This book of inspirational essays stresses the importance of perception when building a belief system. The essays give hints on how to keep our mind and hearts open to the awareness that we are in charge of our thoughts and feelings in the evolution of our spiritual growth. It emphasizes how we are to bring our gifts into our world.

A FLOW CHART OF LIFE

HOW WE CREATE OUR BELIEF SYSTEMSBy Nancy Purcell

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2012 Rev. Nancy Purcell
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-6676-5

Chapter One

THE QUEST BEGINS

Lately I have been thinking a lot about belief systems and how we come to believe what we believe. I believe we build our belief system from the perceptions of our experiences in life. This includes what we are taught and where we either agree or reject.

The concept of perception has always fascinated me. How and why do we perceive life in so many different ways? Why do we have so many belief systems? Let's look again at the flow chart of life found in the introduction:

Fact>Perception>Belief>Behavior

The fact is that this is a written essay. Each person who reads this essay has a perception of what it means and its importance to the reader. If it agrees with your belief system, you store it in the yes column of your belief system and agree that you now have more proof that your belief system works. If it does not agree with your belief system you may store it in the no column or you may look at it and ponder for a while and look for ways to perhaps find ways to fit it into your belief system. We seldom look at the idea that it may be our perception that creates our response to a situation.

Playing with this concept I began searching for material on perception. The search led me to an author and scholar, Edward DeBono, who wrote a book titled I Am Right Your Are Wrong. In a chapter on Perception, Dr. DeBono writes: "For twenty-four centuries we have put all our intellectual effort into the logic of reason rather than the logic of perception. Yet in the conduct of human affairs perception is far more important."

It is apparent that all our beliefs are based on our perceptions; our religion, politics, family values, businesses, economics, etc. We experience a situation and we perceive it to be a certain way and then we create our lives into a belief system that supports our perception. The problem in human affairs is that then we say: "I am right, you are wrong." This creates arguments, separation, discord, divorce and even war.

My concern with this idea that I am right, you are wrong is that many people claim to be Christian only in relation to their perception. We are selective in the process of following the Jesus Christ teachings. We have never really looked at some of Jesus' precepts, including that found in Matthew 5:43-48, where He tells us very clearly that are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Love is not restricted only to those who agree with us according to Jesus.

I believe that if we begin to realize that everything relates to our perceptions then we can erase our idea of us and them. This is not an easy way of life but it would take us on the road to being successful humans, evolving as spiritual beings. We could stop hoping that the world can be a peaceful place and begin experiencing a life of love, peace and joy.

"A New vision of development is emerging. Development is becoming people-centered process, who ultimate goal must be the improvement of the human condition." Boutros Boutros-Ghali

IT IS WITHIN

I have been pondering on the current atmosphere of the human condition. It seems to me, that humans believe that in order to be right, we must make others wrong. It seems that our present and also our past crisis are spiritual in nature, not physical or material. Perhaps the way out of the crisis lies within each of us.

The scripture that came to me as I was working on this is found in Luke 6:41-42, "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye', when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?"( RSV). Jesus then goes on to tell us that our work is to build a firm foundation in our own house. Building this foundation is necessary as we do our own personal spiritual healing work.

My perception of this scripture is that the way out of our crisis lies within each of us. This means that we are here to weed our own garden. This means that we are not here to set things right but to see things rightly. As we do our inner work we begin to see that there is no right and wrong, life just is. It is the mystery that lies within.

REGARDLESS OF RELIGION

Recently, I have been enjoying a book edited by Marcus Borg called Jesus and Buddha Parallel Sayings. It is clear in this book that all great Master Teachers and Way showers bring a similar message. The Buddha message reads "The faults of others are easier to see than one's own; ..." Udanavarga 27.1. It appears that the message is that spiritual principles are relevant for all human beings regardless of religion. Religion is merely the outer form we have created to help us know God better.

Humans are so inclined to want to be right, that they proclaim that it is only their religion that is right. If we are truly Christian and if we follow our religion then we would find that our way shower, Jesus, was clear in the message that the way to find love, peace and joy is within our own healing, and that our healing will lift the human condition to a higher conscious awareness of oneness. We do not have to fix others or make them wrong because they do not follow our way.

It seems to me, that we are here in the human condition to bring God ideas into expression. These God ideas are love, peace, faith and joy and all the precious gifts of healing our feelings of being separate.

Since my belief system has no duality, I believe that we are all one in God regardless of our religion. Anything less than love, peace, faith and joy are errors in my own

Consciousness and are missing the mark of seeing things rightly. This is the one sin; it is belief in separation in God and in each other.

It is with this idea that I came to the concept that the way out of crisis is not to make others wrong, but that the way out is found within. May we each find to log in our own eye and do the healing work, so that we may experience the love, peace and joy of God of our faith.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstance." I Thessalonians 5:16

GIVING THANKS

During November we all celebrate a USA holiday "THANKSIGIVING." Many of us gather with friends and family and create a wonderful feast. We prepare food with love and care. We welcomed each other to share our day in an embrace of love and acceptance.

According to the Bible quote this activity of thanksgiving can and should take place in every circumstance of our lives. This is a possibility if we look at life from the perspective of our opportunity to grow and be all that we are meant to be. We can open our mind to a gratitude lifestyle. Being thankful begins the process.

There are many paths to gratitude and the use of our spirit energy, rather than expending our self-centeredness (our need to be right and make others wrong). It is part of a movement to create a complaint-free world and based on a book by Will Bowen called A Complaint Free World.

Creating a complaint free word, we begin with the idea that we all complain a lot more than we think we do. One tool we have used, found in Will's book, is that everyone who wants to take on the challenge, puts on a bracelet, and each time we complain, we switch the bracelet from one wrist to the other. This activity wakes us up to how often we complain. We work to see if...