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ABOVE LIFE'S TURMOIL
James Allen
The Belief that Saves
As mentioned, your belief guides the path of your life. It is a part of who you are. But you must know that there are two kinds of beliefs. There is the head-belief and the heart-belief. Head of intellectual belief is a shallow version of one's belief. It is superficial, in a way. It does not mold your character, your being. But still, it is a part of you. For instance, a school girl Polly, is a part of a school organization. This group has a mission, vision, and core values to guide the members. At the start of every meeting, they recite their creed. Yes, the organization brought them together. But the character of each member is vastly different. Polly is dedicated to the organization. Meanwhile, another member, Brian, is loud and uncaring. He was only there since joining a school group was required. In other words, head belief is not influential to every person. This kind of belief is more about a person's intellectual opinion or preference.
The heart belief is totally different from the head belief. The heart belief is what you absolutely cling to and adore. These are the beliefs that you practice every day. Polly's heart belief is to be kind to everyone she meets. She loves dong this because she knows it makes other people's day. It is also her way of adding positivity to the world. She clings to kind gestures because her belief tells her to do so. The good Samaritan story also illustrates this point. Once, there was an injured man on the side of the road. It was clear that he needed help. A priest saw him, the priest made no move to help the man. The priest just continued on his journey. A few hours later, a Levite saw the injured man. The Levite also chose to ignore him and continued walking. The intellectual beliefs of the priest and the Levite were the same. They did not believe in mercy.
Why should they take pity on an injured man? And so, they acted on their belief. They ignored the injured man. The good Samaritan was the only one who helped the man. He had no intellectual beliefs. But he did not need any. The good Samaritan's heart belief told him to always help other people. And so, he acted on this belief accordingly. Every day, you are made to choose between two beliefs: belief in good and in evil. Choose to belief in good. It will translate into your actions and thoughts. Love and live with good beliefs. What you think about God, the Bible, etc., is important. These are your intellectual beliefs. But what is the most crucial is your heart belief. These are the actions you do. These are the thoughts you come up with. Your heart beliefs reflect your essence as a person.
Thought and Action
No action is done without you thinking about it. Just like a tree bearing fruit, your actions come from your thoughts. Your thoughts take their time. They grows silently. But once they are ready, they will manifest into actions. Rick has a stable job, and he is a family man. The neighbours love him. He is respectful and kind. But one day, there is a commotion in the neighborhood. Rick's wife is sobbing on her front lawn. It turns out Rick got fired from his job. He was caught embezzling money from the company. When he was caught, Rick immediately left town. His wife and kids were left hopeless and clueless. What do they do now?
People can be deceiving. Rick's idea of stealing from the company was not a sudden idea. He did not just wake up one day and decided to steal money. No, the idea was already forming in his head for months and even years. Rick's thought process was already wrong. The manifestation of this wrongness to action only appeared that day. Entertaining a bad thought is dangerous. It corrupts your mind. At first, you might be disgusted at how wrong it is. But then, you are unconsciously entertaining the idea. You think about it often. In the process, you are letting it occupy your mind constantly. Your character gets corrupted by the bad thought. This is similar to eating unhealthy food. Suppose you eat junk food almost every week. You complain that you are always getting pimples.
Your skin is dry and dull. You are always out of breath. It is because you are not treating your body right. Do you think you will be in top shape if you eat unhealthily? What you eat, your actions will reflect. Be careful with what you think. Make it your goal to observe your thought process every day. If you are truly good and pure, no amount of temptation can sway you. However, it is different if it is all just an act. Sooner or later, your true character will shine through. Write down your thoughts when you can, whether it be good or evil. Be active on having only pure, strong, and beautiful thoughts. When it is time for them to manifest, your actions will only be good.