Welcome. This meditation supports the Stage Four task of defining your ideology and putting it into practice. In this task, you begin by writing down all your beliefs; as many as you can think of. You explore where these beliefs came from and whether they are right for you now. Then, you explore the root principles behind your beliefs by asking why you believe each one. The WHYs are your principles. Once you have your list of principles, you seek inconsistencies and try to make your principles consistent, noting how that may update some of your beliefs. The most challenging part of this task is digging for the principles that sit behind the beliefs. This meditation will support that exploration.
Posture
Take a moment to get comfortable. You can sit or stand or lay down. You will want to close your eyes for this internal exploration. Be in a very private place where there are no other people, so that you will feel completely open to exploring your beliefs without judgement.
Presence
For this journey, choose three beliefs that you are adamant about. You might want a list in front of you to refer to. Your most adamant beliefs might about political issues, or social issues, or even religious issues. Choose the three issues that you feel most strongly about.
Take a slow deep breath. Let it out like a sigh of relief. Be at peace. You are here now. Take another slow deep breath, and this time, send it out slowly, consciously, with purpose, all the way. Be at peace. You are here now. Pause and repeat these breaths until you feel relaxed and at peace.
Journey
We begin. There is no judgement here; not even from yourself. There is no opposing opinion here. There is only you, and your own honest exploration. Your beliefs are your own. You can keep them, change them, or make new ones at will, anytime. This is the sovereign space of your own mind. You don’t have to fit into anyone’s mold here.
Consider the first of your three beliefs. State it to yourself in your mind… “I believe that….” Now let’s explore. Why do you believe that? We are not exploring to change our minds. We are exploring to understand the root of this belief. Why do you believe that?
Now you have in your mind a new belief, that is the basis of your original belief. Ask why again. Why is THAT?
Keep asking why until you get to a statement that sounds overarching; a statement that is at the heart of it all. The true root of that belief, and probably a few others as well. You may be surprised at what that principle is. It’s OK. Just let it be. It is only an exploration. See what you find.
Now that you have found an underlying principle, state it to yourself again and see where you feel that in your body. Physically, where do you light up? Now state the original belief to yourself. Where does that seem to activate in your body? This difference in physical location can help you recognize a principle versus a belief. Beliefs tend to be in the head, while principles tend to be in the heart.
Consider now the second belief from your list. Let’s repeat the exploration. Ask yourself why you believe this. Ask why several times to go deeper to the root of this belief. What is the principle behind it? Take a moment to seek that.
Consider now the third belief from your list. Let’s repeat the exploration. Ask yourself why you believe this. Ask why several times to go deeper to the root of this belief. What is the principle behind it? Take a moment to seek that.
You now have one to three principles. Can you use principles to for your ideology instead of beliefs? How would that change some of your choices?
Are there inconsistencies that you could address? It’s OK. Just note them for now.
This was a big step forward today. Hold yourself in gratitude and appreciation for the hard exploration you just carried out. Say in your mind: thank you for this.
Return
When you are ready, bring your awareness back to your surroundings. Notice how you feel. Take this feeling with you and return to it anytime you like. When you get the chance, carry out this exploration with your other beliefs. See if you can take your list of beliefs and boil them down to just a handful of underlying principles that you can use to make choices about what is right for YOU.
