As you interact with reality, you are recording memories, forming ideas and making conclusions about what you observe. These memories, ideas and conclusions are what I call The Image. We each have our own private image based on our own life experience. Consider, for a moment, how The Image that you have of reality causes all of your emotional pain and excitement in life. Is it clear to you how this works?
When there is conflict between your image and reality then you experience emotional pain and upset. The kind of emotional pain that you experience depends on the nature of the conflict in your mind. Consider a time that you were angry or jealous or sad about something in your life. Perhaps your wife left you or something precious to you was stolen or someone called you an insulting name. In each case, wasn’t there a conflict between how you wished the world was and how it actually was? It is this conflict between how you want reality to be and how it actually is that causes your emotional pain. It is the conflict between The Image and reality that causes emotional pain.
When there is agreement between your image and reality then you experience emotional pleasure and excitement. The kind of emotional pleasure that you experience depends on the nature of the agreement in your mind. Consider a time that you were happy or content or pleased about something in your life. Perhaps you got that bonus that you worked so hard for or you received a compliment from someone that you like or you felt particularly attractive in the mirror one morning. In each case, wasn’t there agreement between how you wished the world was and how it actually was? It is this agreement between how you wish reality to be and how reality actually is that causes your emotional pleasure. It is agreement between The Image and reality that causes emotional excitement and pleasure.
This relationship between The Image and reality – its ability to create emotional pain and pleasure – is of great interest to me. It seems that if you can control The Image then you can control your thoughts and emotions. If it’s possible to change The Image then you can select a new emotion when you find yourself in the midst of pain. Change The Image and you change your outlook and control your emotions. The question is: How can you change The Image?
It’s my experience that you can easily change The Image once you understand what it is and how it works. In its most basic form, The Image is memories and thoughts about those memories. Of course, you cannot change your memories, but you can change what you think about your memories. What does it mean to change what you think about your memories? It means to change what you believe about your memories and life experiences. Right now, you have countless unconscious and habitual beliefs about what you remember of your life. What I’m suggesting here is that you consciously choose what you believe instead of believing something just because it’s what you’ve always believed. This choosing of belief is a path to creating the thoughts and emotions you want instead of suffering from the emotions and thoughts that you’ve been programmed to have.
To understand this more deeply, let’s go into what a belief is. Have you ever considered what beliefs are and how they get into your image? Take some time right now to consider a belief that you have. Any belief will do, but it may be easier to see what I’m describing if you pick a belief that isn’t painful for you. The belief that I’m considering as I write this is my belief in the color red. Now that we’ve spent a few moments considering our beliefs, let’s answer some questions about them. Why is it that you have your belief? Think back and see if you can remember how the belief got into your mind. Isn’t it that you learned this belief through your experiences with the world? Perhaps someone taught you about the belief… or perhaps you learned about it on your own. In either case, isn’t it obvious that you created the belief based on your experience with reality? How do you create a belief? You create belief through choice based on experience. Your beliefs are, quite literally, chosen by you.
You experience reality and build The Image from your experiences. Your memory records experiences and you choose beliefs about your memory. These chosen beliefs also become memories and you choose beliefs about them as well. You have layer upon layer of chosen belief… each layer of belief building on another layer of belief. All of these “belief layers” rest atop the bedrock of your experience. The wonderful thing about this is if you choose a new belief or change an existing belief, it automatically affects and changes all of the beliefs that are related to it. And, the closer a belief is to the bedrock of experience, the more dramatic and powerful changing it can be. Have you ever considered what an epiphany is? Isn’t it just the feeling you get when a belief near the bedrock is changed? Oh, that’s a delicious feeling.
To change The Image is a matter of changing belief. The Image is, in part, what you believe it to be. You remember what you experience but you choose what you believe. If you are experiencing unwanted emotional pain then choose a new belief and dispel the pain. How can you choose a new belief? The same way you chose your old beliefs… through faith in your experience and in other beliefs.
Do you want to change The Image to suit your tastes and choices? If so, then see clearly how you choose your beliefs based on both your experience and other beliefs. See the value of faith in belief. You take so many beliefs on faith alone. Be aware of your mind and the thoughts that you have when you feel emotional excitement and pain. Understand how those thoughts, and the resulting emotions, are given power through your belief in them. If you truly wish to change The Image and take conscious control of your mind then you must become a master of your belief. Belief is the key to power over The Image and your creation.
