Belief systems orient both our perceptions and actions in the world. And thus the importance of understanding what your own underlying belief structure is can help you better understand how and why you perceive and act as you do. When one does this properly, they are better able to address issues embedded within their current belief structure, and by doing so they can then extract the unnecessary underlying information and exchange it with the updated information. When individuals dismiss this important step, they risk becoming a proponent of malevolent and corrupt forces that are to a certain degree, beyond their control.
Underlying belief structures are bits of information that have been extracted from a particular environment, which is then formulated by the subconscious mind to see where the bits of new information can fit within the current belief structure. This process of integrating information into one’s current belief structure, that which often occurs in deep sleep, is received predominantly into the right hemisphere of the brain, and then gradually transferred into the left hemisphere where the current belief system is housed for storage.
As we age, this underlying belief structure becomes more stable, and thus rigid in nature while often times disgust sensitive to any new outside information. And not only does can and does this rigidity occur as we age, but it also happens at a younger age through the process of reluctance and the elevation of the ego. This reluctance to new information often times leads to the individual becoming an ideologue, which is a stagnation of individual growth and development wherein the ideas embedded within the individual’s current belief structure begin to “possess” and essentially control the individual’s mode of being.
Beyond the bits of information that make up the ideas within an individual’s inhabited belief structure, the next question to engage in is, what do the ideas represent? Ideas, to a lesser or greater extent, are theories or hypothesis. Sometimes they are theories if there is enough evidence to support the ideas to make it such. But often times they are mere hypothesis predicated upon preconceptions about the world from misinterpreted information gathered over time. This misinterpretation of the data is then formulated along with other preexisting ideas to form an incoherent perception of reality as such.
This misinterpretation is seen predominantly within radicalized groups on both the right and left. Although a subtler representation can be found within the misconceptions in moderate groups, too. Misinterpretation of data often times causes individuals and the groups they make up to begin to misrepresent and criticize certain individuals and groups that differ from their construed belief system. Moreover, these same individuals and groups then justify reprehensible and malevolent behavior towards other differing groups by lowering the quality of being those opposing groups possess through labeling or classification.
How does one keep from becoming an ideologue? By consciously observing their actions and behaviors, and seeing where they manifest themselves from. In Jungian psychology, this is called shadow work. This is where the individual engages with his or her thoughts, actions and behaviors that are deemed inappropriate or reprehensible, and then seeking to understand their specific location of emerges. Sometimes this can be past experiences that are rooted in trauma, or it can be a misinterpretation of information received from past experiences. For the latter, that which we are touched on thus far, can be found from various experiences, including events, books, TV, friends, family, etc.
As the information was received, along with the surrounding environmental conditions, certain preconceptions, and particular emotional state at the time of the experience, all contribute to the state in which the information is received, interpreted, and stored. And with this stored misinterpreted information, a hypothesis is formed, contributing to the individual’s current belief system. This mislead belief system then orients and programs the individual to act out in certain ways that the belief system deems appropriate.
When an individual embarks on the journey of shadow work and with it the deep examination of ideas, and then reassessing those ideas with both new and old information, they then harness the power to overcome ideological possession that ideas can cause. Moreover, this examination process not only protects one from becoming an ideologue, but it also helps develop character and critical thinking skills. The more conscious one becomes of their actions and behaviors, and the ideas wherein they stem from, the more control they will garner over their lives, as well as the more transformed their life will become.
-Michael Thacker
Michael Thacker 