PRINCIPLE SIX:   BELIEF GENERATES EMOTION

     In 2004, while serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Army, my unit deployed to Baghdad, Iraq for twelve months. Almost every day during this deployment the Forward Operating Base (FOB) was attacked with mortars. Out of nowhere these rockets would suddenly appear making their presence known with the loud sound of a “CRACK” that words cannot describe. Our knees would buckle at the sound of these mortars as they released their deadly energy into our midst. The mortars would faithfully begin raining down upon us near dinner time. Just when we would get used to this the mortars would begin arriving in the morning. The mortars always made their presence known with the soul-shaking, knee-buckling “CRACK.” They typically would not hurt anyone except our sense of peace. Occasionally someone would be hurt or even killed by shrapnel. Always their mission was successful—to harass and to terrorize. This was our world day after day for twelve months. When our unit finally redeployed to Texas, all of us did not quite leave Baghdad, Iraq completely behind.
      Upon arriving home I went to Disneyland with my niece as a way of celebrating my return. At the end of this fun-filled day we decided to pack it in—we were tired! As we were leaving, the summer fireworks began to fill the evening sky with their bright lights along with their soul-shaking, knee-buckling explosions. I tried to enjoy the fireworks as I have enjoyed them so many times before in my life. I could not! I jolted and jumped with each explosion. I became engulfed in dread with a sense of impending doom. Finally, with great embarrassment I asked her to leave with me NOW! She looked at me, and then quickly realized that I was not in the same world as she. I was still in Iraq! She is a wise woman. I kept telling myself that these were beautiful Disneyland fireworks—“Enjoy them for goodness sake!” My spirit, that is—the world in which I lived, was, however, experiencing a danger-filled world of horror—certainly not joy!  My niece quickly responded to my plea and we left—she accepted my world and respected it without judgment.
      All of us can relate to this story. We have all lived and suffered bad things in life. The spiritual dynamics that occurred in this story are common to all men and women, boys and girls. It’s a human thing.
      What actually happened?  The center of our being is our spirit.  We live in our spirit! This is our “state-of-being,” our world. The reality that exits in our spirit is the reality that we see and experience in life. The spirit is our life!  Emotion is the way the human spirit speaks. The spirit cannot utter words as the mind utters words using the tongue and lips. The spirit “LEAKS” when it speaks. The spirit leaks its beliefs by way of emotion. The voice of the spirit is emotion. Without emotion the spirit has no voice. The human spirit listens by way of suggestion and speaks by way of emotion. 

Belief generates emotion.

     No emotion can exist without some belief generating it. Belief and emotion are inseparable. For instance, the belief that we are “NOT SAFE” will generate the emotion of fear. When the emotion of fear is expressed on someone’s face (wide eyes, blank face and gaping mouth), the careful observer will hear what that person’s spirit is trying to say, which is, “I believe that I am NOT SAFE.” This person may or may not actually say these words; however, their spirit is expressing them through their emotions and through their facial expressions and actions. A good counselor or any good listener will ask the question, “What do you believe is unsafe in your life?” Get ready to get an earful! Jack will now pop out of the box. The nature of this question will get to the very core of that person’s world, helping their mind to begin the task of attaching words (knowledge) to their spirit’s belief. Always ask the “What do you believe?” question. Construct the question with these very words. They cut to the quick.
      So far we have looked at fear. Let us look at another emotion and link it up with the appropriate belief that generates it. What belief will generate anger in a person? Allow me to suggest that it is the belief that someone or something has “TAKEN CONTROL” away from the believer. Whether it is true or not, if a person believes that CONTROL has been taken away from them, that belief will generate the emotion of anger. Usually fear accompanies anger as well. If someone believes that CONTROL has been taken from them, then that person most likely will also believe that they are UNSAFE.
      If anger is generated by the belief of a loss of control, then what is control? The concept of “control” is in itself a belief. Each of us sets up around us a multitude of boundaries. These boundaries define what we believe we have the right to control in our lives. Boundaries define control. These boundaries include the stuff we possess, our time and our personal space. These boundaries can be likened to the child’s toy the “Hoola-hoop.” Invisible boundaries like hoola-hoops surround each of us, defining what belongs to us.
      The “stuff” we believe that we possess includes: money, things, our home and people. Our time we believe belongs to us as well. When someone or something takes control of our time we get angry. Another universal boundary is the boundary of personal space. Personal space is the area that completely surrounds each of us, extending to all that we can touch. It is an imaginary sphere. We believe that we have the right to control the space that we can touch and physically move with our hands. Universally, the proper distance to maintain, when standing near another person, is arm’s length. By doing so we are respecting their right to control their space. Of course they do not own that space, they just believe they do.
      These imaginary hoola-hoops surround all of our definitions of control. When any of these boundaries are crossed by another person in such a way that “RESPECT” is not shown, then the emotion of anger WILL result within the spirit of the owner of those boundaries. “Respect” or “Contempt” is the only response that another person can show to a known boundary. No wonder the world is filled with wars. No wonder anger and fear are the most prevalent emotions in the world. If everyone on earth respected every conceivable boundary, war and anger could not exist! There is much truth in this statement.
      An apt definition for a dictator is, “The dictator respects only ONE boundary.” Care to take a guess as to what that boundary is? You guessed it: THEIR OWN! In the delusional mind of the dictator their hoola-hoop extends to everything and everyone they see. The world of the dictator is a self-oriented world. Everything is theirs and everyone is there to serve them. They don’t see the boundaries of others. Therefore, the dictator crosses boundary lines in everything they do. Dictators make a lot of people angry.

REALITY CHECK:   Know and respect all boundaries.

     The delusional spirit of the dictator can be found in all of us to one degree or another. Make anyone angry lately? Dictators are found on the highways as they tailgate or cut off others. They are thieves who believe that what is yours is theirs. They are found in marriages as one tries to control the other. Dictators are found wherever one person extends their hoola-hoop of control around anything or anyone in such a way that disregards the boundary of the other.
      All boundaries are beliefs. No one really owns anything. When we die, these beliefs die with us. We will no longer get angry or make anyone else angry again!
      So far we have looked at two emotions: fear and anger. The belief of not being safe generates fear and that the belief that some control has been taken from us (some boundary disregarded) generates anger. Let us now look at a couple more emotions and the beliefs that generate them. The belief that we have lost something of value generates sadness, while the belief that we have gained something of value generates joy.
     Does anything have value in and of itself? What is value? Value is a belief that we attach to an object, event or person. Remember, nothing has any meaning in and of itself (principal four). What is valuable to one person may be worthless to another. Remember “Zorro” the family’s raucous raccoon? My dad and all of us kids valued Zorro. When Zorro mysteriously disappeared we were all predictably “Sad.” We were sad because we lost something of value in each of our own worlds. In my mom’s world, however, she did not value the mess and noise and inconvenience that Zorro brought to her world. When Zorro mysteriously disappeared joy was slightly expressed with my mom’s Mona Lisa like smile. Aha! Mystery solved—I think?
     The emotions of joy and sadness are always attached to our beliefs of the value we attach to all of the things of our life. Depending upon the degree of value attached both negatively or positively is the degree that we have the emotions of sadness or joy, respectively. This is predictable. When we see a person’s spirit leak the emotion of sadness through the expression on their face, the question that will immediately get to the center of their world is, “What did you lose of value?” Likewise, when we see a person’s spirit leak the emotion of joy through the expression on their face, the question that will immediately get to the center of their world is, “What did you gain of value?”
     Belief generates emotion. Emotion is the voice of the spirit. The spirit does not speak with words it leaks emotion through the face, the body, and our behavior.