I am reading Tales of Power again. I am also in a Castaneda group which is on Facebook. In there, was a post about beliefs. Interesting enough, I just got done reading about Max the Cat from the story some may know well.
Ultimately, the topic of beliefs coming up was interesting. Beliefs get a bad wrap, in lieu of being a part of programming. And yes, some beliefs can hold us back, esp if they are false. Like we have science nowadays and in the year 2015 we have learned a lot. Stories telling of floods for example, dont really wash in what science has taught us. So with science, many beliefs of old are beginning to disappear from peoples minds.
However, back to Tales of Power. Max the Cat. Carlos and his friend were taking two cats to be put to sleep. One with no name in the book, which went happily to its death. Trusting its owner when she took it to the vet. He held Max in the car, and looked into his eyes. He felt a connection, and let Max go. Max may have died in a sewer. Carlos did not know.
But don Juan told him, he 'need to believe" that Max survived. And this was the difference in believing, and needing to believe something. This was important for Carlos.
Now, what the truth was may or may not be he lived. Carlos was left with an unknown. But don Juan felt it imperative, that he believed he lived. He needed to. He needed this. And this did not seem much of an option for Carlos.
So sometimes we 'need to believe' in something. Life without any beliefs is a pretty drab, empty one. We also need hope to. I know, this was an ill of Pandora's Box. But hope sustains us. However, hope also can be an act of power. We can take hope and run with it. This is also something we need.
We are human beings, and we are also luminous beings. We are pretty damn exquisite. Powerful. Wonderful. Spiritual. We can do many things. And we have done things believing in ourselves. We have done things with belief, like write great stories and myths, to tell deeper truths. Ultimately from this, I dont think believing is such a bad thing.
We all believe in things differently, some people have even some wild and crazy, outlandish beliefs. Sure, we should trim our beliefs. But what about getting past the Eagle? I think I need to believe I can pass it, in my opinion. Without that belief, what then would be the point in working on the self. Losing self importance, dropping my inventory, working on the totality of oneself. What would be the point then without the belief I can dart past that bird? So I need to believe I can. And I follow through with the necessary work to be done to do this.
So the need to believe in something is ok. If anything, its required. Its critical. We need to believe in something. But most importantly, we need to believe in 'us.' We have got to believe in us, and that we can go where we want to go, and be who we want to be.