The Power of Belief
Belief
3a: conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on an examination of the grounds for accepting it as true or real: reflective assurance: intellectual assent.
b: a statement or a state of deliberated habitual readiness to act in a certain manner under appropriate conditions.
Is there anything quite so powerful as belief? We hear leaders invoke hope, but what is hope if not a belief. Belief is a tool which can work with or against us on an individual basis through something as simple as self-talk, and as complicated as affecting our actions through sustaining a purpose driven life. That purpose may be based purely on belief rather than fact. And while we may hold such fictional beliefs, we refuse to admit that we are not certain, because we fear the consequences which will influence our daily lives. We fear uncertainty.
What Happens After We Die?
Consider the question: What happens after we die? This is a question which many feel they know the answer to, not based on evidence, though they may claim that they profoundly know because they were inspired by God or talked with God about it and so they know firsthand, and that is evidence enough for them. Which is fine, but now we are dealing with secondhand information which would not even hold up in a court of law. It would be considered hearsay as it cannot be verified. Let alone, what evidence do we have that such a person is telling the truth? We quickly find that what is evidence to one person may not be evidence enough for anyone else. And it is a hard ask to invoke faith in another person, even more so when that person is using their personal feelings as evidence for knowledge. Is it moral to expect one person to change their beliefs based on your feelings? Feelings often don’t appear to be rational but do tend to be easier to remember than rational notions. Take for instance the person who answers the question, “What happens after we die?” With the answer “I don’t know?” Is that as memorable as a story? Oh, so and so doesn’t know… how boring. So, we write them off as an imbecile. But one of those who write entire books with breadth and depth about a whole lot no one can know for certain are so much more fascinating. And the glorious amount of detail is incredible. Tales of judgment, our lives are examined, and our sins exposed, and Jesus will forgive us unless we did this or that is much easier to grasp than the statement “I don’t know.” One is finite, the other obscure. People prefer to live in the known world, knowing makes one feel safe and secure even if they are entirely wrong. Not knowing makes one feel naked and in a constant state of fear about what may come next. But one is certainly more honest than the other. How do I know? Because anyone who claims they know what happens after death would have to be dead already. We do know that brains store memories. And that a brain is an organ in the human body. So, if that body were to die, the memories die with it. This much we can all agree on. It is the metaphysical existential beliefs that differ. It is the perfect con preying on the hope that we will never die, and the fear of losing our memories. No one has to prove with any real evidence what they know, and when someone calls them a liar, they condemn them as a non-believer, and we know where non-believers go. Or do we?
For Christians, it makes sense that we like the idea that we are rewarded for a life we struggled to live well, and those who wronged us will be separated from us and we won’t have to deal with them again. We donate our time, our skills, efforts, and even money to our Church under the pretext that our sacrifice will not go unnoticed, so one day when we meet our maker, He will let us live in Heaven. In Hinduism, it is poetic justice that one is reincarnated into a form fitting for the life they lived. Those who treat you poorly will surely come back as a mule or hog who eats slop the next time around. The only escape out of the cycle is to live a perfect life, which obviously you are doing a better job of than everyone else, right?
What if Everything We Know is Wrong?
There is a thought exercise I like to play I call the “What if?” game. It involves being the devil’s advocate, that is asking myself, or in this case leading you, which is much easier, what if questions based on the premise that I am wrong about everything in a series of questions and pondering the answers which in all likelihood, I have yet ventured to do. In this case it would go something like this: What if beliefs are only tools to help us change our actions? What if Heaven is not a destination but a state of mind? What if when Jesus was alive, he was just trying to get people to stop and think before acting? What if Jesus just wanted us to be present and mindful? What if he was trying to help people get along while they were alive rather than live for what happens after death? What if Jesus knew for people to change, they first would have to change their beliefs?
In the Bible Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” What if when Jesus taught he was the way he didn’t mean he, he meant “I” literally as he said it, “I am the way”, as in “me”, “myself”, “I” as in the individual, as in what “I do” what “I believe” will change “me”? And what if when he speaks of an all knowing Father he means a form of enlightenment? And the only way to obtain enlightenment is through “Me”, not Jesus, not anyone else, just “Me”. Enlightenment in Taoism is being in harmony with the universe, in Buddhism the realization of universal truths, in the European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries enlightenment was the individual’s use of the power of reason to achieve better understanding of the universe and improve their own condition. I do not presume to know what Jesus meant by the vague secondhand accounts we have available to us in The Bible, nor would I entrust that such a power could be held by anyone else. Many have come to this understanding themselves, which leads some toward disregarding the book and turning to atheism. But rather than write off the book entirely, we could realize the opportunity to learn from the archetypical stories shared in the book. Stories used to be how history was passed down generations. To disregard the Bible would be the same as ignoring stories told by concentration camp survivors. Ignoring information does not delete it from existence. Whether you believe it to be the word of God, or a work of fiction, the Bible exists. Regardless, it is a book anyone can read, we do not need experts to tell us what’s in it, or the meaning of the archetypes shared within it, as we can do that for ourselves. It is up to us on an individual level to find meaning in whatever source we choose to expose ourselves to, and many choose to outsource their understanding to a clergy. And so, over time, archetypal meaning found from the book has been somewhat monopolized by self-proclaimed experts. Contrary opinions are attacked under presumptions of authority. But what if those who make a living from teaching us how to understand the Bible draw “near to” us “with their lips, but their hearts are far from” us?
Shakespeare declared “There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” Maybe that sums up the debate perfectly. Maybe there is more wisdom in not knowing than pretending to know something we cannot. Maybe admitting “I don’t know what happens after we die” doesn’t confirm a lack of serious thought. If one knows that it is impossible for one to know a thing, they may also know that it is impossible for someone else too. That isn’t ignorance, that is knowledge. Suddenly the person who doesn’t know has the power to know when another is lying either to them, or to themselves. Regardless, the implication is that one who believes a lie is going to tell it as though it were true. And someone sooner or later is going to believe them. My hope is that it won’t be you. “Be not deceived”.
Now this is entirely different from choosing to believe that which you know is not true because of the impact that belief infers on your life. That would be a personal decision and has a certain reasonableness about it as long as the believer does not expect others to share in their convictions.
Reincarnation – Theory From Alan Watts
I was raised as a Christian, so learning about life after death wasn’t a new concept when I first heard the philosopher Alan Watts talk about consciousness existing after death. What I struggled to comprehend was his theory of reincarnation, which now I believe he came up with pulling ideas from both eastern and western religions combined. While I do not mean to undermine his views, I am going to oversimplify his theory of reincarnation and use some of his approach to help you understand my condensed version of it. Imagine that when you go to sleep, you dream an entire life from beginning to end. You wake up, live your normal life, then you go to sleep, and you dream the same entire life you dreamt the night before again. Every night, you dream the same life over and over. How many times do you think you would have that dream before that dreamt life becomes boring? It may seem like a dull eternity. And surely it would be. But if we were to change the game, how would we make it more enthralling and endearing? Dreaming a different life every night would be a nice start. But what if we were to view eternity not as infinite but more as a timelessness? Imagine what it must be like to exist where time itself does not. Now that would be something. Would it not be more adventurous if every life dreamt was lived without memory of the one before? These are the kinds of questions you would have to consider before being willing to contemplate an idea such as we are all God. But say we are all God, you, me, every living thing, are God, we are just experiencing this world one life at a time. The centrality of existence expressed as “I” lived and remembered under the context of “me” and “my” as we have no memory that all of us are the same one, but in relativity, are separate individuals having very different lifetimes almost as if it were a multiplicity of dreams dreamt by the same person. Not to say this is a dream, but that this shared reality is accommodating an infinity of “I’s” experienced by one God having a novel time.
Now wouldn’t that be something. I understand how difficult it is to think about, I still think about it often. I have no evidence of any of this, it is just a theory, and the way I feel about it does not make it true. The first time I processed this theory I wasn’t a fan of it and all the unanswered questions it raises. However, at the core of this idea is something quite beautiful. This would mean I may even experience your life after the one I am experiencing now, or maybe I have already experienced it, without any memory of having lived whichever previous life I had before. Why do I say this crazy notion is beautiful? The answer lies in the outcome holding such a belief may infer. If I know that I will experience every life on this Earth at one point or another, how would that affect my actions? Jesus taught love thy neighbor as thyself. How much more salient would this principle be if you knew your neighbor was actually you at one point or another? This belief would imply every interaction you had with another human being, your physical actions, your words, tone inflections, even facial expressions, is the way you were treating your future, or past self.
The only reason I am pointing out this theory is to explain to you the why behind this website. If I were to be reincarnated after this life, and my next experience with life was being you, I would hope that I would read the posts on this website so that I could understand how to have a productive, meaningful, and comfortable life. At least, what I share has allowed me to do so. While I will talk about money, this website isn’t meant to be a get rich quick guide, it is more of an exploration of the meaning of wealth. People I talk with tend to believe that getting rich is an outcome from following a formula, an indicator of success in combination with luck, when in reality, wealth originates in the mind. Most people want to be wealthy, but when asked what wealth is, they have no clue how to answer the question. A colleague from college contacted me tired of the grind and beaten down by work. We both obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees, however, I retired after three years at an accounting firm and have since worked for myself as an entrepreneur. He has been an employee for various banks ever since college.
What is Wealth?
The conversation started with a text message in the afternoon: “I need out of this 9-5 rut man.” He made me think of Robert Kiyosaki, so I asked if he had read his book, which he hadn’t then he asked if I had read Fastlane Millionaire. Which I still haven’t. Despite knowing I would never read the book based on it’s title alone, I asked to be nice if it was any good. “Decent, then there’s a forum for people who read the book. Basically, it’s saying you’ll never get rich working, you have to be a creator.” I then asked a question that led down the wealth rabbit hole. “If that were true then why do most artists die poor?” “There’s a kicker, you have to create something people want…” “Lol, yeah… I would say to generate wealth you have to create value. But what is wealth?” Have you thought about that question? What is wealth? His first response proved he hadn’t ever thought much about it. “Wealth is being able to do what you want when you want”. “By that definition, the homeless in L.A. are the wealthiest Americans.” I admire that my friend was able to express his feelings in his next text. “Sometimes, I wouldn’t mind not having a care in the world lol.” I assume he is joking about maybe being homeless, but still it came off more truthful than a joke. “Then why don’t you?” “Homeless can’t do whatever they want, can’t fly a plane across the country.” This surprised me, so I explained “No one is forcing the homeless to do anything. They are free to spend their time doing whatever they want the same as you are. If the ability to fly on a plane and go wherever you want is the manifestation of wealth, then you are already wealthy. You could do that today if you wanted to. Only one person is preventing you from doing that.” No one likes to hear they are to blame for their own inaction. He then asked me the question he had never asked himself. “How do you define wealth?” The question no man can answer for anyone other than himself, yet he threw it out there. I had merely stated it as the unknowable subjective question it was when this conversation started: what is wealth? I didn’t expect that someone would try to ask me for my personal interpretation of the meaning. What is life? What is God? What is good? What is your favorite? These aren’t questions you answer for other people. Everyone is on their own path to figure out their own context behind these deep ideas. So, I answered matter-of-factly. “You are going to think I sound like Buddha lol, but it is so subjective there is no point in me telling you because my ideas of wealth will be different than yours. I have noticed that most people confuse wealth with a measurement of wealth.” I then relate a concept straight from Alan Watts, “for example, dollars aren’t wealth. Dollars are more like inches. If I have a yard stick, I don’t increase my physical height. I only have a tool to measure it.” I like to think he was confused but not for long before doing some real thinking. I like to think that because if I die, and I reincarnate as him for my next life, I hope I would figure out wealth sooner rather than later.
Money is Not Wealth
But what is wealth? And why do I claim it is so subjective? We all have different priorities, and we all have different hierarchies of needs (i.e. once our basic needs are met we have different needs to handle after). After we have water, food, and shelter we have different priorities. My sister is an elementary school teacher. She noticed that one girl in her class had outgrown her clothes and they were starting to look raggedy. She raised a thousand dollars and gave it to the child’s Mom just before Christmas and was excited to see the girl in her new clothes after the break. Eagerly seeing the girl enter class she noticed that she was still wearing the old clothes. Surprised she asked the girl if she had a good Christmas and what presents she received. The girl happily answered yes and enthusiastically shared the news that she received a Nintendo switch for Christmas which was exactly what she wanted. My sister was upset by the Mom’s choice to buy a luxury want rather than what she considered to be an immediate need. My sister’s lack of understanding can only be explained by her ignorance of what that family is going through. They are not in my sister’s situation, theirs is entirely different. In their world owning a Nintendo switch was more of a need then wearing new clothes. It is easy to understand once you have perspective. What is wealth to one person is entirely different to someone else as circumstances are different. As Peter Schiff likes to point out, if you had a million dollars in a briefcase while stranded on an island would you be wealthy? Obviously, not. You can take this thought experiment to another level to understand just what wealth could be or isn’t. I know people who… aren’t able to have a baby, being able to reproduce would be wealth to them. To the person who is lonely, having a friend or a spouse. For the person who is dying from illness, health would be considered wealth. To those struggling with depression, happiness and contentment would improve their lives more so than money ever could. For those who are deceived, truth is real wealth. To slaves, freedom is the greatest symbol of wealth. We could go on and on. And so, we find that wealth is not mere money, it can be attitude, thoughts, or even physical ability, regardless of what it is or isn’t, it varies person to person and starts in the mind as a perception.
I know that no one actually knows what happens after death. So yes, I know reincarnation is not true, however, thinking that I might come back as the person I am interacting with makes me think twice about what I say, what I do, and how I act. That doesn’t seem like a bad thing. So, I choose to believe in reincarnation. Beliefs determine actions. And I have found no other belief which enables me to empathize with others as this belief does. If I believe in reincarnation, I do not want to experience as my future self living under the poverty line wondering why the world is so hard on me, believing everyone who is successful is just lucky, and knowing more about feeling sorry for myself rather than what the word wealth means. After all, how can I obtain something if I can’t define it? And if I personally don’t hold myself accountable for the situation I currently am in, how can I change it?
In summary, I would refer you to what Henry Ford said: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Hopefully this website will be informative and help you to discover more sources of valuable information. By no means is this website meant to be definitive, the end all be all of information. It is only meant as a resource for learning; to expand your access to less aggrandized information and ideas, to encourage personalized thought experiments, greater understanding, increase emotional intelligence, and therefore, help you determine what wealth means to you.
Webster, N. (1963). Webster's third new international dictionary of the English language unabridged. Merriam.
John 14:6
Webster, N. (1963). Webster's third new international dictionary of the English language unabridged. Merriam.
Matthew 15:8
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 author. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. [London] :The Folio Society, 1954.
Galatians 6:7
Watts, Alan. The Power of Space and Reincarnation. Brillance Audio, 2015.
Watts, Alan. The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety. Second Vintage Books edition. New York, Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc, 2011.
Matthew 22:39
Schiff, Peter D., How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2010.
