Construction
25. Attention, attitude, trust, belief, focus, persuasion
In the previous chapter, I talked about what thinking methods are characteristic in the place on the Mandala of Characters, where are:
— the adaptive-defensive mechanism, which is—introversion,
— and so-called properties of classical Elements—cold, cool.
To describe the thinking methods that are in this place of the Mandala, namely in the lower right corner, I created the following series of concepts:
impression, magic, skepticism, hope, alchemy, influence
Now I would like to refer to the upper left corner of the Mandala of Characters where we can find the following two concepts that relate to thinking method:
— belief, trust.
In this chapter, I would like to add more concepts to these two above concepts, which will bring us closer to what thinking methods we can follow in this place of the Mandala of Characters.
Among the words “belief” and “trust”, there is a word “belief”. In my Polish language, the word “belief” is often associated with religion. And many people in Poland treat this word simply as a synonym of religion.
In English, the word “belief” is more ambiguous. And in English, there is also the word “faith”, which has a stronger connection with religion. Or “faith” represents something what needs strong trust, what needs to be in some way organized, arranged, ordered, settled, etc.
So, in this work, I prefer to use “belief” as a word, which is further from religion. “Belief” is also closer to typical life, and is more common and more general. It means, in English, when we say “I believe” it can be an equivalent of I think, in my opinion, in my view, I assume, I suppose, I understand, etc.
Thus, “belief”, I think, is a more useful concept than “faith” for this work about personalities.
In addition to the above, there are also other differences between “belief” and “religion”. Religion, in comparison with the belief or faith, is:
- On the one hand, it is just one of the ways of how belief and faith can be manifested in life.
- On the other hand, religion can go far beyond what belief and faith concern. It is because, religion can, for example, be associated with: science, logic, philosophy, art, morality, ethics, law, politics, business, lobbying, marketing, and other areas of life.
Religion, therefore, often not refer only to the belief and faith, but to a whole set of various factors that religion contain.
Similarly, the concept of “belief” or “faith” refers to many factors. All in all, however, few of these factors are directly related to religion. It means many things in our life that involve belief and faith have little to do with religion.
An example of that is atheism. Atheism actually can be one of the forms of belief or faith. But atheism is not a religion. It is not based on belief or faith in any of the gods. The gods that are available in many religions in the world. Atheism is basically a belief in the lack of a god or gods in general.
Personally, I also think that atheism becomes a form of religion when it is used to combat other religions. This situation had and have a place in many communist regimes. Personally, I could observe it in Poland during my youth. (I wrote more about it in chapter—23. Belief and magic, knowledge and art). Atheism may, therefore, play the role of religion, but atheism is not a religion in itself.
Besides, we have many of life-related beliefs and faiths, which at first glance, do not associate with belief or faith. Let us list some of them.
1. Belief in statements.
A simple example of that is our belief in various mathematical theorems. For example, into it, that 2 + 2 = 4. It is indeed easy to prove it. We can convince about it even small children, showing them that, for instance, that two sticks from ice cream added to the other two sticks in total will give us four sticks. Therefore, we can take it for granted, and we can be persuaded about it. And, all in all, we can believe in it.
And there appeared to us the interesting word—“persuasion”. “Persuasion” I decided to use in the Mandala of Characters as one of the manifestations of belief. Or as a word that is closely related to belief.
To summarize this point, we can therefore believe and be persuaded or of the validity of various statements, assurances, philosophies, maxims, proverbs, sayings, wisdom, etc.
Belief in the statements also occurs in religions. It is because it is difficult to live without various statements that we can believe. For example, in the Christian religion, there are statements for believing which are called—dogmas.
2. Belief as the right attitude.
We may have statements which are scientific, logical, philosophical, religious, and many others. However, regardless of what kind of statements we have, there is a strong need in us. We need some statements that we can think are right, and we may follow them in our life. This intense need to believe in the statements is a need that requires to be satisfied. Satisfied similarly as many needs which we have. For example, physiological, safety, belonging, love, esteem, self-actualization, etc. At this moment, I mentioned the needs which are in so-called “Maslow’s pyramid of needs”. This pyramid is used in various fields of knowledge. We can read about it in many books and articles. Some information we can find on the internet, for example, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
Belief in the statements, although it is literally not present in the Maslow’s pyramid of needs. However, I think that it can be applied to the need for safety and belonging because belief can satisfy these two needs.
So, we are dealing with satisfying our needs through belief. And satisfying needs through belief is giving us a proper attitude to life.
How can such an attitude be manifested?
People who are guided by the right attitude believe that something will go in this way, which they believe in. For example, they believe that the right attitude will lead them to what they expect, what they want, and what will satisfy their needs.
So, the word attitude is closely related to the word belief. Then, I think it will be useful to add the word “attitude” to the Mandala of Characters.
3. Belief as attention.
One of the simple examples of attention is the various signs that warn us of something. For instance, we have road signs. When we pass by the road sign, we believe that what this road sign warns us against is true, and it will certainly take place. In that case, we should prepare ourselves appropriately to avoid some danger that this sign warns us against.
So, figuratively, we can say that we believe in the word which road sign is giving to us. It means, in a specific mark or symbol. Using the references used in religion, we can say that—we believe in command of road signs.
In general, then, we are dealing here with belief in connection with attention, because:
— firstly, we need to keep our attention on noticing traffic signs,
— and secondly, we keep attention to avoid the danger or problem that these signs warn us.
So, “attention” or “attentiveness” is a form of belief that requires a proper way of being and the right way of behaving.
The concept of “attention” or “attentiveness” has fascinated people for a very long time. “Attentiveness”, for example, is an element of many religions, philosophies, and psychology. Nowadays, more and more popular in the English language is also the term “mindfulness” that is taken from the Buddhist tradition. However, for example in Polish “mindfulness” is often translated as “uważność”, that is, it is similar to “attentiveness”. Besides in many schools of “mindfulness”, “attention” is only one component of whole mindfulness. So, we can have differences in understanding mindfulness in different schools of this subject. Then, I think, in Mandala of Characters, I will be using simply the word “attention”.
Below, I give examples of websites where we can find information about Buddhist attentiveness or mindfulness.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satipatth%C4%81na
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness
Regardless of it, from which tradition is coming idea about attentiveness, it is often used in the therapeutic activity. For example, on the internet, we can find many websites which describe and promote workshops, training or sessions of various therapeutic methods, during which attentiveness or mindfulness is used.
In normal life, whether we are paying bigger or smaller attention to “attention” or “attentiveness”, it is one of the elements of our psyche and our life.
4. Belief as a focus.
“Focus” is closely related to “belief”. For example, in religion, prayer and various religious services and ceremonies require focus.
In life a lot of activities require focus. For example, the focus is needed in many types of learning and work.
However, in fact, why we keep the focus? And why the focus is connected with belief?
We are focusing because we believe that thanks to this focus, we will be able to achieve something. If we did not believe that it is worth focusing on a problem or matter, it would not be worth focusing on it at all. We believe, therefore, that the focus will bring us some effects, benefits, will lead us to some purpose, provide and satisfy our needs, etc.
In sum, I think that “focus” is an important word which is closely related to belief. That is why I also decided to put “focus” on the Mandala of Characters.
5. Belief as trust.
Belief in our life is often associated with “trust”.
The concept of “trust” is often used in religion. For example:
- we trust our Lord and the fate he had set for us,
- we have trust in God’s will,
- we trust God’s plans,
- we have a famous painting with the inscription “Jesus, I trust in you”, we can read about it, for example, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Mercy_image - etc.
When it comes to typical life, “trust” can be manifested in it, for example, in these ways:
- we trust our own or someone’s potential;
- we trust our own or someone’s skills, experiences, talents, abilities;
- we trust our reliable partners and co-workers, and we give our trust (that is, “benefit of the doubt”) to new partners and co-workers;
- we trust or give our trust (that is, “benefit of the doubt”) to various companies and institutions;
- we trust, or we give the benefit of the doubt to various specialists or professionals;
- we trust that the products we buy in the stores are of good quality;
- etc.
In that case, summarizing the above points, the new set of concepts regarding thinking methods in the upper left corner of the Mandala will be as follows:
attention, attitude, trust, belief, focus, persuasion
Let us put the above set of concepts on the diagram of auxiliary reference points of our psyche. Please look at the diagram below.
Jacek BŁACH
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Mercy_image
https://www.faustyna.pl/zmbm/en/
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
Mindfulness
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness
Multimedialne słowniki języka polskiego PWN (program komputerowy)
Wersja 1.0.
Publisher: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN SA
Satipatthāna
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satipatthana
CC0 1.0 Universal
To other texts and images that I used as quotes, additional terms may apply.