In today’s world of multimedia bombardment, political hyperbole, and polarizing rhetoric, how does any ordinary person sift through all of the noise and hubbub to find the truth? Truth matters, but unfortunately, there are millions of people who deal with this situation by choosing not to care about the truth, because truth-seeking can be difficult, disruptive, disturbing, and time-consuming.  So instead, they settle for confirming and reinforcing their own beliefs and narratives by immersing themselves in one or two media streams that are completely self-affirming.  

Others may have found their own inner truths and choose to ignore the media stream as much as possible.  They quietly go about living their lives according to those truths.  Then there are those who, because of the unyielding and uncompromising certainty of the rightness of their points of view, use the media streams to vigorously disseminate their truths and impose them on others, thus joining in the cacophony of loud and disparate voices.

All of this can be bewildering and overwhelming, but the underlying cause of this maelstrom of media madness is very clear. It is a bid to you to buy their beliefs or belief system.  Therefore, the purpose of this article is to give you a method for distinguishing whether a belief is true or false, valid or invalid. I call this method “The Four Discernments.”

The Four Discernments

The Oxford Dictionary defines discernment in two distinctly different ways.  First is “the ability to judge well,” and the second is, “perception in the absence of judgment with the intent to obtain spiritual guidance or understanding.”  I like the second definition because it implies you learn to become discerning by starting with an open mind.  It means you do not judge a belief until after you go through a discerning process.  For me, the process is twofold: first, is making sure you clearly understand the belief, and second is asking four questions about the belief.

All too often, people react to an opinion (a vocalized belief) without first clarifying what they are hearing.  For example, before reacting you might ask, “Are you saying. . ?” or state, “I hear you saying. . .”  Once you get confirmation you have heard the opinion (belief) correctly you can begin the discerning process which is asking four simple questions.  You can ask the questions in two ways–silently to yourself or out loud.  The first way allows you to do your inner processing before you speak aloud.  You may decide you are not ready to speak yet, so you can say “I will have to think about what you said and get back to you,” which gives you the opportunity to stay quiet and go through the questions at your leisure until you are ready to respond outwardly. Or, you can immediately respond aloud with whichever question seems most relevant.  The questions are not sequential.  However, all the questions are asked within the context of how the expressed belief effects or will effect the evolution of human consciousness.  Humanity is in desperate need of raising its level of consciousness to avoid self-annihilation.  

Here are the four questions.

>  Does this belief heal?

>  Does this belief harmonize?

>  Does this belief unify?

>  Does this belief elevate?

Real Life

Let’s apply this methodology to a real life situation.  I was recently at a party where someone said, “All illegals should be rounded up and immediately sent back to where they came from.”  I asked, “Are you saying as soon as someone is determined to be an “illegal,” they should immediately be arrested and deported?”  The person answered “yes.” I thought of the four discerning questions, but decided to defer asking any of them aloud.  Instead, I replied, “I will have to think about that for a while.  I may have some questions for you about that later.”  

Here is how I processed each question.

Does this belief heal?  In other words, does this belief provide comfort, reassurance, or hope to the “illegals?” Most likely not.  Maybe the believer momentarily feels safer if the government initiates a policy that supports his belief, but the belief does nothing to systemically change his perception of the presence of “illegals” as a threat to his safety and well-being.  His fear underlying the belief remains unchanged.

Does this belief harmonize?  In other words, does this belief reduce conflict and create goodwill?  No.  This belief fosters the “we versus them” mentality and promotes paranoia, dehumanization, and violence.  

Does this belief elevate?  In other words, is human consciousness raised?  By this I mean will the belief contribute to humanity becoming more intelligent, compassionate, creative, or understanding?  Quite the opposite. 

Does this belief unify?  Does it foster communication, cooperation, collaboration, respect, and acceptance?  Does it contribute to a sense of oneness, to the realization that we are all in this narrative together, and only by working together will humanity thrive?  No.  

By asking these questions, it became abundantly clear to me this is an ego belief based on fear.  It is a variation of one of the ego’s core beliefs which is we are bodies, separate from each other and with separate interests.  (See all articles under the topic of “The Ego.”)  The ego’s core beliefs are false, therefore the entire ego belief system is false.

A Valid Belief

”All illegal immigrants need to find a path to dignity, safety and productivity.”  Take this belief and process it through the four questions.  What do you conclude?  To me, this belief is apt to lead to a problem-solving, systemic, multifaceted, collaborative effort to address the issue of illegal immigration.  It still may involve deporting many illegal immigrants, but many others may find refuge, integration, and fulfillment. Ultimately, they are apt to become useful and contributing citizens in their new world.

Changing Beliefs

Core beliefs are deeply rooted in peoples’ psyches, and if you try to change someone else’s beliefs you are going to meet a lot of resistance. This is another useful aspect of the Four Discernments.  You do not directly attack someone else’s belief.  You show respect while at the same time offering something new for them to consider.  I have a friend who calls himself a farmer, even though he makes his living as a computer tech.  He says he is a farmer because he likes planting seeds in people’s minds.  The seeds are new thoughts, perspectives or data designed to allow the other person to think for themselves.  Most of our core beliefs are handed down from previous generations, and those beliefs may have never been questioned or examined for the truth.  

I recommend you apply the Four Discernments to your belief system.  You might be utterly shocked at some of them when you bring them into the light of awareness.