Most people don’t have a clue about how beliefs actually work. It is very important to know this because you could mistake falsehood for truth, therefore you need to learn about epistemology of you want to live a fulfilling life. Your beliefs restrict your ability to rise your consciousness and distort perception.  Your ability to rise your consciousness is restricted by all the beliefs you hold, and most of them are totally wrong. One of the fundamental challenges in life is to distinguish what is true and what is false, so how you do it? The fundamental problem with beliefs is the following: You link to think that you can represent reality with your ideas. Ideas are not actually the truth and a representation is not the same as the thing that is represented. You have a lot of ideas about how reality should be so you are not being open to direct experience of reality. You need to inquire about your process of inquiry. What is a belief? An idea, a thought is something you think is either true or false. You have: -          Personal beliefs -          Social beliefs -          Political beliefs -          Scientific beliefs -          Epistemic beliefs -          Metaphysical beliefs Features of the mechanism of beliefs: 1.       Every belief held feel true 2.       You don’t hold most of your beliefs on solid evidence and reason. You simply latch on the beliefs that seems right without really inquiring them 3.       You don’t consciously select your beliefs: You just absorb your beliefs from your culture. 4.       99% of your beliefs, you never directly experienced them, you just take them on faith. 5.       Beliefs generate strong emotions, fuel behaviors and are addictive. The mind will forfeit happiness and truth in the name of preserving homeostasis 6.       All beliefs are circular: Beliefs are based on more beliefs, and those beliefs are justified by more beliefs and so on. 7.       They determine what is possible and impossible: What you are able to do is limited by your beliefs 8.       Beliefs are not looking out for you (look at them as a meme). They don’t care about your happiness or success. They are like viruses that reside in your mind 9.       There are meta-beliefs: They are the beliefs you have about your beliefs a.       “I don’t hold any beliefs” b.       “Most of my beliefs are accurate” c.       “It is good to believe certain things” d.       “Some beliefs are safe and cannot be doubted” e.       “There are no alternatives to holding beliefs” f.        “Dropping my beliefs isn’t so important” g.       “Epistemology doesn’t make a difference in my life” h.       “No one knows anything for sure” i.         “I’m already aware of my limiting beliefs” Beliefs are dangerous because: -          They are self-fulfilling prophesies -          They tend to neglect contradictory data -          They are in the way of having a radical new experience that transform the way you see reality -          They create emotional reactivity, arrogance and inflexibility There are 3 epistemic attitudes that people have in life: a.       Proudly defending your beliefs b.       Expanding your beliefs so they reflect reality better c.       To realize that reality has nothing to do with beliefs How to apply this? -          Make your mission to live outside beliefs -          Take epistemology seriously -          Drop your pet theories, you don’t need them. -          Change your attitude from arranging your beliefs to realize that there is no end to investigation -          Question EVERY belief you have -          Hold your beliefs lightly -          Direct experience is king