and at the same time react to that illusion as if it were real? The
secret to that riddle can be summed up in one phrase: our
capacity to create beliefs.
When we watch a film, and without being consciously
aware of it, we tell part of ourselves to “believe” the illusion. We
willingly suspend our sense of disbelief, our critical faculty that
automatically compares what we see against what we already
know to be true. The only reason we cry, laugh, or cringe is
because we have decidedto “believe” in the movie’s “reality.”
It is interesting that we also do this in everyday life. We
make a decision — generally an unconscious one — to believe
in our perspective of reality. That decision to believe in what
we see plays a much greater role in shaping our reality than we
probably realize. This is especially true regarding interactions
between people.
When it comes to our five senses, we usually trust what
they tell us without question. If we see a thin, silver object with
a sharp point on one end we know it is a needle. When we hear
a certain high, familiar squeak we know the door to our bed-
room has just swung on its hinges. In both instances we might
have simply noted the sensory observation: “There lies a thin,
pointed, silver object” or “I hear a high familiar squeak.”
Instead, we automatically take the additional step of assigning
a meaning to our observation. We identify the silver thing as a
needle, the squeak as a door. The particular meanings that we
assign to the sensations are based on our beliefs about objects,
ideas that we formed when we were young.
This same process of assigning meaning is involved in
more complex observations and assumptions about behavior.
As you drive down the road, if you see a car zooming toward
you at high speed on the opposite side of the road, you do not
pull over to make sure it does not hit you. Instead, you keep
driving with perhaps as little as five feet of space separating
you from the other vehicle. Your action is based on a belief that
everyone on the highway understands and obeys the same
set of rules. For most of us, our faith in that belief is never
“Drama is life with the
dull parts cut out.”
Alfred
HitchcockUsing Movies to Release Negative Beliefs 57