that energy, other energies will inevitably find their way mingling into and with ours at some point. We, as individuals, need to learn that "the Universe is like a camera: it copies what we focus on" and thus, if you focus on difficulty, pessimism, lack of self esteem, fears, and pity, the universe will take a picture (because it does not discriminate between your various thoughts and visions) and duplicate it in your life as it interprets this as a request because of your avid intent on focussing on it.

LESSON

This is why I believe that the Power of Belief and Intention are underestimated and are strong with everyone, even if someone believes it lies dormant. The Power is always there - whether one uses it for the good of themselves and inadvertently for others or whether it is used simply as a means to an end without a care as to what repercussions might result from such thoughts, the universe will duplicate them for you. That is why the expression "be careful what you wish for as you might just get it" exists. Often people would take their thoughts, wishes, desires, and dreams in a nonchalant manner without taking into consideration the consequences of their wishes, etc.

RELATIONAL

The power of belief, intention, and perception ties in well with the Law of Attraction: you attract that which you focus on. When I was younger, I would often wake up tired, lethargic and complain of a headache. It became so bad that I would complain of having a headache when it was in fact so mild that it probably would have gone away with time. But because that was what I drew much attention and attraction to, the Universe believed that that was what I wanted. So for 4 years, I had perpetual headaches and occasional migraines. They stopped only after I had surgery because it became so bad that my arteries were stressed beyond painkillers. Nowadays, if I have a headache, I will not dwell on it and instead focus on something else (often something much more fulfilling or positive) and the headache will no longer present itself as a problem.

But this life lesson that I discuss above was not an easy lesson for me to learn. Although it made sense that my beliefs, dreams, intentions, and desires would influence my perceptions and general well-being, I could not get my head around the fact that my perceptions created my world - my perception and understanding of the world. In the same way as the saying goes that you cannot recognizes something in another person unless you, yourself, have that quality or have had that quality, so too is the notion that the mind is a powerful tool in making or breaking your experience of life.

What ties in well with the power of belief, thought, expression, intention, and perception is the notion that one must have Faith and Trust in order to believe. Although, in reality, the opposite is true: because you believe, you will have faith and trust. But it can work both ways. If you have Faith in the Divine Guidance you are receiving from the Universe, and Trust in the truth and sanctity of that Guidance, then your power of belief will increase significantly. The three are mutually exclusive: you cannot simply believe in something without Trust and Faith. And you cannot Trust and have Faith in anything that you do not believe. Belief is not akin to Truth, however. One can acknowledge that something is the truth but not necessarily believe it or believe in it. A clear cut example would be a scientist who might vehemently disagree with everything I have said on a scientific level. He might say that all the above is actually the result of a combination of complex mathematics, energy transformation, and the movement of atoms as a relational comparison between the human body and the atmosphere in which it resides. But, on a mental and spiritual level, that scientist can acknowledge that the human mind does have an element of control over the actions and consequences thereof that result from its processing of information.

CONCLUSION

Having this as a tool in your toolbox as you go through this life will help you in almost every area of your life, especially in your journey to self discovery (a journey which every individual should embark upon). When you have this mentality, you are more able to deal with:

1. the fact that you have good and bad parts of you [the happy parts and the demon parts], and
2. what exactly those good and bad parts are.

Most people who figure out what their demons are will try and suppress them without first accepting that they are part of you and without trying to control it. If those people aren't careful, the thing(s) that you are trying so hard to prevent will reveal itself in rebellion and revenge. It might even begin to control you instead of you controlling it. A bit like civil society, actually: if the government were to let loose every rebellion group into the city without first understanding why they are rebelling (i.e. the cause for which they are fighting), and whether they can manage and control the process of that rebellion,the rebellion has a very high chance of taking over the entire city/country and, through a riot, causing chaos throughout the country. This is very much like your mentality: let the demon loose from it's cage without giving it food or without spending some time with it. Making it feel a little more comfortable will turn it into a ravenous beast with no care in the world but to escape.