CORPORATE SUFI : Belief could become self-fulfilling prophecy

“Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.” Thomas Paine, English-American political activist, philosopher.

One year into her new job, Sonya was passed up for promotion. She worked hard, met her targets and yet, when the time came for rewards, she was ignored. Subsequently she changed three jobs, but had similar experiences.

Slowly the resentment built up in her and she started to slack off at work. What was the use; she would never get promoted anyway. And for the next 12 years or so of her working life, she believed that she was unlucky and things would never change. And they never did.

So Sonya’s belief that she was unlucky came true.

Now someone might argue that she could not be blamed for her belief, as it was an outcome of her experiences. Or better still, it was her destiny.

But if you look deeper, you might find out that the process of belief creation is not elementary. It’s complex, shaped by multiple occurrences, many of them flimsy. In short, our beliefs deserve a much more examined approach than we care to give them.

Let’s examine the various aspects of belief creation and its impact on our lives.

1. Subtle yet powerful mechanism – Your beliefs are often molded before you are even consciously aware of them. And almost as imperceptibly, you start subscribing to them. Most of them are not even your own, but borrowed or forced upon you by parents or society, when you are at your most vulnerable, in your childhood. But the belief roots deep within you, and with every experience or situation you add on more substance and drama to it. Gradually it becomes a fundamental premise of your life and a filter for all your life experiences.

2. Open to interpretation - Two people might see the same painting and arrive at completely different opinions. While Sonya attributed her failure to bad luck, someone like Abraham Lincoln who lost elections eight times might have attributed it to poor understanding of what the public wanted. But you are quick to create beliefs, and latch on to them without checking if they can hold their ground.

3. Using the belief as a shield - Once you start believing something, you can settle back in your comfort zone and feel absolved of the responsibility to try something different. Plus you can hide behind it every time you are asked to try something new. So belief often becomes a façade for obsolescence and complacency.

4. Self-affirming phenomenon - The universe is an open field of potentiality. What you can imagine, what you want to believe, you start creating. In short, whatever you focus on becomes stronger. So if you believe you are creative, then your intent, your approach, as well as all that you attract in your life, including people and situations, work towards re-affirming your belief. Plus once you make a choice, you give up your right to the choice lying at the other end of the spectrum.

Ultimately, what we choose to believe is a decisive part of how we choose to experience life. So be careful of what you choose to believe in; it might just become a self fulfilling prophecy!