When people ask you what you believe in, do you immediately go towards political or religious beliefs? For instance, you could say you are pro-life or pro-choice. You could say you believe in high taxes or low taxes. You could also say you believe in God. According to Google, belief is defined thusly: **belief - “an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists” After some recent experiences that I’ve had, I find this definition to be somewhat weak. I feel as though the definition needs to be expanded to encompass something that I can only call “true belief”. I would define it as follows:
true belief - “a belief ingrained in your mind, which can only be changed by external stimuli
Regular beliefs are easy to change. If you do research and convince yourself of something, then you’ve changed your belief. True beliefs are those that you cannot change, no matter how irrational it is, or how much research you’ve done to disprove it. These beliefs are typically connected to the primal emotions of your brain. They’re related to your deepest fears and anxieties. If you believe the plane isn’t going to crash, but you truly believe that it might, you are going to become anxious. If you believe that the relationship is over, but you truly believe that there must be a way, then you’re going to send that last text.
What are examples of true beliefs, then? I believe the next day will come. I believe that my parents and siblings will be alive tomorrow. I believe I will not get into a car accident. I believe I will still have a job. I believe that there is a certain logic and method to the madness of the world. When something happens in your life that doesn’t match your beliefs, then you re-evaluate them. If something happens in your life that doesn’t match your true beliefs, then your reaction becomes much stronger. This distinction between “belief” and “true belief” has led me to the conclusion that there is a little gremlin in my mind that has a sway over true belief, while I’m just a passenger at the controls of my own regular beliefs. Have you ever seen Inside Out? In the movie, our emotions are personified as people within a control center in our mind, and they make certain decisions for us based on their own archetypes. It’s how anger, sadness, joy, and a whole host of other emotions affect our decisions and our daily lives.
If you’ve ever heard of Sigmund Freud, then you know about his conception of the id, ego, and super-ego:
From Wikipedia: “According to this model of the psyche, the id** is the set of uncoordinated instinctual trends; the super-ego plays the critical and moralizing role; and the ego is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego.”
I don’t think it’s that granular, however. From my previous posts, I believe that the instant gratification monkey and the gremlin described earlier are the same entity. The gremlin is completely uncontrollable, except by my choosing to take certain actions. I can choose to get on an airplane, and I can choose not to send a text message to the one who got away.
I think I really needed to experience a situation in my life where the distance between my “belief” and my “true belief” was so large that it made me realize that this distinct creature existed in my mind. I feel uncomfortable about the fact that I’m not actually in control of my “true belief”, but it has made me reconsider the strength of the beliefs that other people hold. For instance, I think I can understand people’s belief in God. What I need to work on is understanding how to interchange my own beliefs and true beliefs, and ways that I can manage the gremlin inside me.