Cracking The Code 9: Can You Become Aware Of Your Limiting Beliefs?

 

We’ve arrived at the finale, the last of Gregg Braden’s The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits, Belief Codes, 29 through 31. We’ve examined the seeming separate avenues of science and spirituality, concurrently engaged in an intricate dance concerning the energy and “stuff” of life and how it all works. Here, Braden covers the avenues we traverse as humans, to assist us in deciding what might work best on an individual and collective basis.

Belief Code 29: For different reasons that reflect the variations in the way we learn, both logic and miracles give us a way into the deepest recesses of our beliefs.

Let’s consider science to represent the logical mind. Here are several quotes that demonstrate that as modern science—particularly quantum mechanics, astrophysics, and ecology—has evolved, the classical view of a rigid "clockwork universe" has yielded to a model defined by impermanence, relationality, and underlying unity:

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness." — Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

"The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself." — Carl Sagan, Astrophysicist & Author

"Isolated material particles are abstractions, their properties being definable and observable only through their interaction with other systems." — Niels Bohr, Quantum Physics Pioneer

On the seemingly opposite end of the spectrum, let’s explore the realm of the miraculous. Contemplative traditions across centuries have consistently pointed toward the fluid, non-dual, and interconnected nature of reality, viewing the external universe and internal consciousness as mirrors of one another. Here are several quotes to show that this has been so over centuries:

"You don't come into this world. You come out of it, like a leaf from a tree, or a wave from the ocean. Every individual is a unique expression of the whole realm of nature." — Alan Watts, Philosopher & Interpreter of Eastern Thought

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao... The universe is forever making and unmaking itself. When you realize nothing is lacking, the whole world belongs to you." — Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love." — Meister Eckhart, 14th-Century Christian Mystic

Gregg Braden offers us a quote in his discussion of this belief code, attributed to the great philosopher William James at the end of the 19^th century: “The world we see that seems so insane, is the result of a belief system that is not working.”

I surmise that we can take his statement and simply put it on “repeat,” agreed?

So then, why don’t we “simply” change what we believe in? Could it be that if we question and possibly release the belief system that we’ve identified with, we wouldn’t know who we are?

Are you familiar with the term “attachment theory”? Here’s the explanation: “Within Attachment Theory, abused children often develop a disorganized attachment style. This occurs when the caregiver is both the source of fear and the only source of safety. When pulled away, the child's attachment system goes into overdrive, triggering intense panic and grief because they are losing the only caregiver they know, regardless of the danger that caregiver poses.” We’ve also heard this explained as Stockholm Syndrome.

My point is this. If your life isn’t working to a satisfactory degree, why then is it so hard to change the belief system that supports its continuance as such?

Could it be that it’s who we think we are? This is how we literally, powerfully, identify with our individual beliefs.

The next two Belief Codes take us down the two available avenues, suggesting that change is indeed possible if we are open to it.

Again, it is a choice

Belief Code 30: To change our beliefs through the logic of our minds, we must convince ourselves of a new possibility through inarguable facts that lead to an inescapable conclusion.

Consider this thought:

"The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter." — Sir James Jeans, Physicist & Astronomer

First, the avenue of logic. Mental gymnastics are a delight to many of us as we make concerted efforts to figure things out and understand how they work. I’ll raise my hand on this one as I initially struggled to make sense of my world, rejecting most notions that didn’t have at least some association with scientific research.

Braden explains that if you look at the universe as essentially a computer program, there is a logic patch that can fix glitches in the system. He explains it thus: “We can convince our conscious minds of a new belief through the power of logic. Once the mind sees a reason to think differently about the world, it will allow the heart to embrace that possibility as a new belief – that is, to feel that it is true.”

He takes the reader through the process of building a logic patch, using an “If, And, Then” format. It’s elegant, and it is one that you build, utilizing the logical approach which works for you.

I’ll copy one example Braden gives of this, as it echoes the logical mindset of Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four-minute mile. “He chose a goal that was clear and precise. It is rumored that he slipped a piece of paper in his shoe inscribed with the exact time which he chose to run: 3 minutes and 58 seconds.”

Here is the logic exercise Braden suggests that Bannister utilized:

IF: I can already run a mile in 4:01.

AND: All I need to do is run one second faster than I have run already to tie the record at 4:00.

AND: All I need to do is run one second faster than that to set a new record at 3:59.

THEN: I can do that! I can run just two seconds faster than I already do.

It reminds me of the adage: how does one eat an elephant?

One bite at a time!

Knowing all that we’ve explored about the science of quantum behavior, being willing to question and explore what you feel might be restraining your desires in life, imposing false limits, you can find the elements of a logic patch that will be embraced in mind, heart, and soul to create your world anew.

Finally, speaking of soul;

Belief Code 31: The power of a miracle is that we don’t have to understand why it works. We must, however, be willing to accept what it brings to our lives.

Now for the Miracle Patch: “We can bypass the logic of our minds altogether and go directly to our hearts. In this way, we don’t even need to think about what we believe. We’re forced to embrace a new belief in the presence of an experience that’s beyond rational explanation. This is the definition of a miracle.”

I have one I wish to share with you.

The picture above this article is one that I took in Tibet in April of 1994. The group I was part of consisted of international students and practitioners. We first converged in Nepal and then traveled to Tibet to study a healing modality known as Body Harmony.

For me, it was a life-changing experience. We visited a sky burial site, which is where the picture was taken. As there wasn’t a ceremony taking place, we were allowed to visit. In Tibetan Buddhism, these are sacred sites. This was a rare privilege that we were granted.

It was also there that I witnessed a miracle.

In the background of the picture, you see a behatted man, spinning a handheld prayer wheel and chanting. I captured him in that picture and one other. He looked directly towards me as I took the photos. I quickly decided to take one more, focusing exclusively on him as he was a dramatic subject in the stark setting. I raised my camera to take the picture.

He had vanished without a trace, no dust raised in an obviously dusty environment, no tracks left where he had been standing.

I turned to the Tibetan guide who was accompanying our group, the look on my face saying it all.

“Shape shifter,” he calmly replied.

I think that it was a miracle that I captured his assumed form in the two photos I took. He looked towards me, aware that I was taking a picture that included him.

And then, he was gone. There is no logical explanation.

Considering all that I had experienced in life up to that point, this was the exclamation point of everything that I was asking and learning. It was essentially the Universe giving me a literal wink and a nod. It was an event that appeared inexplicable by the laws of nature, the pure definition of a miracle.

Gregg Braden chooses to discuss historical miracles such as those performed by Jesus and Buddha, mass event versions such as occurred in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. He also shares several that he experienced both individually and, in a group, one involving the impossibility of a literal time warp.

I know that the version of me who began this journey 50 years ago would have scoffed, staying firmly entrenched in my skeptical outlook. I am so appreciative of my willingness to change, to be open to knowledge and beliefs that transcend my original position.

Which leads me to conclude our adventure with this suggestion: If you’ve been open to reading all these articles and they’ve had some impact or effect upon you, can you accept that as a sign that you might be ready to heal some of your prevailing beliefs? Are you willing to see that all notions of limits are defined and imposed by said beliefs?

Look at the world we’re living in, one where information can travel at the speed of light; where Artificial Intelligence is both a boon and a threat to virtually everything known to man.

It’s also a world where man is a boon and an obvious threat to everything known to nature and man.

I’ll leave you with three closing quotes that sum all of this up. I urge you to follow any spark that might be lighting your way, even if it wasn’t observed or recognized before.

Thank you for your attention.

"The universe does not exist 'out there,' independent of us. We are inescapably involved in bringing about that which appears to be happening. We are not only observers. We are participators." — John Archibald Wheeler, Theoretical Physicist

"You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop." — Rumi, 13th-Century Sufi Poet & Mystic

"Multiplicity is only apparent. In truth, there is only one mind."— Erwin Schrödinger, Nobel Laureate in Physics

Cracking The Code 8: Can You Become Aware Of Your Limiting Beliefs?

Welcome back to our penultimate discussion of Gregg Braden’s The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits, Belief Codes 25 through 28. These will blend the seemingly esoteric, spiritual nature of our shared experience called “life” along with scientific observation and experiments. I will also share some personal experiences from my life/story, as I have been uncovering much of this layer by layer over time. Most of this occurred on only a semi-conscious basis as I was still buried in my own limiting beliefs.

Belief Code 25: In a participatory reality, we are creating our experience, as well as experiencing what we have created.

John Wheeler (1911 – 2008), professor emeritus at Princeton, articulated his concept of the "participatory universe" across several writings and lectures on quantum mechanics and cosmology.

·         On the shift from "observer" to "participant":

"'Participant' is the incontrovertible new concept given by quantum mechanics. It strikes down the 'observer' of classical theory, the man who stands safely behind the thick glass wall and watches what goes on without taking part. It can't be done, quantum mechanics says... May the universe in some sense be 'brought into being' by the participation of those who participate?"

·         On how reality and observation are linked:

"The universe does not 'exist, out there' independent of all acts of observation. Instead, it is in some strange sense a participatory universe."

·         On the feedback loop of quantum reality:

"Physics gives rise to observer-participancy; observer-participancy gives rise to information; and information gives rise to physics."

I want to give you some personal background as a prelude to sharing two experiences that have resonated with me over the past four decades. Apparently, I was unusually intelligent as a small child, being brought around as part of a not-so-wonderful example of “show and tell” at the Catholic school I attended from kindergarten through eighth grade. I was dragged in front of the oldest children in their classroom, directed to read one of their science books to them as an example of how they were failing in the teacher’s eyes.

I was six years old.

When they tested me to determine my IQ, something was communicated to my parents that was explained to me years later. Where you’ll find that most people have a proclivity towards either an analytical or a creative way of observing and expressing themselves, I was essentially a 50/50 split. It was explained that this was fairly unusual. This will help explain a few events, as I somewhat unconsciously set out on a quest to understand who/what I was and how this all worked.

In the late 1970’s I met a professional woman who was introducing me to a technique called conscious connected breathing.  It wasn’t easy; I gave it a sincere effort. At one point she looked at me while teaching a class and told me, point blank, “You know that you’re creating all of this, right? You do create your own reality.”

My analytical side immediately protested. This was hardcore, “See it, touch it” reality. I basically laughed at her but continued the training.

Several years later, I found myself much further down a spiritual path. A friend who I had known for many years revealed to me that his wife was a trance channel. I advised him that he should go seek professional help for his wife’s psychological affliction.

But it was true. I got to experience it many times over the years, both as a witness and a participant. My analytical/creative split was essentially in a screaming war with each other every time I entered this realm.

At one point, as I was engaged in questioning with “spirit,” I was told in no uncertain terms that everything that I was experiencing was created and drawn to myself. I screamed, “Would I be doing this to myself if I knew what I was doing?”

The answer came back, “Exactly.”

That was more than 40 years ago. What I’ve learned and further experienced since then has shown me beyond any doubt that this is, indeed, a participatory universe.

My analytical side is quite happy that a distinguished professor such as John Wheeler agreed with this and put it “out there” into this world.

Belief Code 26: In 1998, scientists confirmed that photons are influenced just by being “watched” and discovered that the more intense the watching, the greater the watcher’s influence on how the particles behaved.

I am going to give you brief, impactful synopses of experiments through recent times concerning the nature of the quantum universe of which we are part and whole. The original double-slit experiment took place in 1909. The updated 1998 experiment, spelled out below, is core to this Belief Code. Keep all this in mind as you read these purely scientific results concerning observation in time and space:

1998: Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel (led by Eyal Buks, Rafael de-Picciotto, Moty Heiblum, and colleagues) conducted a landmark, highly controlled version of the double-slit experiment using electrons. Published in Nature (February 1998), this study moved the double-slit experiment from a thought experiment into precise real-world physics.

The Setup

• Microscopic Slits: The researchers built a microscopic electronic circuit on a semiconductor chip (less than a micron in size) featuring a barrier with two paths for electrons to travel through.
• The Quantum "Observer": Instead of a human eye, they placed a quantum point contact (QPC) next to one of the paths to act as an electronic detector. The QPC measured whether an electron passed through that specific path by detecting its electric charge.
• Adjustable Detection: Crucially, scientists could turn the detector's sensitivity up or down—effectively tuning the "amount of observation" being performed.

Experimental Results

• No Detection (Observer Off): When the QPC detector was turned off or kept at zero sensitivity, the electrons traveled as waves through both paths simultaneously, producing a clear wave interference pattern.
• Full Detection (Observer On): When the QPC was set to clearly detect every passing electron, the interference pattern completely disappeared. The electrons collapsed into behaving purely as individual particles taking one defined path.
• Partial Detection (Continuous Scale): As researchers gradually increased the detector's sensitivity, the wave interference pattern progressively faded. There was a direct mathematical tradeoff between path information and interference strength.

What It Proved

• Observation Alters Physical Reality: The experiment directly demonstrated that the act of measuring or extracting "which-way" information physically collapses a quantum system's wave function.
• "Observation" Requires No Consciousness: It proved that an observer does not need to be a human consciousness or a large macro-object. Any physical interaction or measurement device capable of recording path information alters the quantum behavior.
• Wave-Particle Duality Is Continuous: Instead of a simple "wave OR particle" toggle, the experiment showed that quantum behavior transitions smoothly along a spectrum depending on how much information is extracted by the environment.
• Decoherence as the Cause: It demonstrated quantum decoherence—the loss of quantum wave behavior occurs because the quantum system becomes entangled with its detector/environment, leaking path information out into the surrounding world.

2015: Wheeler’s Delayed Choice with Massive Matter - While earlier delayed-choice tests used light (photons), Manning et al. (Australian National University, 2015) brought John Wheeler's original 1978 gedanken experiment to life using entire atoms.

·         How it worked: Single helium atoms were dropped through a grid formed by laser beams. After the atom passed through the first decision point, a computer randomly generated a switch to either recombine the paths (testing wave behavior) or leave them separate (testing particle behavior).

 

·         What it proved: The helium atom—a physical, massive chunk of matter—behaved as a wave or a particle based on a decision made after it had already crossed the first junction. As lead researcher Andrew Truscott put it, "It proves that measurement is everything. At the quantum level, reality does not exist if you are not looking at it."

2023: The "Double-Slit in Time" Experiment - Physicists at Imperial College London (Tirole, Sapienza, et al.) achieved a temporal twist on Young's classic experiment.

·         How it worked: Instead of cutting two narrow openings in space (a physical wall), they used ultrafast lasers to rapidly change the optical properties of a thin material (indium tin oxide) twice in femtosecond successions—creating two slits in time.

 

·         What it proved: When light bounced off the material, the temporal double-slit did not alter the light's direction in space; instead, it changed the light’s frequency (color). The light waves interfered with themselves across time, producing interference fringes in the frequency spectrum.

If you’ve never explored any of this, you’ll at least admit that we as humans have been utterly fascinated by these possibilities and potentials. In closing out this Belief Code, I’ll give you five modern films to check out and the quantum principles that they explore:

·         Mr. Nobody (2009): Quantum Branching, Wave Function Superposition, Choice as Measurement

·         Coherence (2013): Quantum Superposition, Decoherence, Schrödinger's Cat

·         Interstellar (2014): Participatory Universe, Information ("It from bit"), Higher Dimensions

·         Tenet (2020): Retrocausality, Delayed-Choice Dynamics, Information Inversion

·         Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022): Superposition, Quantum Entanglement, Many-Worlds Interpretation

Belief Code 27: The prime rule of reality is that we must become in our lives what we choose to experience in the world.

Albert Einstein spent a considerable portion of his professional life at Princeton University, very close to where I live. At one point, after reading “Einstein: His Life and Universe” by Walter Isaacson, I travelled to 112 Mercer Street, his rented home, to simply sit on the front porch steps by myself. I wanted to try and feel the energy of the man who lived there, who offered these quotes in his search for a unified field theory:

"I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts. The rest are details."

"Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the Old One. I, at any rate, am convinced that He does not throw dice."

"What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world; that is, whether the requirement of logical simplicity admits any freedom at all."

"Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not."

"I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God who concerns Himself with the fate and the doings of mankind."

This deep thinker, a man who literally changed the world, became, to me, a symbol of the maxim, “Seek but do not find,” a dictum of the ego mind as spelled out in A Course In Miracles, a book that I’ve begrudgingly studied over many years, throwing it away several times. He never found the driving force of his life; the unified field theory.

"I cannot stop working. I would have to give up everything else, for the problem is so beautiful."

"I have locked myself into a mathematical prison... Most of my colleagues consider me an old fool for spending my time on this, but I cannot do otherwise."

"What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world; that is, whether the requirement of logical simplicity admits any freedom at all."

"I have set myself a task to which I must devote my remaining strength... Even if the probability of success is small, the attempt must be made."

So then, do we choose what we wish to experience in the world? I once asked during a channeling session if the vitamins and supplements that I was taking were working for me. The answer was, “If you think that they do, they do.”

That answer has played in my mind for decades. In deep examination, I know that I have become what I chose to experience: a skeptic who tended to traverse the path less taken so that I could gain knowing and find peace. It’s been far from easy, but I know that it was what I chose, what I focused upon.

This leads directly into our final Belief Code for today;

Belief Code 28: We tend to experience in life what we identify with in our beliefs.

What exactly is a belief?

“At its core, a belief is a mental state in which an individual accepts a proposition or premise as true or real, regardless of whether objective empirical evidence or absolute proof exists to back it up.

In philosophy, cognitive science, and psychology, a belief is considered the foundational building block of human thought and behavior.”

To me, a thought that you repeatedly think, especially with emotional conviction, entrenches itself as an observable pattern and thus becomes a belief.

Now, how are they formed?

·         Direct Experience: Learning through direct physical observation or personal interaction (e.g., believing fire is hot because you touched a hot stove).

·         Authority & Social Transmission: Accepting information from trusted sources—parents, cultural traditions, scientists, or institutional leaders—without verifying every claim personally.

·         Inference & Logic: Deducing new conclusions from previously established beliefs or evidence.

·         Emotional & Psychological Needs: Adopting beliefs because they provide comfort, order, belonging, or a sense of purpose (such as religious, ideological, or personal self-concept beliefs).

Let’s address the types of beliefs:

·         Core Beliefs: Fundamental, deeply ingrained views about self, others, and the world that are hard to change. ("The world is fundamentally safe" or "I am capable.")

·         Dispositional Beliefs: Latent opinions or convictions you hold, even if you aren't actively thinking about them. (Believing that 2 + 2 = 4 or that your hometown still exists.)

·         Empirical Beliefs: Convictions based on observation, testing, and sensory evidence. (Believing water freezes at 0°C (32°F).)

·         Value / Normative Beliefs: Convictions about ethics, aesthetics, or how things should be. (Believing fairness is a fundamental virtue.)

Finally, in this examination, let’s address the spectrum that this encompasses:

·         Fact: An objective, verifiable reality in the physical world.

·         Belief: The internal acceptance of a proposition (which may align with facts, clash with facts, or concern subjects where facts cannot apply).

·         Faith: A specific subtype of belief held with strong conviction, often in the absence of empirical proof or direct tangible evidence.

After reading and thinking about this, stop and ask yourself this question: Where exactly did my beliefs come from?

If you are uncertain, you can examine your life experiences to date and find many threads that will lead you back to their source. This is exactly what this Belief Code addresses.

I assume that if you’ve stuck with me this far in reading these articles examining Gregg Braden’s Belief Codes, you are open to “shattering the paradigm of false limits.” If so, I am happy for you because it takes a conscious choice to look back without judgement and ask questions. You are choosing to become a more conscious observer!

We have one final article that will cover the final three Belief Codes and wrap up this series. I look forward to sharing this with you.

Cracking The Code 7: Can You Become Aware Of Your Limiting Beliefs?

 

Buckle up because we’re going to get a bit esoteric here. Gregg Braden’s The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits moves into serious contemplation and questions concerning the life force of which you, I, everyone, and everything are “made.” Remember that the author was a serious and dedicated professional in both earth sciences and computer technology who was drawn to examine ancient and modern spiritual practices and beliefs from his unique point of view. What then follows is no great surprise.

Belief Code 21: The same principles that allow us to hurt ourselves into death also work in reverse, allowing us to heal ourselves into life.

Recall the examination we had concerning “As above, so below” as it relates to the greater unseen energy of life. The notion of separation can be shown to be an illusion enforced by our limited perception.

How limited are we talking about? I’ll give you two practical examples:

VISION: Human vision is trichromatic: we rely on 3 types of color photoreceptor cells (cones) sensitive to red, green, and blue wavelengths. Combining these allows us to perceive millions of shades of color.

The mantis shrimp possesses 12 to 16 distinct photoreceptor types. This detects deep ultraviolet light as well as wavelengths far beyond human capability and both linear and circular polarized light. Circular polarization detection is extremely rare in nature; it allows mantis shrimp to perceive subtle signal reflections from other organisms and shell patterns underwater that appear completely plain to human eyes.

SOUND: The human ear typically hears frequencies between  and . Beyond these boundary lines lie whole acoustic worlds.

There’s Infrasound (): Elephants, whales, and rhinos communicate across vast distances using low-frequency acoustic waves that pass through ground and dense forest. Humans might feel these as low vibrations, but cannot hear the acoustic content.

There’s also Ultrasound (): Microbats emit chirps up to  or higher. Their brains process the returning acoustic echoes to construct three-dimensional, real-time spatial topographies of moving prey as small as mosquitoes.

So, perception is the way we “read” the world and give it meaning, thus creating our life/story. The same interaction with another person or event can be interpreted as either joyful or profoundly sad. It depends on how you see it; that’s how you create it for yourself.

Taking the previous example of the loss of a spouse, it can spur the surviving member to focus on loss, grieving until the depletion of their life force and ultimate passing. On the other hand, looking back and holding dear all the treasured moments shared with their partner can serve as an inspiration, love personified.

It’s the choice of perception of the exact same event. It all depends on how one chooses to see it, and thus either separate further from the energy of life or let it flow with appreciation. Our beliefs will partially or completely dictate the choice made, consciously or otherwise.

Belief Code 22: Our belief in one force for everything that happens in the world, or two opposite and opposing forces – good and evil – plays out in our experience of life, health, relationships, and abundance.

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."

— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."

— Francis Bacon

"There is no position of non-alignment in the battle between good and evil. Not to choose is to choose."

— Elie Wiesel

"Good and evil are twin born; one cannot exist without the other."

— Ursula K. Le Guin

"There are two forces in the universe: one is for creation, one is for destruction. Every day, every hour, every minute, you have to choose which one you intend to serve."

— Deepak Chopra

"Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves in thought as twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action. Between these two, the wise choose rightly; not so the unwise."

— Zarathustra (Zoroaster), Yasna 30.3 (Gathas)

You can see that the belief in opposing forces, in good and evil, has essentially been around forever. But here’s the thing: we talked earlier about the discovery of the unified quantum field and the virtually “impossible” nature of it, which is becoming increasingly harnessed in quantum computing and AI.

There is no separation within the quantum field. But it does have contrast, things such as matter and anti-matter, for example. Thus, in our journey of perception, supported by and impacting the quantum field of which we are part and parcel, we engage in contrast as we author our life/stories; The most common element playing out is “good vs. evil.”

The choices we make, consciously or otherwise, will determine the chapters we create, the experiences we have, and the other people who “play” with us as our stories intersect.

Belief Code 23: To heal the ancient battle between darkness and light, we may find that it’s less about defeating one or the other, and more about choosing our relationship to both.

Judgement.

My, do we reflexively engage in judgement! It’s essentially an automatic reflex in humankind, whether it is experienced in traffic, while following the news, watching sports, or talking about family members; the list is inexhaustible.

But here is a question posed to me long ago, one that has remained a constant in my conscious experience of life:

Would you rather be right, or happy?

Judgement gets directly into the teeth of the previous Belief Code, right vs. wrong. If you choose right, from your perception, you’ll encounter occasion after occasion where you’ll need to defend that state of “rightness.” Judgment does that, magnetizes that response to you.

The quantum field makes it so by the power of your focus. Braden states five facts to support this and the impact that this has upon our life and our bodies:

·         Fact 1: The beliefs and feelings that we hold in our hearts are having an ongoing discussion with our brains in each moment of every day.

·         Fact 2: During that dialogue, our hearts tell our brains to send “love chemistry” or “fear chemistry” into our bodies.

·         Fact 3: Chronic love chemistry affirms and perpetuates life in our bodies.

·         Fact 4: Chronic fear chemistry denies life in our bodies.

·         Fact 5: To internalize the belief that two forces with different agendas are battling is to invite the combat into our bodies and our lives.

So, as I learned in simple terms long ago, would you rather be right, or happy?

It is a choice.

Belief Code 24: A miracle that’s possible for anyone is possible for everyone.

Ah, the legendary quest for the four-minute mile. The record had stood at 4:01.4 for a decade before 1954. Expert commentators, coaches, and medical professionals began to frame the four-minute threshold as an absolute physiological wall. Doctors quoted “heart rupture and over-expansion, extreme asphyxiation and oxygen debt, and frictional resistance of air and track” as factual proof that it could not be done.

On May 6, 1954, 25-year-old medical student Roger Bannister ran the mile at Oxford's Iffley Road track in 3:59.4.

Just 46 days later (June 21, 1954), Australian runner John Landy broke Bannister's record with a time of 3:58.0.

By the end of 1955: 3 more runners (László Tábori, Chris Chataway, and Brian Hewson) joined the sub-4 club—all breaking it in a single legendary race in London.

Within 2.5 years (End of 1956): A total of 10 runners had achieved sub-four-minute miles.

By 1957: The number rose to 16 runners.

Why?

Why did what was once deemed “impossible” begin to become, dare I say, somewhat ordinary?

Mankind first flew at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903. It covered 120 feet in 12 seconds.

Powered by a speech to Congress by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961, stating, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth," on July 20, 1969, 2,978 days later, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon.

Exactly 65 years, 7 months, and 3 days (or 23,957 days) passed between the Wright brothers' first powered flight and Neil Armstrong stepping onto the Moon. That’s about one typical human lifetime.

So, a miracle is only a miracle until it isn’t.

I’ll borrow a quote by philosopher Neville Goddard that Gregg Braden shares in his book to wrap this article with:

“Each person is born with an infinite power, against which no earthly force is of the slightest significance.”

Due to travel, I’ll conclude this series next week with two more articles that cover the remaining seven Belief Codes. I appreciate your attention.

Choose to stay (mostly) conscious!

Cracking The Code 6: Can You Become Aware Of Your Limiting Beliefs?

 

The next four Belief Codes from Gregg Braden’s The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits begin to move us into the deep end of the emotional pool concerning our beliefs and how they play out in our life/stories. I’ll share some personal examples illustrating this. If you potentially wish to benefit, I suggest that if you feel any flashes of memory beginning to consciously bubble up, allow it to happen.

Belief Code 17: Many of our most deeply held beliefs are subconscious and begin when our brain state allows us to absorb the ideas of others before the age of seven.

I’m going to get a bit scientific with you to illustrate the common ground that the vast majority of human beings experience as part of the growth process. It concerns neuroplasticity.

“Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections and pruning unused ones. While adults maintain plasticity throughout life, the young brain operates in a hyper-flexible state known as developmental plasticity.”

“During the early years, the brain is actively constructing its core architecture based on incoming experiences. At birth, a newborn's brain has roughly 86 billion neurons, but relatively few connections between them.

• Explosive Growth: Between birth and age 2 to 3, the brain creates over 1 million new neural connections every second.
• Peak Density: By age 2, a child's brain has nearly twice as many synapses as an adult brain. This dense network allows young children to absorb vast amounts of environmental information effortlessly.”

I’m aware that you might be somewhat familiar with this scientific concept, but I think that in spelling it out we will gain some insight into the mechanics of forming beliefs.

“The brain cannot efficiently run a massive, unorganized network indefinitely. Starting in early childhood and continuing through adolescence, the brain begins synaptic pruning:

‘Use it or lose it.’ Pathways that are frequently activated (like language, movement, or emotional response patterns) are reinforced with stronger insulation (myelination). Pathways that go unused are trimmed away to make processing faster and more energy-efficient.”

So how do we discover, or more precisely, uncover these foundational threads that were adapted, adopted, or forced upon us in our formative years?

Belief Code 18: In our greatest challenges of life we often find that our deeply hidden beliefs are exposed and available for healing.

"The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed."

— Joseph Campbell

Here’s a personal story that illustrates how a seemingly insignificant choice of behavior by a parent can alter the course of one’s life/story. My paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Italy. My father was the oldest male child in a family of four with all of the implications inherent for someone born in 1927. He married my mother in 1952, she was of mostly German descent. I was the first male grandchild born in the family with all of the implications that might hold in 1956.

My father was fluent in Italian, as was his entire family. Naturally, that meant that I was going to learn to speak the language, being around them often while being raised. Considering what we just covered concerning neuroplasticity, I do not doubt that my rapidly expanding brain would have taken to it quite naturally.

“Not so fast,” said my mother. I was an American, not an Italian! There would be no molding me to learn any foreign tongue, period. Other than picking up the Italian curse words on the sly, I did not learn to speak the language. The unconscious prejudice this formed in me would have dramatic consequences.

I was a top student through grammar school and high school… except for required foreign language courses. I “survived” the required two years of Spanish, getting the minimum passing grade mostly as an act of mercy by my teachers because they knew that I was trying. That cost me becoming valedictorian, much to the chagrin of my family.

It gets “better.” I was accepted into all three universities that I applied to, including Marquette, one of the foremost schools for journalism in the 1970s. That was absolutely what I wanted my career to encompass.

Instead, I chose my state university, Rutgers, a very good school. Why? They didn’t require taking any foreign language classes as a requirement. I’m not joking; that was the reason that I stayed home and went to Rutgers.

Being home, that put me into the emotional crosshairs of my parents’ failing marriage, which I was drawn into as deeply as could be, eventually leading to me threatening to kill my father and then remaining home to support my mother through her subsequent nervous breakdown. I never made the leap into journalism as I had hoped.

And the roots of this? My mother’s edict that I was an American and would not be taught Italian by my father’s family. That’s my personal illustration of the power of belief and the challenges faced in order to have its deep, hidden roots brought to light.

Belief Code 19: Our beliefs about unresolved hurt can create physical effects with the power to damage or even kill us.

I’ve found that it is far easier to recognize the “faults and foibles” in other people’s lives and the effects that they spawn rather than to recognize those same faults and flaws in our own. I do my very best not to cast judgment on others because, as we’ll discuss further on in this series, that is an energetic invitation for similar judgment to be inflicted upon ourselves.

One of the most common observations that is generally accepted by society concerns what occurs when one spouse in a lengthy marriage dies and leaves their partner behind. If the surviving spouse is utterly distraught and cannot comprehend life without the deceased partner, does it shock anyone when they die of a “broken heart?” Even with a youngster losing a parent early in life, is it shocking to witness negative ramifications that result in the child’s life as it unfolds?

I believe in the power of beliefs spoken with conviction. When someone tells me, “Cancer runs in my family,” I see that as an almost expected result, proving them to be both “right” and also “loyal” to the family story. I know that some may find this statement controversial or even somewhat unfeeling, but I have seen this play out in many different forms over my lifetime. It has caused me to examine my own unresolved, unforgiven hurts, of which I have been less-than-conscious, to heal them.

The final Belief Code we’ll cover concerns the “language of the soul”:

Belief Code 20: When our soul hurts, the pain is transmitted into the body as the spiritual quality of the life force that we feed into each cell.

From Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005):

Before the labor begins, a medical droid reports her condition to Obi-Wan and Yoda:

Medical Droid: "Medically, she is completely healthy. For reasons we can't explain, we are losing her."

Obi-Wan Kenobi: "She's dying?"

Medical Droid: "We don't know why. She has lost the will to live. We must operate quickly if we are to save the babies."

Padmé is conscious but visibly fading as the medical droids assist her in labor. Obi-Wan holds her hand, offering comfort.

• The Boy: Padmé groans in pain and delivers a baby boy.

Padmé: (gasping) "Luke..."

The droid wipes the crying child and hands him briefly toward Padmé before Obi-Wan takes him.

• The Girl: Moments later, Padmé gives another push as a second child is born.

Padmé: "Leia..."

She touches her daughter briefly before the droid steps back to care for the newborn.

With her strength nearly gone, Padmé calls out to Obi-Wan. She reaches up, grabbing his hand and placing her japor snippet pendant into his palm (or holding his hand tightly in her final moments).

Padmé: "Obi-Wan... there's good in him. I know. I know there's... still..."

She passes away silently, her hand slipping from Obi-Wan's grasp as the heart monitor flatlines. Obi-Wan gently strokes her hair, mourning both her death and the total collapse of his brother, Anakin.

I know it’s “just a movie,” but the powerful context of watching a mother, although healthy, surrender life while giving birth due to the overwhelming pain in her soul illustrates this perfectly.

Would you rather consider numerous examples from the Bard, Shakespeare? Lady Macbeth’s unbearable guilt leading to her doctor’s conclusion, "More needs she the divine than the physician."

You can add Ophelia, King Lear, and Enobarbus for good measure.

See, we “know” this and always have. But do we wish to admit it?

The flip side is “What you don’t know won’t/can’t hurt you” but I also offer you the modern context on this: “While historically used to comfort someone or advise against worrying about hidden problems, today the phrase is often used with a touch of irony or cynicism—frequently cited as a justification for hiding uncomfortable truths or keeping someone in the dark.”

Many feel that the body is the mirror of the soul. Considering the exploration we’re doing of the all-inclusive quantum field and its language, my thought is that the soul will always be heard and expressed.

So now you know.

More to come; stay tuned.

Cracking The Code 5: Can You Become Aware Of Your Limiting Beliefs?

 

Welcome back! The next four Belief Codes from Gregg Braden’s The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits will have you examining what you think, what you feel, what it “means,” and how that meaning is transmitted to the world. The “nitty” now begins to get “gritty” as we proceed.

Belief Code 13: Belief is defined as the certainty that comes from accepting what we think is true in our minds, coupled with what we feel is true in our hearts.

If you’ve experienced enough living here on planet Earth, I’d bet that you’ve had occasions when you were supposed to do something that just didn’t feel “right.” It was even hard to define exactly why this was because the odds were probably great that it was something that you had done before, something that was commonly accepted as “truth” or “fact,” but it wasn’t consciously flowing this time.

Your brain and heart were not in agreement. Something in your “gut” was causing a hesitation, a questioning. And if you had experienced this previously and you decided to push on through that initial hesitation, how did it work out?

Moving forward, you’ll see the actual importance that mind and heart alignment plays in facilitating powerful belief, the kind that registers as “When you know, you know.” That is what certainty is, and it can move mountains.

Belief Code 14: Belief is expressed in the heart, where our experiences are translated into the electrical and magnetic waves that interact with the physical world.

When I asked about the specifics of the forces produced in and around the human heart, this is what I received: “The human heart is the strongest generator of bioelectricity and biomagnetism in the human body. Every heartbeat is driven by a coordinated electrical signal, and like any electrical current in physics, that movement of charge generates an accompanying magnetic field.”

If you’ve ever taken an electrocardiogram, it’s measuring the electrical activity that travels through the body's conductive tissues and fluids. This is standard stuff.

The cardiac magnetic field is relatively weak, about 100,000 times weaker than the Earth’s geomagnetic field. Extremely sensitive sensors (like SQUID magnetometers inside magnetically shielded rooms) can detect the heart's magnetic signal a few feet away from the chest but it drops off dramatically beyond that short distance.

The important thing is to absolutely know that these fields do exist in and around you. If you’ve ever had events occur that are joyous, have you noticed the expanded, high-energy feeling in your chest?

And on the opposite end, in very sad or tragic times, have you uttered the words, “My heart hurts”?

I watched many emotional reactions to anthems and patriotic displays from around the world during the recently completed World Cup. The belief in their respective teams was evident in people’s faces as they wore their “hearts on their sleeves.” This is an example of powerful, emotional beliefs, translated into the physical world. They truly are “heartfelt,” indeed.

Belief Code 15: Beliefs, and the feelings that we have about them, are the language that “speaks” to the quantum stuff that makes our reality.

The very first Belief Code we covered discussed experiments proving that the focus of attention changes reality itself. Belief Code 4 told of the particles that all things (ourselves included) are made of, and can be in instantaneous communication with one another, in two places at once, and change the past via present choices.

Isn’t a belief, especially a powerfully held one felt and accepted in mind and heart, an observation about something or someone? And what then is the power of observation, of focused attention, “speaking” to?

I will let you ponder that question. Your consideration may illuminate some new avenues of thought about life in general, and your life in particular.

Belief Code 16: The subconscious mind is larger and faster than the conscious mind, and can account for as much as 90 percent of our activity each day.

"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate." — Carl Jung

"The subconscious mind works day and night, by a method of procedure unknown to the conscious mind." — Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

"The law of your mind is this: You will tend to get the reaction or response from your subconscious mind corresponding to the nature of the thought or belief you hold in your conscious mind." — Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

"Your subconscious doesn't argue with you. It accepts what your conscious mind decrees. If you say, 'I can't afford it,' your subconscious mind works to make sure it remains true." — Joseph Murphy

"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude." — William James

"Whatever your conscious mind assumes and believes to be true, your subconscious will accept and bring to pass." — E. Stewart Wilde

By and large, we tend to live our lives on cruise control. Watch the oversized reaction when a normal, habitual routine such as commuting to work gets interrupted by some event that seems to be out of one’s control. You can envision a person’s circuits being blown, mental synapses frying before your eyes. The unconscious program that the subconscious mind was in charge of running has gone temporarily haywire.

It’s a good thing that we don’t often think about needing to control our breathing! That going offline would not be pleasant.

I’ve added the quotes above to highlight the power and importance of harnessing one’s subconscious mind, to think about what we’re thinking about more consciously. This is not a new subject, but it is one that not too many people make an effort to attend to for a plethora of reasons, many of which are associated with beliefs that are not serving us well.

We’ll dive deeper into this in our next installment.

Cracking The Code 4: Can You Become Aware Of Your Limiting Beliefs?

 

We’re going to cover the next four Belief Codes from Gregg Braden’s The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits today. These will move from additional clarification on the presence of patterns throughout nature to the “key” that can fashion or alter those patterns.

Belief Code 9: If the universe is made of repeating patterns, then to understand something on a small scale provides a powerful window into similar forms on a grand scale.

Have you ever come across the adage, “As above, so below”? If so, are you aware where it may have originated? It’s a modern paraphrase of a passage from the Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina), a cryptic ancient text that serves as a cornerstone of Hermeticism and Western alchemy.

From my research, the earliest known written records of the Emerald Tablet appear in Arabic works attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan and the Kitāb sirr al-khəlīqa ("Book of the Secret of Creation"). The original verse stated that elements above and below derive from one another to perform the wonders of the One Thing. The picture above is of a 1609 engraving of the Emerald Tablet.

Are you also aware of who else was very interested in this? Issac Newton, who translated it this way (from the Latin): "That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below..."

“As above, so below” was more popularized in the late 1800’s by writers and occultists, so you might say that it has some “staying power.” Given what we recognize about fractals in nature, you can perhaps understand why this continues to the present.

Belief Code 10: Belief is the “program” that creates patterns in reality.

I must admit that I enjoy doing the research to help illustrate these Belief Codes. This one really gets to the heart of the matter: What is a belief?

My AI companion, Gemini, gave me this: “At its most fundamental level, a belief is a mental state or attitude in which a person holds a proposition or premise to be true, regardless of whether objective evidence supports it.”

“Beliefs serve as the internal "map" we use to navigate reality, shaping how we interpret experiences, make decisions, and construct our identity.”

And to really dive deep, there are three dimensions to belief:

Epistemic (Knowledge): Beliefs framed around truth claims or facts about the world. ("I believe the Earth orbits the Sun.")

Evaluative (Values): Beliefs rooted in ethics, aesthetics, or moral judgments. ("I believe fairness is essential for a good society.")

Relational (Trust): Beliefs centered on faith, confidence, or reliance on a person, system, or deity. ("I believe in my friend's ability to succeed.")

These are the “programs” that mankind operates (in a mostly unconscious fashion) in the physical reality we call Earth. Most do not wish to examine them closely because they have the power to make one question who they really are and what their life is all about. Once that happens, preconceived notions about everything begin to quake and potentially shatter. But if you happen to “go there” and risk that;

Belief Code 11: What we believe to be true in life may be more powerful than what others accept as truth.

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right.” – Henry Ford

I’ve been aware of this quote forever. When I did a deeper dive, I got: “It describes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your belief about your ability dictates your outcome. If you believe you will succeed, your mindset drives you to overcome obstacles. If you believe you will fail, you give up before you start—making both predictions correct”

This puts an entirely different framework around one’s life. Again, I contend that life is story, and that the stories which we “tell” ourselves are mostly of an unconscious nature. 

• “It’s always been like that for my family.” 
• “Everything always seems to work out for me, I guess!” 
• “The odds are stacked against you. Why even bother?”

Do you ever wonder while observing others how they could think, feel, or be “that way” in light of what seems to be common knowledge or truth? If you’ve never thought about it in this fashion before, this might illuminate answers for you. And so;

Belief Code 12: We must accept the power of belief to tap it in our lives.

“Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

A deeper dive into Mr. Lincoln and his philosophy brought me this: “Lincoln was reflecting on human attitude and perception. While he didn't believe people could simply ‘choose’ what facts to believe, he did recognize that emotional state and perspective are largely a choice. Whatever emotional reality you decide to hold onto, that becomes your lived experience.”

As we continue in this examination, we’ll see thought and evidence mount up to illustrate that belief truly is an incredible power. We’ve seen in current history what can occur as beliefs become deliberately molded and cajoled into place en masse. Those who choose to do this fully understand the power of belief, and the will to wield it.

In closing this entry, I’ll revert to where we began: As above, so below.

With deliberate consideration, you can consciously tap into this and alter/change your life/story.

More to come!