Cultural Beliefs and Invention!
In the past, I have frequently discussed the topics of perception and cultural beliefs, from a perspective of how cultural beliefs affect and alter your perception of reality.
Our entire culture, any culture for that matter, must be built on an invented set of agreements, rules of conduct by which everyone must abide.
But because the individuals of a particular culture lack even a basic fundamental knowledge of the most essential aspects of their lives and existence, they crave knowledge, and in places where they can't find any, they tend to just make something up to fill the void.
A culture is made up of a group of individuals all with shared beliefs.
No one ever sat you down to go over the entire list of beliefs with you, but you likely hold certain ideas to be of great value because of the environment that you were raised in.
We are not talking about mere opinions here, but strong, deep-rooted beliefs and values.
We could say that our cultural beliefs are the building blocks that we use to construct our reality.
To help recognize your cultural worldviews, look at the following list that is comprised of a sampling of some rather familiar names of different groups, cultures and subcultures, etc.
Watch what world views come to mind when you see each name.
Some of the things to consider when you read each item are: beliefs, values, self-view, attitudes, cultural bias, feelings invoked, and the ways someone else may perceive this worldview.
Just let whatever comes up occur naturally; observe your emotions, feelings, and attitudes as they relate to each worldview, value and belief invoked.
Worldview, Value, Belief Exercise: Bring to mind the following: Hippies, drug culture, personal freedom, fascists, Nazi, Hitler, concentration camp, cowboys, John Wayne, western plains, prairie, communists, Russians, Catholics, Protestants, nationalism, war, freedom, rednecks, bible belt, upper class, privileged, lower class, low life, Jews, Arabs, Pepsi generation, original Coke, rebels, feminists, liberals, conservatives, rockers, rock and roll, Elvis Presley, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhist, astrology, mind reading, psychics, Mafia, Cosa Nostra, Hoover, high heals, Samurai, Kill Bill, American Indians, India, Yoga, monks, USA, the military, Russia, scientists, physicist, psychologist, African American, Black, Nigger, JAP, WASP, valley girl, DAGO, Mick, Spic, Kike, capitalist, socialist, Zen, meditation, witches, warlocks, crusades, Renaissance, environmentalists, big corporations, profits, corruption, free trade.
Which of these do you identify with? Which do you reject? If you feel nothing about an item it probably doesn't apply to you, it's not a part of your culture.
What comes to mind with each word? Notice the complexity of images and feelings that a single word can elicit.
That's because they are worldviews and have great significance to us.
Can you think of one person that you know that actually created their own worldview of any of the above words, or were they just cultural hand-me-downs? Which in effect implies that we are living a secondhand life rather than living a life consisting of our own firsthand experiences.
It's difficult to find the origins of many of these cultural beliefs, and impossible to find their founders or creators.
Their identities are lost in the obscurity of the past.
Long gone; yet we still live our lives based upon their conjecture and conceptual inventions.
We have been programmed from early on to believe these conceptual inventions and accept them as factual representations of our lives.
I encourage you to see them as conceptual inventions of the mind, created by others human beings who are long gone and whose original intent though possibly noble has been distorted by time.
Their original intent changed; now only the ritual and dogma are remembered.
Please consider that all of these beliefs are just inventions of the mind, conceived by other human beings.
They are not puritanical or divine, or passed down from some incredibly wise or infinite source.
They are only human inventions, mental conceptions.
We need to recognize what is real regarding the inventions and beliefs that make up our reality.
We must come to comprehend the true nature of these beliefs that make up our self-image and world view, but be warned, this is a daunting task and will not be easy.
The above exercise will help you take the first step which is the realization of some of your world-views and beliefs.
If you are really serious about exploring your true reality and expanding your consciousness, then the next step will be to challenge these notions and find out their true nature and the impact that they have on your perception of reality! There are so many secrets that Yoga and Meditation will reveal to you.
There are so many ways that Yoga and Meditation can make your life easier and more fulfilling.
Come and explore these secrets with me now by visiting: http://www.
yogaawakening.
com To a Stress-Free, Abundant and Healthy Life, Tony D'Agostino, CEO and Founder of YogaAwakening.
com
Our entire culture, any culture for that matter, must be built on an invented set of agreements, rules of conduct by which everyone must abide.
But because the individuals of a particular culture lack even a basic fundamental knowledge of the most essential aspects of their lives and existence, they crave knowledge, and in places where they can't find any, they tend to just make something up to fill the void.
A culture is made up of a group of individuals all with shared beliefs.
No one ever sat you down to go over the entire list of beliefs with you, but you likely hold certain ideas to be of great value because of the environment that you were raised in.
We are not talking about mere opinions here, but strong, deep-rooted beliefs and values.
We could say that our cultural beliefs are the building blocks that we use to construct our reality.
To help recognize your cultural worldviews, look at the following list that is comprised of a sampling of some rather familiar names of different groups, cultures and subcultures, etc.
Watch what world views come to mind when you see each name.
Some of the things to consider when you read each item are: beliefs, values, self-view, attitudes, cultural bias, feelings invoked, and the ways someone else may perceive this worldview.
Just let whatever comes up occur naturally; observe your emotions, feelings, and attitudes as they relate to each worldview, value and belief invoked.
Worldview, Value, Belief Exercise: Bring to mind the following: Hippies, drug culture, personal freedom, fascists, Nazi, Hitler, concentration camp, cowboys, John Wayne, western plains, prairie, communists, Russians, Catholics, Protestants, nationalism, war, freedom, rednecks, bible belt, upper class, privileged, lower class, low life, Jews, Arabs, Pepsi generation, original Coke, rebels, feminists, liberals, conservatives, rockers, rock and roll, Elvis Presley, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhist, astrology, mind reading, psychics, Mafia, Cosa Nostra, Hoover, high heals, Samurai, Kill Bill, American Indians, India, Yoga, monks, USA, the military, Russia, scientists, physicist, psychologist, African American, Black, Nigger, JAP, WASP, valley girl, DAGO, Mick, Spic, Kike, capitalist, socialist, Zen, meditation, witches, warlocks, crusades, Renaissance, environmentalists, big corporations, profits, corruption, free trade.
Which of these do you identify with? Which do you reject? If you feel nothing about an item it probably doesn't apply to you, it's not a part of your culture.
What comes to mind with each word? Notice the complexity of images and feelings that a single word can elicit.
That's because they are worldviews and have great significance to us.
Can you think of one person that you know that actually created their own worldview of any of the above words, or were they just cultural hand-me-downs? Which in effect implies that we are living a secondhand life rather than living a life consisting of our own firsthand experiences.
It's difficult to find the origins of many of these cultural beliefs, and impossible to find their founders or creators.
Their identities are lost in the obscurity of the past.
Long gone; yet we still live our lives based upon their conjecture and conceptual inventions.
We have been programmed from early on to believe these conceptual inventions and accept them as factual representations of our lives.
I encourage you to see them as conceptual inventions of the mind, created by others human beings who are long gone and whose original intent though possibly noble has been distorted by time.
Their original intent changed; now only the ritual and dogma are remembered.
Please consider that all of these beliefs are just inventions of the mind, conceived by other human beings.
They are not puritanical or divine, or passed down from some incredibly wise or infinite source.
They are only human inventions, mental conceptions.
We need to recognize what is real regarding the inventions and beliefs that make up our reality.
We must come to comprehend the true nature of these beliefs that make up our self-image and world view, but be warned, this is a daunting task and will not be easy.
The above exercise will help you take the first step which is the realization of some of your world-views and beliefs.
If you are really serious about exploring your true reality and expanding your consciousness, then the next step will be to challenge these notions and find out their true nature and the impact that they have on your perception of reality! There are so many secrets that Yoga and Meditation will reveal to you.
There are so many ways that Yoga and Meditation can make your life easier and more fulfilling.
Come and explore these secrets with me now by visiting: http://www.
yogaawakening.
com To a Stress-Free, Abundant and Healthy Life, Tony D'Agostino, CEO and Founder of YogaAwakening.
com
