"Nothing here is real and without belief." ___Aidan Andrew Dun, "Vale Royal"
Belief continually changes the way we perceive reality. When a group of people speak of 'reality,' they are not actually understanding the same thing, since each individual invests reality with different sets of characteristics. Spiritual belief invests reality with many different qualities: simultaneously, a fundamentalist believer will see the world as a place of fear, a mystical believer will see it as a place of peace, a creative believer will see it as a place of potentiality, a pragmatic believer will see it as just a place to live. It is the same for ideological beliefs, which define reality by different criteria.
Reality and belief simply cannot be disentangled from each other.
Beliefs evolve their own mythology and symbolism, methods of encoding meaning into the perceived and observed correlative of life. It is only when our views are challenged that reality shakes. True belief brings trust with it, a trust that things will not change, that we will be supported. Belief can both support and enclose us, so that the nature of reality seems to become unchanging.
The changing views of reality during this century have shaken many, causing fear and consternation. It is at this point of panic that fundamentalist beliefs become strangely attractive, for their dogmatic character ensures an unchanging stability for the fearful. For the rest, our own beliefs walk beside reality, giving it color, meaning and purpose. Its subtle messages are the signposts of a greater reality that embraces both the seen and the unseen.
"How do your beliefs color reality? Compare your views with someone else's."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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