Belief systems cover a large stretch of who we are. They are created through interacting with our environment. Most of the time it is pieced together as time goes on, but it also can be put together in chunks. This is because a belief system incorporates both how you believe an individual should act (morals) and how you believe a group should act (principles). The larger the group the more complex the principles, thus many moral systems don’t speak to how large groups should act; the reverse is also true that many principled systems don’t speak on how individuals should act. This leads to many belief systems that can be at odds with each other, because individual and group beliefs can end up promoting different ends. While a belief system that is built as time goes by, tends to be inconsistent and lacking thoroughness.
We create anchors for our beliefs. This is where we tether our views to that relate to our beliefs. The anchors then tie together to form paragons. Paragons are what we would consider the ideal of our beliefs. This is then compared with our actions to see the gap between the two. The ramifications of this unification can also be part of the belief system. A belief system deals with the base of our views, which means that the defense of them can be difficult because there is little reasoning that comes before them. It is far more productive to compare them to other competing beliefs than questioning the belief itself.
Anchors
Our reasoning has to start somewhere, this is the anchor. We hold beliefs on how we should think and act which lead us down the paths we live by. These anchors are what we identify as who we are. They are fundamental to who we hope to become. The issue with anchors is there tends to be confusion when our reasoning requires more than one anchor. If the anchors are unrelated to each other, it resolves itself. It is only when using one would invalidate the other. As a result, we can get strange reasonings as we try to resolve the issue. The best way to avoid this is to essentially create tiebreakers for your anchors based on importance. Anchors are hard to change because so much depends on them. To change them you would need to update every view that depended on that anchor. While they are difficult to change, they are essential to who we are.
Paragons
When we group together anchors, this is what makes our paragons. These are the ideal states of our beliefs. The ideal person we want to be is a paragon as well as the ideal world arounds us. These paragons are what tend to guide us more than the anchors themselves. These are also what we use to describe ourselves. For instance, being a good parent is a paragon that would consist of anchors of what that actually means. The creation of anchors and paragons can work in either direction. A paragon can emerge from our anchors or anchors can emerge from a paragon. When we adopt other belief systems to add to ours, they tend to have both defined already. While anchors are essential to who we are, paragons are an extension of them and thus just as essential.
Unification
Our actions should be a reflection of our beliefs, this is the unification. What we do when there is a gap between the two is also part of our belief system. This is also important psychologically as we tend to have deep rooted issues when our view of ourself is different from reality. This can also have unintended consequences of altering your belief system to close the gap in either direction. The biggest hinderance this part can cause is the justification of the gap. Rationalizing why there really isn’t a gap when there is can have huge effects of a belief system. It tends to degrade the beliefs themselves or the strength of them over you. This is where you need to pay the most attention to.
Rebirth
Staring from scratch to build a new belief system is no easy task. To start, you need to know what your origins view is. This will inform you on where to start because it has to be compatible with your belief system. After that, it comes down to expanding your mind by exploring new beliefs and belief systems. By seeing the entire landscape, you can choose the beliefs that have been tested by your reasoning. Once you have a belief system created, it comes down to replacing your old one with it. This will require an external aid to remind you of your system as the only way to replace the old system is to overwrite it. As you make decisions and articulate your views, refer back to the external aid to take in to account the new beliefs. This will take time and effort, but nothing is as important as rebuilding your foundation by consciously creating your belief system.
