None of your beliefs or cultivated thoughts are real. Beliefs are not real because they are changeable, replaceable, reprogrammable; their life span can be limited to a short period or can last lifetimes! What is changeable, therefore, is not real/eternal, but temporary, illusionary and not the truth.
Even your positive beliefs are not real. (We hold on to positive beliefs because they help negotiate life better).
Are Thoughts and Beliefs Permanent?
Ultimately all thoughts/beliefs, when let go of, when cease to be, as is in the process of meditation, allows peace and stillness to be felt. When thoughts arise, the mind is disturbed and stillness is upended. Thoughts are noisy. You strive to return back to calmness.
Thoughts/beliefs are the mind’s creations and not eternal (not real). As spirit beings, you know this and hence you gravitate to what is eternal/permanent , which is peace/stillness. You strive to return to that truth. The truth is, ‘you’ are that stillness. You are not even in that ‘state’ because ‘you’ are ‘that’ itself. You strive to be (in) it, because, as spirit essence, you know what peace is not.
Internal chaos is what you fight, arising in the form of thoughts — this and that. Thoughts and beliefs create conflicting experiences, this and that. In meditation, however, when all phenomena of the mind cease and you become a mere observer, without engaging in any thought form, peace prevails.
Dis-identification
When you identify with thoughts/beliefs, peace is disturbed. (Thoughts constantly thought, solidify as beliefs). Beliefs go on to create certain experiences and experiences, on the other hand, cause certain beliefs to form or reinforce.
Know that none of your experiences are real. As beliefs, they are illusory too. You can change an experience of the past in the mind; for example, by giving a different narration to it. Mind will believe it, if the same story is repeated consistently. You can also create a future experience by repetition of a narration. When the subconscious mind believes it, it will yield as manifestation.
Speaking within this spiritual context, your thoughts/beliefs, therefore, have no identity. They exist to give you experiences. Through experiences you learn. Your learning is for the soul. Body is acquired for the soul’s learning. You don’t have to identify with experiences, thoughts or beliefs. Identification/ attachments cause suffering whether beliefs are negative or positive.
Peace is Seeking You
So, how can one go beyond these tendencies and feel peace? One can be a witness to all phenomena of the mind. Be a neutral observer. A dissociated observer that sees all his/her thoughts, rising and falling as waves, creating (life) experiences and cycles of beliefs and experiences. When you don’t engage, that is, identify with thoughts/beliefs, they eventually die, leaving mind-space free = peace).
Since none of your stories are permanent anyway, it is helpful to abide in positive stories for an experiential learning that doesn’t bring misery.
Stuck beliefs are friction in your inside world, and is projected outside. A positive belief allows movement/flow = learning/ growth. What is not eternal, hence, is a choice made available for humans to change. A thought/ belief can be changed and re-programmed.
Knowing Higher Self
In a state of unhappiness or happiness, stress or peace, ask : “Who is aware of this state?” or “How am I aware of it”? Know that, that awareness is “you” (Pure Consciousness), witnessing all. Only that awareness is real. Rest is illusion/ impermanent on the stage of life and hence, detachment is to be consistently practiced.
Disclaimer: Urmila Rao is an emotional healer and a forgiveness teacher. All the ideas expressed herein are her own, and not professional advice or medical prescription. Her website is: www.karmicwellness.in Email: hellokarmicwellness@gmail.com
