Believing vs Trying

[Everything]

I'm a person who has succeeded in doing great things. That is what I think when I look back in the past. I do not see my struggles, because I do not remember them. It is very strange how the mind works... How focus and awareness works. How they are dependant on sub-conscous and how they change our memories. Truth is: I have failed more then succeeded... Or is it? (I'll answer that one later)

 

When we sub-consciously believe in something, we(as in our consciousness) do not require any focus in order to make it happen. Our mind naturally, instinctively, impulsively focuses on it. When we do something wrong our mind will even then correct our behaviour very efficiently and wisely without our consciousness ever noticing that we altered our own behaviour or that we were even struggling in the first place! You even have to analyze your own behaviour to notice why you have improved in a certain task or behaviour... You really have to sit at the edge of your focus when meditating on a certain task to notice the influence our sub-conscious minds has on us.

 

You might be thinking 'this guy is a lunatic, everyone would simply be using this knowledge to his advantage if it were true!' and appart from me being a lunatic, you're right! Well whats going on then? Two important factors that we must consider: we are highly social creatures and great knowledge requires great wisdom to handle.

 

Whats got social to do with it? What I mean with social is that our believes shoot out energies which are contagious to other people. I'm not willing to go into this with great detail. Lets say that changing believes will destroy your relationship with the people you love. You will burn your fingers on fire of knowledge that you perceive to be a toy. On the other hand, some people lack to see the potential in fire if handled responsibly. This led me to the spiritual journey. I believed that I could possibly continue changing my life for my own benefits in one area and still have all of society back me up. I got attracted to Tao te Ching and paradoxically learned that my lack of wisdom was the cause of society turning its back on me. I was naive to think that society would gladly see me win everything why they did not win. Also, some people might reach this point from another path, by being too shrewd and destroying other peoples lives in order to get ahead while in the end they have no one to share it with. I simply dealt with this by only serving society and all of mankind, all of live on earth and nature. At first, even for a naive person like me, this felt like loosing and letting others win. But it is not... It is winning and giving what you have won to those who have lost so that you can infinitely win over and over again...

 

Believing, you have faith. Trying, you do not yet have faith, but are seeking it. Think about it...

So, to return to the question, did I really fail more then I succeeded? Lets say I did. Its a nice step closer towards wisdom. Besides, all the wise people say this! Why would they say it if it weren't true? Right? Well, lets say that it is not exactly true, that they only say that because we are social creatures. Let us say that we actually WANT to hear that we failed more often then succeeded, just as a concept. Why would we want that? Because we believe we did. We see that we failed at our lives so often and we believe it. Wise people notice this, and they say we did fail, they even claim they did fail to! Surely thats not a lie! Well, it is. The believing part, that is the lie your mind made up. The wise people don't believe they have failed. They have the ability to hold this concept in mind without caring and secretly, quitly not care about failing, not believing in it in order not to upset the defense mechanisms of our minds. All they can do is agree that failing exists and show their carelessness in the hope that other people will notice their carelessness towards failing as a subliminal message. What is the message? You already know it. Let me just recall it for you: truth is relative. You don't have to see in order to believe(you don't have to try untill you see a result, which is equal to insanity if you ask me), and you can believe in order to see(have faith that it will be here and you'll see results). Succesful people simply do not even think about failing, they don't hold it in their minds for longer then a few seconds a day at most. They actually feel repelled by the very idea of failing and only use the word when when the social necessity arises to do so. Their friends usually can't hold the concept of failure in mind either. This naturally makes them compatable and puts them at ease around eachother. They don't have friends who think about failing in whatever timeframe.

 

If I believe I can do something, I will more often recall successes from mememory. When I try to do something I will often recall struggles from memory. Answer: I did not fail even once when achieving those great things in the past, because I never had that concept in my mind in the first place. I never got sad when I did not succeed, I only got happy when I succeeded. Most importantly, I never even TRIED to succeed. How to fail if you do not try to succeed? Always be aware when you catch yourself trying to do something. Also remember that the truth is relative. When it os pulled out of its context it doesn't matter. It is what you believe is the truth that matters. Make your life the context and relativity of a truth full of loving kindness and peace so that in this universe nothing can possibly stand in your way, for you will become like the powerful element of water. If you're a beginner, for the love of god don't go yelling out your believes and know the sacrifices you'll have to make before you dedicate to a certain believe. You might hurt a loved one trying to change their believes. Use this light, but shed no light unto others so that you may do yourself no harm. Remember that changing believes is like playing with fire. The more stronger you believe the bigger the fire gets. More passion, but also more burning. Never mistake the fire for being actual wisdom. Remain flexible enough to change believes on the go without to big attachments. Last, but not least, keep your faith during the struggles and the struggles will naturally go away. Practice focusing on your faith on your ability to create the life you want.

 

Or you can simply remain present minded and rule out the factor of the the sub-conscious mind with an increased awareness and expanded conscioisness. That one is more tricky but works wonders too if you don't have lofty aspirations.

 

hf & gl.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Everything

[Learning]

I'm a person who has succeeded in doing great things. That is what I think when I look back in the past. I do not see my struggles, because I do not remember them. It is very strange how the mind works... How focus and awareness works. How they are dependant on sub-conscous and how they change our memories. Truth is: I have failed more then succeeded... Or is it? (I'll answer that one later)

 

When we sub-consciously believe in something, we(as in our consciousness) do not require any focus in order to make it happen. Our mind naturally, instinctively, impulsively focuses on it. When we do something wrong our mind will even then correct our behaviour very efficiently and wisely without our consciousness ever noticing that we altered our own behaviour or that we were even struggling in the first place! You even have to analyze your own behaviour to notice why you have improved in a certain task or behaviour... You really have to sit at the edge of your focus when meditating on a certain task to notice the influence our sub-conscious minds has on us.

 

You might be thinking 'this guy is a lunatic, everyone would simply be using this knowledge to his advantage if it were true!' and appart from me being a lunatic, you're right! Well whats going on then? Two important factors that we must consider: we are highly social creatures and great knowledge requires great wisdom to handle.

 

Whats got social to do with it? What I mean with social is that our believes shoot out energies which are contagious to other people. I'm not willing to go into this with great detail. Lets say that changing believes will destroy your relationship with the people you love. You will burn your fingers on fire of knowledge that you perceive to be a toy. On the other hand, some people lack to see the potential in fire if handled responsibly. This led me to the spiritual journey. I believed that I could possibly continue changing my life for my own benefits in one area and still have all of society back me up. I got attracted to Tao te Ching and paradoxically learned that my lack of wisdom was the cause of society turning its back on me. I was naive to think that society would gladly see me win everything why they did not win. Also, some people might reach this point from another path, by being too shrewd and destroying other peoples lives in order to get ahead while in the end they have no one to share it with. I simply dealt with this by only serving society and all of mankind, all of live on earth and nature. At first, even for a naive person like me, this felt like loosing and letting others win. But it is not... It is winning and giving what you have won to those who have lost so that you can infinitely win over and over again...

 

Believing, you have faith. Trying, you do not yet have faith, but are seeking it. Think about it...

So, to return to the question, did I really fail more then I succeeded? Lets say I did. Its a nice step closer towards wisdom. Besides, all the wise people say this! Why would they say it if it weren't true? Right? Well, lets say that it is not exactly true, that they only say that because we are social creatures. Let us say that we actually WANT to hear that we failed more often then succeeded, just as a concept. Why would we want that? Because we believe we did. We see that we failed at our lives so often and we believe it. Wise people notice this, and they say we did fail, they even claim they did fail to! Surely thats not a lie! Well, it is. The believing part, that is the lie your mind made up. The wise people don't believe they have failed. They have the ability to hold this concept in mind without caring and secretly, quitly not care about failing, not believing in it in order not to upset the defense mechanisms of our minds. All they can do is agree that failing exists and show their carelessness in the hope that other people will notice their carelessness towards failing as a subliminal message. What is the message? You already know it. Let me just recall it for you: truth is relative. You don't have to see in order to believe(you don't have to try untill you see a result, which is equal to insanity if you ask me), and you can believe in order to see(have faith that it will be here and you'll see results). Succesful people simply do not even think about failing, they don't hold it in their minds for longer then a few seconds a day at most. They actually feel repelled by the very idea of failing and only use the word when when the social necessity arises to do so. Their friends usually can't hold the concept of failure in mind either. This naturally makes them compatable and puts them at ease around eachother. They don't have friends who think about failing in whatever timeframe.

 

If I believe I can do something, I will more often recall successes from mememory. When I try to do something I will often recall struggles from memory. Answer: I did not fail even once when achieving those great things in the past, because I never had that concept in my mind in the first place. I never got sad when I did not succeed, I only got happy when I succeeded. Most importantly, I never even TRIED to succeed. How to fail if you do not try to succeed? Always be aware when you catch yourself trying to do something. Also remember that the truth is relative. When it os pulled out of its context it doesn't matter. It is what you believe is the truth that matters. Make your life the context and relativity of a truth full of loving kindness and peace so that in this universe nothing can possibly stand in your way, for you will become like the powerful element of water. If you're a beginner, for the love of god don't go yelling out your believes and know the sacrifices you'll have to make before you dedicate to a certain believe. You might hurt a loved one trying to change their believes. Use this light, but shed no light unto others so that you may do yourself no harm. Remember that changing believes is like playing with fire. The more stronger you believe the bigger the fire gets. More passion, but also more burning. Never mistake the fire for being actual wisdom. Remain flexible enough to change believes on the go without to big attachments. Last, but not least, keep your faith during the struggles and the struggles will naturally go away. Practice focusing on your faith on your ability to create the life you want.

 

Or you can simply remain present minded and rule out the factor of the the sub-conscious mind with an increased awareness and expanded conscioisness. That one is more tricky but works wonders too if you don't have lofty aspirations.

 

hf & gl.

 

I love this post. Thank you for sharing, Everything

[Everything]

I love this post. Thank you for sharing, Everything

Thank you for reading it.

Edited June 25, 2011 by Everything

[Learning]

Something I've noticed:

 

I agree-trying never works for me. I think, "I'm not going to play these games anymore, I'm just going to do it" works. The problem I have is talking about what I'm doing, or going to do. Talking about it to anyone sucks the effectiveness right out of it. It deflates, and I "fail". My confidence disappears. If I keep quiet, don't tell even someone who believes in me, I feel at peace about my doing.

 

Is this true for anyone else?

 

Angela

Edited June 25, 2011 by Learning

[Otis]

Something I've noticed:

 

I agree-trying never works for me. I think, "I'm not going to play these games anymore, I'm just going to do it" works. The problem I have is talking about what I'm doing, or going to do. Talking about it to anyone sucks the effectiveness right out of it. It deflates, and I "fail". My confidence disappears. If I keep quiet, don't tell even someone who believes in me, I feel at peace about my doing.

 

Is this true for anyone else?

 

Angela

Hi Angela.

 

I was thinking recently about the concept of "jinxing" something. When a kid does something, and then goes to his mom and says: "hey mom, look what I can do", it becomes much harder to reproduce the act.

 

My guess is that this is a form of self-consciousness. The activity has changed from doing something to proving myself. Proving myself involves a lot of self-reflection ("can I?" "will I look like a fool if I can't?" etc.), and it can quickly become a loud echo chamber, that drains energy away from the task at hand. It also tends to wake up memories of previous failures, and other attempts at proving myself, which leech my confidence. It can also kill the flexibility in my approach to the challenge, because now I'm trying to do what I said I would, instead of what makes sense, given the ongoing situation.

 

That last sentence is an example of allowing the concept to overtake the action itself. The concept "shoot the ball through the hoop" is very different than the actual action. The concept is simple, but the reality is about grounding, focusing, weighing the ball in my hand, connecting to the hoop, and feeling the launch of the ball. Reality is always much more complex, so the concept can actually get in the way. Telling someone else your intentions may encapsulate them in the conceptual, whereas the real activity must be done, one micro-second at a time.

[Aaron]

Something I've noticed:

 

I agree-trying never works for me. I think, "I'm not going to play these games anymore, I'm just going to do it" works. The problem I have is talking about what I'm doing, or going to do. Talking about it to anyone sucks the effectiveness right out of it. It deflates, and I "fail". My confidence disappears. If I keep quiet, don't tell even someone who believes in me, I feel at peace about my doing.

 

Is this true for anyone else?

 

Angela

 

 

Hello Angela,

 

I don't necessarily believe that talking about what you're going to do sucks the effectiveness out, rather it ruins the surprise. In the old days they said, "don't talk about it, just do it" because if you told someone you were going to do something and failed, then you lost face, but if you didn't, no loss of face. Of course it doesn't work for all things, but the trick was to hide your intentions as much as possible.

 

I feel that this whole idea that somehow doing is more important than believing is true, but only in the sense that it brings about the physical reality that can't be achieved solely by believing. As far as failure goes, it's all in your definition of the action.

 

This isn't new thinking by the way, Lao Tzu said all this two thousand years ago. If you don't compete, then there is no way to lose. It's as simple as that. If you don't try then you wont fail. If you simply do, then you are not succeeding or failing, you are simply doing. This is why they said hold nothing precious and nothing can be stolen from you.

 

Aaron

Edited June 26, 2011 by Twinner

[Otis]

If you simply do, then you are not succeeding or failing, you are simply doing.

Excellent!

 

I do a lot of handstands, and I have one piece of advice, when people ask me:

 

Practice in some place where the landing is soft, and where you're by your self, so there's neither social nor physical fear in falling. Take away the fear of falling, make "failure" just part of the process of learning, and it makes it much easier to find balance.

Edited June 26, 2011 by Otis

[Everything]

This is why they said hold nothing precious and nothing can be stolen from you.

 

Aaron

If you value or hold precious of an idea it has become an believe. The ideas that you value form your reality. Sometimes the core believes are forgotten, like a subliminal message, and the emotion is always felt. The believe attracts similar concepts related to itself and grows like a magnet attracting small debri. The stronger the emotions during the formation of a believe the stronger it will attract similar believes.

 

For example, I once wrote a piano piece that I really liked. Suddenly I believe that I can write great music, even though I can't in reality. Some people say my music sux, but my focus is on finding evidence that I am good. It is a natural instinct. And everytime I find evidence my survival instinct catches this useless piece of evidence and holds it precious like a magnet. My reality slowly begins to change. I begin listening to classical music. I believe that I totally understand a piece of chopin or beethoven because I think I'm a genius. So its just a matter of time for me to completely get it.

 

You say we should do something instead of believe it. I think that doing is the first step towards believing. If I did not believe that I understood music composition I would never keep listening to beethoven for example. I would say ok this sux, I don't get it, byebye. If i do believe, my only purpose is wait for evidence with patience. That is what having faith means to me. It is the ability to do as little as possible and get out of your own way and believes. But you first have to dedicate to a believe and value it increasingly over time untill it becomes undestructable. This is how humanity makes progress. We believe and it becomes reality. Some people do something and nothing gets done because they don't believe in it in the first place. I'd rather practice non-doing because I believe that even picking a piece of pencil requires faith. We should not fear the disappointment that comes with having a strong faith. It is natural to get dissappointed from time to time. This just means your faith is not strong enough. Your faith is your light and you should not give it away. The problem is not that we should stop having faith, we should have faith in better things. We can't go around giving love to people when you believe that people are rats who form a plague. Just an example.

 

Think about it. Faith is the amount of value you place on certain ideas, for good or for worse. Why should we not value things at all if we just get dissappointed this one time that someone steals our valued idea. Protection is part of life. Your identity becomes more clear and stronger when you can protect and lend this protection to others. Someone has to protect faith. For it too can be stolen.

 

What do you guys think. Living without believing in anything, being completely tranquil, doing the rat race? I don't see the purpose of it. I just think that becoming tranquil we reset our reality, empty our cups and become newborn. Confused and eager to learn. This where we form oir faith anew again... Maybe we're not ment to stay without believe for ever. Maybe we should find new purpose after the discovery of inner peace and emptiness. Maybe death is an initiation into a new reality with new believes. A baby does not believe yet and is empty of faith. It represents potential. A baby is thus most susceptable to trauma's and attachments to experiences, like touching a hot fire. While a man can shoothimself in the leg and then do it again just for fun. Because his faith is already in his strength. So with doing comes faith and with faith comes non-doing.