Believe
“Why does everyone assume when I’m talking about belief, I’m talking about God? I don’t care what you believe – just… believe it!” – Reverend Book, in the movie Serenity
The quote above is the heart of this page. It’s from a scene in the movie Serenity, where intense action has occurred and things are at a critical juncture. The situation is dire. In that moment, the preacher character, who is a mentor and a friend, emphatically pleads with the main character, “I don’t care what you believe, just believe it!!”
I love the scene and the quote. What we know from the movie is that the Reverend Book character is both a holy man and also quite likely a phenomenally powerful former secret government operative. In his prior work, belief would have indeed been critical – and we see that play out for another operative by the end of the movie. True believers can be tremendously powerful.
If you're into movies, another quote jumps out from The Matrix. Toward the end of the movie, the lead character Neo says he is going back into the Matrix because he believes in something. Another lead character, Morpheus, has been taken hostage inside the Matrix, and Tank and Trinity are asking Neo why he wants to go back in. Neo declares simply, "I believe I can bring him back."
Faith isn’t for everyone, but belief is. Our belief in our own values, in our path, in our purpose – that can be an especially powerful driver. It can move people to great ends. In the movie Serenity noted above, the power of belief ends up causing a massive shift. It helps the main character stake his claim – to go after something he believes so deeply that he will put his own life on the line, and also willingly wreak great havoc on others’ lives along the way. The long term goal was believed to be worth it; believed to save future lives. The true believer can be incredibly effective, and also incredibly dangerous. They are a force to be reckoned with.
When you are clear on what you believe, you may find that you can be much more effective. It is a focusing element.
Our faith, our spirituality, our morality, our ethics – all of these are part of our beliefs. They are often the most fundamental parts of who we are on this planet, why we’re here, and what is important to each of us.
Identifying what you believe or what your organization believes is one of the core focus areas of countering fear. We do coaching that can help you sort out your most powerful, empowering, and motivating beliefs. Contact us or check out the Services. We can help to identify and work through limiting beliefs as part of finding a way forward, too. Values can be motivators too - here's a whole section on politics and values and framing. The blog posts and resources below tie to belief, soul stuff, the spiritual, possibly some accidental religion, and dreams and dream work because this seemed as good a place as any for dream stuff.
Here's a bit of what I believe as the founder here: We are all souls. Humanity will get through this pandemic. It will tranform us. We can all help influence that transformation. Plus what we do in the middle will help define who we are on the other side. There are risks; we have tools to address some of them and help each other forward. All of that is why this site is here. We go together.
Believe.
In the words of Vesuvius in The Lego Movie, "I know that sounds like a cat poster, but it's true."