4 - Exponential Expansion

Every thought, idea, conclusion, assumption, decision, assumption, judgment or opinion that you think is correct or true but isn't a known fact is a belief. Belief turns the unknown into perceived knowledge. But belief is not knowledge. It is the false presumption of knowledge. Beliefs are ideas that we believe we actually know what we don't actually know. That is the simple nature of belief.

Even what you know can be can be accompanied by numerous beliefs. You can have beliefs about facts and which facts are relevant or significant or even if they are true or not. You may think your beliefs are based on facts and evidence but the mind does a little trick called confirmation bias that makes you notice what supports your perspective or other beliefs and ignore what doesn't. We also suffer from cognitive dissonance that makes us uneasy when we are presented information that isn't consistent with our beliefs. Cognitive dissonance gives us a negative feeling when we are faced with contradicting information to our beliefs and that feeling is relieved by rejecting that information. You will most likely feel cognitive dissonance with some of what you read here. We pretty much believe what we choose to believe according to our own self interests and often those self interests are simply previous beliefs.

We have been piling beliefs on top of beliefs our entire life and our initial beliefs came from others' beliefs when we were young. Those beliefs may have been incorrect in the first place. Our beliefs and belief systems are incredibly biased. We really can't trust our beliefs but we do by governing our lives by them. Even though beliefs are ideas that we don't know for sure, they can be so incredibly important to us. We identify with them by believing in them and then consider them an aspect of our identity that we are proud of. We're proud of what we don't even know! We just believe we know.

Certainty gives us reassurance to our beliefs. It enables us to act with confidence according to our beliefs. It gives us the false perception that we actually know what we only believe. Certainty makes us hold tightly to our beliefs and not consider other options or possibilities. Certainty is an added belief to a belief. Certainty is our belief in the degree of being right about our beliefs. It is our personal sense of self-righteousness. Certainty keeps us from questioning our beliefs and doesn't allow for the possibility of us being wrong, but we could be wrong about any belief we have because we do not know because all beliefs have other possibilities. We have to believe because we do not know. We may think we know, but that is another belief. It is the belief in certainty. Certainty shuts our mind tight to other possibilities. We cant have an open mind with certainty.

Even beliefs that are based on a great deal of evidence, information or facts can be wrong. How we gather that information is biased and any information we have is likely to be limited anyway. We can't be an expert on all our beliefs and even experts are biased and closed minded. The fact is we simply don't know when it comes to our beliefs. That is a fact. If we knew, it wouldn't require the act of believing. If you want to increase your awareness you have to acknowledge this fact to open your mind. Then you have to be willing to let go of beliefs that block your mind from being open and for the acceptance of new awareness, understanding and learning.

 

For ever increasing awareness to occur, a major belief that needs to be let go of is the belief in the importance of being right or correct. It is the belief in certainty. If you can't let go of beliefs because of certainty then your awareness will be limited and will be blocked. You won't be able to take advantage of all the benefits of increasing awareness. You'll be stuck in your beliefs – beliefs that could very well be wrong and causing problems in your life or limiting possibilities in your life. Just by acknowledging you could be wrong opens up a great deal of awareness. It lets you approach knowing from a different perspective of understanding and awareness. It opens you up to new possibilities and a willingness to learn and expand awareness. By doing that you are going to become aware of so many things you thought you knew that you didn't and then you can learn or become aware of what is actually correct. That increased awareness leads to more expanding awareness and that is one of the great things about increasing awareness. It always leads to even more awareness, learning and understanding about more things in your life that you don't currently know or are even aware of. Being more aware leads to more possibilities of being more aware and can expand exponentially if it is allowed to. Certainty and the belief in the importance of being right blocks awareness from expanding exponentially. For that to occur all you have to do is admit that you don't know and perceive from that perspective.

Next: Self Awareness