It is a very popular belief right now that; beliefs are thoughts that you have often. I know a number of supposed mental experts and self-help gurus that are trying to explain belief systems in this way. They’re basically saying that a belief is essentially anything that you think about all the time. This unfortunately is not a correct definition of ‘belief systems’ and it is a definition that can get you into some trouble.

I do not write this article trying to argue or to belittle the theories of others, but I do write it because I am very concerned about those people that are trying to make a positive change in their lives but are given information that can actually cause them more trouble than help. If you are one of those people or you are someone that is now trying to use positive mental power to change your reality, I want to explain to you what belief systems are in a more clear fashion. But perhaps it is far more important that I first tell you that thinking that beliefs are merely thoughts that you have often is incorrect and detrimental to any mental work that you might attempt.

Let me give you an example so that you have a clear idea of what I’m trying to say; let’s say that you have an underlying belief that human nature is essentially evil. Now this belief might not be as odd as you might think, for example there is the belief in Christianity of original sin which can presuppose that the natural human inclination is evil. Also those that believe in human evolution can believe that humanity is essentially evil in nature because evolutionists and scientists would presuppose that we have evolved from apes and by studying our closest relatives we know that many of their actions would seem quite evil from our civilized perspective. There is also a hierarchy here that is established by the evolutionists where many actions are considered primitive while others are considered more evolved and as such most human action is then seen as essentially evil or primitive.

So we have a person that has the belief that human nature is essentially evil. This kind of belief would have a person believe that most interactions with others can be quite dangerous. This person would try to protect him or herself from what he perceives, through his beliefs, to be a world full of people that are out to get him in one way or another. This person would probably have many thoughts where he would see others being confrontational with him, he would see terrible driving when he is on the road, he would have thoughts of protecting his family and his possessions from the evil of others. He would have many thoughts that would involve aggression and protection. But none of these thoughts would essentially tell him very much about the underlying belief that causes him to have these thoughts.

If this person were to try to attempt some of the current ideas on mental expansion, he would believe that he would need to turn every single one of these negative thoughts into a positive one. Whenever he felt what he perceived to be aggression from others, he would try to change that feeling into a feeling of someone being good to him for example. He would try to send those that drive terribly, love from his heart, and he might try to wear a happy face when really he is quite scared and perhaps angry. He would try to be politically correct and tell himself that he’s a bad person because he thinks these thoughts. After unsuccessfully trying to control all these negative thoughts, this person might even end up creating a type of psychosis where he believes that he is being pummeled by thoughts from outside of his own mind, that perhaps these thoughts are coming from somewhere else and he is being attacked by an evil force.

By believing that his beliefs are just thoughts that he has often, he will then try to change these individual thoughts one at a time without much success. It will feel very much like someone trying to stop a gushing pipe with just his hands. He covers one hole but then water starts coming out from another area, he covers that area but then another leak sprouts out; he is never able to stop the flow of water/negative thoughts. And these negative thoughts will never stop because he is not addressing the one thing that he needs to address which is his belief.

As you can imagine from the above example, this particular person would end up actually hurting himself using these methods instead of helping himself. It is perhaps the case that the gurus that expound the idea that a belief is just thoughts that you think about often, are just not explaining themselves properly. I will not accuse anyone of anything but I believe it is my moral imperative to clarify the definition of belief systems so that people do not end up hurting themselves trying to accomplish something that is essentially impossible.

It is essentially impossible for you to stop these thoughts because you are not changing the belief that is causing these thoughts. If you continue trying to stop every single negative thought, you will create a mental state where you are constantly tense and paranoid of your own mind. This can only last so long before your energy runs out and you either end up feeling like a loser or like you are being attacked by unseen forces from outside your own mind.

If this person that believes that human nature is essentially evil, would instead begin to question his own personal beliefs, he would find it far easier to stop all those negative thoughts that he is now having. In order to do this all you need to do is to ask yourself ‘why’ you are having the thoughts or emotions that you are now currently having. Just about every single thought and emotion that you have is caused by a certain belief. If you ask yourself ‘why’ you are having these thoughts or emotions, you will discover the belief that is causing them.
For example; let’s say that our friend sees a man walking towards him down the street and as he sees this man he becomes very uptight and has the desire to run away or to fight this individual. Perhaps our friend has thoughts of this man pulling out a gun or a knife, perhaps he has thoughts about the person’s race or perhaps he even has a thought about installing some kind of security system in his house. When our friend is having this thought, if he has the time at the moment, he should ask himself ‘why’ he is having this thought or emotion. He might get a rather obvious answer like, well this man is threatening and he is not from my race. If our friend asks himself again why he believes that this man is threatening and why he believes that another race is threatening, he will then discover something else about what he believes. In this way our friend can continue questioning himself until he finds an underlying belief that might be able to account for all of those certain beliefs that he had up to the final thought; I should run away or punch this guy face.

Belief systems can be quite complex but they are not a hidden menace that you cannot discover on your own. All you have to do is take the time to question yourself and ask yourself ‘why’ you are having the thoughts or emotions that you are now experiencing. Continue to question your beliefs until you identify the underlying belief that is causing all your negative thoughts and emotions. In this way you will be able to stop all the negative thoughts and emotions that you are now having and you will not feel like you are trying to stop a giant wall of water with a sieve.

A belief system then is the type of structure that you create, and on this structure you create your reality through your thoughts; especially emotionally charged thoughts. Your beliefs are not the thoughts that you have often, your beliefs are the underlying structures that cause you to have certain thoughts often. Anyone that tells you otherwise does not know very much about human consciousness or they are not explaining themselves properly and should make it a point to do so because this is an incredibly crucial point if you are wanting to create your own reality by controlling your thoughts.

I have written other articles where I show you how to change these beliefs.In this article you will realize, that changing a belief is not a difficult thing. Now I am not try to tell you what you should and should not believe, there might be a very good reason why you believe that human nature is evil, and it’s not up to me to tell you whether your beliefs are right or wrong. Nor do I think it’s up to anyone to tell you whether these beliefs are right or wrong. I think that you should discover your own beliefs and that you should question these beliefs and decide for yourself whether these are the type of beliefs that you wish to have. If you do not like them or you do not think that they are constructive for you right now, change them. The choice is yours, you are far more powerful than you think.