PRINCIPLE NINE:   THE SUM OF ALL OF OUR BELIEFS IS OUR WORLD

     If Principle Four is true that nothing has any meaning in itself, that we attach meaning to all things surrounding us, then it would also be fair to say that the sum total of all these meanings defines our individual worlds. The world as we know it is of our own personal making. What we see and hear and experience in life and how we personally interpret these things create our world. No two people have the same experiences in life, have the same knowledge, nor do they have the same interpretations of that knowledge. One person may believe that the world is a delightful place filled with joy and laughter, while another person lives in a dark, fear-filled world where harm lurks around every corner. Most of us live somewhere in between.
     Our personal world is the sum total of all of the beliefs that we have attached to all of our experiences and facts gathered throughout our lifetime.
     The world that we live in is the world that lives in us!
     No one lives in the same world. It is as if we live in a very small glass bubble world that extends only to the length of our personal viewing. The world that we see is projected onto that glass sphere. We see only what we believe is there (believing is seeing). The real world, the real reality, is out there, but we can only view it and interpret it from our own perspective.[1] What we see is actually partly true and partly false. It is all real to us!
     We are all partially blind.
     What is the cause of this blindness? Our beliefs! Once again this is the humble human predicament. This is our reality: “The world we live in is the world that lives in us .”
     The potential for human loneliness is great. This drives us to seek out those who have similar beliefs. Although we live in our own personal world, we gravitate to those who share at least some of our reality, our beliefs.
     There is only one planet earth. On this we can all agree. Existing on this one planet, however, there are many worlds. To the casual observer it may appear that we are all living within the same world. This could not be further from the truth. There are many worlds on planet earth—your personal world and my personal world to name two. This elicits the formation of an extremely important question, a potentially life altering one. The question is this, “How many worlds are there?” May I suggest that there are as many worlds as there are people—plus one!
     We, perhaps, are beginning to see the truth that we all live in separate worlds and can agree with the assertion that there are as many worlds as there are people. Why add the “plus one” to the answer. The “Plus one” is the REAL WORLD in which not a single one of us lives! No one lives in the real world—we live in our own world. The REAL WORLD is the world of truth that we are all trying to live in. The arrogant believe they are already there! The humble believe that they are not there so they continue to strive to get there. If there is a God, the REAL WORLD would be the world that God lives in!

REALITY CHECK:   The world that we live in is the world that lives in us.