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Opinion or Belief? By Ray Dodd One of our readers, David B., writes: "I’m reading The Power of Belief and would like some clarification on a point. It mentions that belief and opinion are different but (unless I’m missing it) I don’t see an example of this distinction. Can you clarify this for me using a specific example? Let’s say a person has 2 possible beliefs:
Some possible opinions as a result of those beliefs could be:
What is the real distinction between a belief and an opinion? " Thanks, David That's a great question! Every word in every language is nothing more than an agreement about what the sounds represent. And so, in order to have a discussion it's important to have a common understanding about the meaning of certain words. Let's start there. An opinion is a judgment of the mind. For example: If you think the statement – forgiveness is the right thing to do – is true but you are having difficulty forgiving some of the people in your life (or yourself) then your agreement about the concept of forgiveness is an opinion and not a belief. An opinion is something you think is true. What is far more powerful than thought is belief. When I talk about belief I'm not speaking about opinions. What I'm referring to are the largely unnoticed filters of conditioned consciousness, built by agreement, that form the unique reality you are living right now. The original meaning of word "believe" had its roots in Old English and referred to what was esteemed, valued, revered or trusted. It literally meant: what you hold dear. What you believed was what you knew, by feeling and conviction (not thought) as an absolute certainty. The origins of the word "believe" referred to matters of the heart and not the head. By the 16th century however another meaning began to emerge influenced by the rising power of the church in Rome: a mental acceptance that something is true. Skillfully, they conscripted the word “belief” to describe an intellectual agreement with an idea, concept or doctrine.
True belief is so much more than what you think, it's a holistic human experience that encompasses everything you are -- body, mind, and spirit. Belief drives your perception, your behavior, and forms an aura of consciousness that colors everything you perceive. Let's take David’s example of having two beliefs:
Pretend that you know you have this “belief” about money and you want to change it so you decide to be more positive. You put notes on your mirror in the bathroom and the dashboard of the car:
Positive affirmations can be helpful but first and foremost they are a fabrication of mind. Let’s say you agree with these affirmations and think they are true. It follows that you should easily be able to accomplish them. Right? Is it that easy? Very often it's not. Far more powerful than what we'd like to think is true is what we believe. Money in its purest form is energy, an exchange of value. Money also represents abundance, a richness of life. The thought "money is bad” is a construction of the mind, an opinion. “I'm not worthy” is another thought, another opinion. If you look closely there is a common undercurrent in both of these statements. That outlook, the belief, is a lot easier to describe by
observing behavior than to define exactly. In order to describe the belief however we’re going to have to use words. The undercurrent, what is being expressed might sound like this: There something wrong with me. I don't deserve the richness and fullness of a good life. An opinion is a judgment of the mind, a mental construction, where as a belief is an aura of consciousness with a particular point of view that is very difficult to accurately describe with words, and yet it is the driving force behind statements like: I’m not worthy and Money is “bad”. Finally, let's take the opinions that were proposed here as spin-offs of the "beliefs" money is bad and I’m not worthy:
These are also judgments of mind but they are more important than that. I call them personal agreements derived from a limited belief. Personal agreements are deals we make with ourselves that result in either reward or punishment. In the case of limiting beliefs they are strategies that protect us from pain. Let me explain. If you believe: There is something wrong with me and I don't deserve the richness and fullness of a good life - that outlook invokes an emotional perspective. The emotional response of: There is something wrong with me FEELS BAD. You never want to feel that pain again. So you devise strategies, crutches, or masks to protect you from discomfort. Look at the statements again:
If we convince ourselves that -people can't be trusted and money is hard to make – we create a story that it's someone else’s fault and there is something out of our control to blame. We are protected by those agreements because nothing will come near the painful wound created by the core belief (we hope). Do you see how this works? It is important to understand the true nature of belief, what is merely a construction of the mind, an opinion, and how we use those opinions to create personal agreements (born of our beliefs) to keep the belief alive and give us the illusion that we are safe and in control. Once you see how this operates it's a lot easier to repair any limiting beliefs that hold you back from the life you desire.
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