challenged by our experience. It may have been difficult to
maintain that belief when we were first learning to drive.
Perhaps we involuntarily flinched as a car sped toward us. But
repeated successful driving experiences reinforced our belief
until it became second nature. Taken as a whole, the network
of beliefs that we hold about objects and people forms what we
think of as consensual reality.
Usually, our beliefs about reality remain invisible to us,
locked safely away in our unconscious. Normally, we go
through our day lulled by a comfortable sense that the world of
our perceptions is a real world, not a product of our own unique
belief system. But sometimes things conspire to remind us of
this hidden aspect of our inner world. Have you ever experi-
enced something that, for a moment, felt as if it happened in a
movie? Have you ever had a vague memory of something but
then find that you no longer know whether it really happened
or whether you dreamt it or saw it in a film? How valid isour
perception of reality?
You probably feel confused when the boundaries between
what we call reality and our fantasy, or between real life and
“reel life,” become blurry. It can help to remember that this
fuzzy perception of things is actually closer to the truth than
the more comfortable version of reality that normally inhabits
our days even though it might not always be easy to accept that
things are not always black and white.Beliefs Can Be Misleading
Beliefs help us to focus on important details. But they can also
cause us problems when they do not match reality. For exam-
ple, at one time most people believed the earth was flat. And
why not — wherever they looked, the ground and water
stretched out flat in all directions?
Of course, in hindsight we now know that their belief did
not match reality. We also know it had negative consequences:
it kept people close to shore because they believed the flat earth“A belief is a statement
about reality that you
think is ‘the truth.’ And
this belief molds your
behavior, your emotions,
and your attitudes.”
Morty Lefkoe58 E-Motion Picture Magic