Changing Beliefs: Instantaneous or Gradual?
A conversation with a friend a few days ago left me feeling dissatisfied; I couldn’t recall any events in my life which matched her statements about the instantaneous changing of a belief, and the epiphany-like revelation which causes one’s outlook to change dramatically. After a brief period of contemplation I concluded that I hadn’t had any such experiences. In my mind all my changes of belief have been gradual (I realised later that I was wrong). Her opinion was that I was too chilled out for my own good.
I thought about it for a while longer and decided that she is partially correct, I am quite calm and composed most of the time, and thus an experience which might have the impact of an epiphany for someone else, may not register such strong emotions with me.
But I still wasn’t satisfied with that conclusion. I knew that not all changes of belief were instantaneous, nor were all changes of belief of the kind that build gradually, culminating in an event which gives the appearance of occurring in an instant. There are two classes of belief which may change; those based on what we see as facts, and those based on what we see as theories. Either class of belief may be changed by our discovery of a new fact or a new theory, and it is the strength of our acceptance of that new fact or theory, versus the strength of our existing belief, which determines how rapidly our existing belief is changed.
For example, we believe in the effect of gravity because we know from experience that things fall to the ground if they are not somehow suspended above it. We each have a partial lifetime of experience which demonstrates that the effect of gravity is undeniably real. It would take a fact of unthinkable impact to alter our belief in gravity. Perhaps even something unbelievable enough to force us to question our sanity. (when I was about 10 I had a few dreams in which I could levitate. On a few occasions while awake I would recall those dreams with such vividness that I’d be convinced they were real, and then try to levitate. It never worked)
However, if we believe that all apples are red, because we’ve only seen red apples before, and no-one has told us about green apples, all it would take is to be shown a green apple for our belief to be altered. It’s quite likely that we’d be surprised, but not in an Earth shattering way.
On the other hand, if we believe something that doesn’t have such a clear-cut factual basis, such as a belief in poor self-worth, then it is unlikely to change quickly. Such a belief is usually built on a long period of self-doubt and self-deprecation, which is unlikely to change instantaneously, even if someone were to honestly and effusively proclaim our true, much greater worth (or also in spite of a more subtle approach). It would most likely take a lot of such reassurance to counter the years of self-doubt, not to mention the possible doubt of the honesty of such reassurance.
Thankfully some beliefs which don’t have a factual basis can still be changed rapidly. One example is the belief in a poor memory. Barring physical damage or mental disability or illness, all of us have what it takes to have a fantastic memory. Many of us simply don’t know how to use our memory effectively. I always believed my memory was incredibly unreliable because I would consistently forget things; both my short-term and long-term memory seemed to be poor. Then I read Your Memory by Kenneth Higbee, applied one of the memory techniques he described, and was able to quickly and easily memorise a shopping list, and still recall that same list months later. But it didn’t take months for my belief to change! As soon as I tested myself I could see that my memory worked just fine, and I believed that it would continue to work as long as I kept using that (and other) techniques to aid the processes of recording, recognition and recall that make up what we call our memory. Ironically this is the only epiphany-like moment I can recall. Believing my memory functions fine is one thing, gaining the benefits of that belief still require effort.
So what does this mean for how we see our beliefs? Does it help us cope when we find one of our foundational beliefs ripped out from under us? And can it help us change our beliefs if we so choose? Well, a belief is always a choice, even in the case of a disappearing foundational belief. Therefore we can choose to accept the facts or theories which would alter a belief, or search them out in order to make that alteration, and accept that a successful change may take longer than we’d like.
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August 25th, 2007 at 1:33 am
I think your example of memory actually DOES have a factual basis… we are unable to consciously remember things which we desire to remember (that’s a fact). You learned a new method to do so, and found that now you COULD remember (a contradictory fact). So that’s not an example of a belief with a non-factual basis.
I think the reason why non-factual beliefs take so long to change is that they are all interleaved. In other words, I think non-factual beliefs tend to reinforce each other… your belief in your low self worth is tied to your belief that you don’t do as well as you should, which is tied to your belief that your talents are not as important as other people’s talents, etc. The reason it takes so much work to change them, then, is because you have to change all of the interlinked beliefs at the same time.
August 27th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Jason: The fuel for that belief was that my memory was flawed. Not simply poorly used, but fundamentally flawed. That was an belief based on misunderstanding (and ignorance), not fact, and there was no evidence to support it other than my poor memory (but “I believe my memory is bad because my memory is bad” is not much of an argument…) If I’d based my belief on knowledge of how memory works then I would agree with you (though if I did have the same knowledge I do now, I’d probably hold the same belief I do now).
August 28th, 2007 at 3:18 am
I understand what you’re saying, but it was still based on facts… you believed that your memory was fundamentally flawed due to the fact that you had problems remembering (at least, I’m nearly certain of this… having a belief that your memory is fundamentally flawed spring up full-formed seems a bit odd). It may not have been made based on scientific understanding but you had facts, the fact that there were things you wanted to remember that you could not. When you found contradictory facts, you re-evaluated that belief based on new evidence… now you COULD remember things. The fact that you learned that your previous theory was based on flawed reasoning doesn’t mean that it wasn’t based on facts, or at least something that you perceived as a fact, which is, in talking about beliefs, essentially the same thing.
What I’m saying, basically, is that if you hadn’t had the facts of not remembering things you wanted to remember, would you have had the belief that your memory was faulty?
September 7th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Ooops, I thought I replied to this one. Sorry for the wait.
I suppose you’re right, and I didn’t make my point clear when differentiating classes of beliefs based on theory versus fact. I see what you mean, it’s possible to consider something to be a fact, and base a belief on it, even if that fact is caused by flawed perception or understanding. As far as you see, it’s still a fact.
What I was trying to say is that some beliefs may change faster than others because, at least as far as we perceive, they’re based on concrete evidence, and strong enough evidence to counter the belief is likely to change it. On the other hand beliefs which are based on abstract concepts which have little or no concrete foundations, if firmly entrenched, are not easy to change, especially not quickly, because there’s no clear foundational belief to alter. If you do locate a core belief, and manage to change it quickly, it may seem as if an instantaneous change has happened, but as far as I see it, as long as all the associated beliefs are still lingering, and influencing your thoughts and behaviour (as they often do), then the change is not complete until it cascades through all those other associated beliefs. I.e., a belief doesn’t exist in isolation, and any single belief is really an amalgamation. Effectively changing a belief requires changing the entire group, though changing a core member of that group may feel like an epiphany.
And in case it sounds like I’m saying epiphanies are therefore bad, or false, that’s not what I mean. They can be hugely motivational, and I strongly suspect that the friend who inspired this entry (and others like her) was so motivated by the epiphany that the core change effortlessly, but gradually, cascaded through the associated beliefs, leading to the impression that the change was instantaneous.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
You may find it exhilarating to read about the basis for perception and beliefs in A Course in Miracles (ACIM). Its easy enough to decide you will correct distortions in your thinking. Yet, to withdraw your faith in something, and decide to invest yourself only in what is true, you will first need a clearer understanding of what is false. Consciousness itself has been described as misperception.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Thanks for the suggestion Liara. I have ACIM on my shelf, I just haven’t yet dived into it
btw Jason, I just stumbled upon what I was trying to say over on John Wilkins’ blog, specifically:
September 8th, 2007 at 1:56 am
Mark, I agree with you about the different types of beliefs… I was just disagreeing with which category that example belonged to.
I’m about to read that article, but for the quote, I totally agree with it, and would add that it doesn’t just depend on the depth of the particular belief, but the depth of the other beliefs that are in the same “belief web”… hope you understand what I mean by that phrase.
September 8th, 2007 at 2:08 am
What the heck… my brain apparently ignored a few words, and he said almost exactly the same thing, in your quote, even. Oh well, sometimes my mind plays tricks on me… my subconscious apparently decided those words weren’t important, and forgot to tell my conscious mind about it.
September 8th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Ha, no problem Jason, we’re on the same page