People don’t tend to really believe in something, until it’s personal.
The fascinating part is about what makes things personal. Much of the time, we aren’t even aware of this dynamic—why it really is that we believe what we believe.
But, it can be revealed a bit more, when something you thought you didn’t believe in becomes something you seriously question. And, this happens most often, when you’ve been put in conflict with something that you’ve thought you believed.
Often times, this happens over something related to someone you love, like a family member or a group that you’ve been impacted by. Introduce a threat of loss there and the conflict emerges—where what you think you believe is tested by the consequence of losing something you want.
What we tend to think we believe is pretty abstract, even theoretical (but, it tends to still tie to something we are personally pretty vested in). Often, when we feel at risk of losing something we love, we become more able—more willing—to question that belief; at the very least, consider what modifications might be helpful.
Truth be told, most of what we believe is motivated because of what we get out of it. In that way, it is highly personal.
This is what can make belief so devastating; it is also what can make belief so dynamic and wonderful, because belief is not nearly as theoretical as might think.
