Three relationships with beliefs
I see how I cycle among three relationships with beliefs.
One is happily oblivious, until the world comes up against my beliefs and there is stress (nigredo in alchemy.)
The other is noticing that there is a belief there, and the stress it causes, but not being willing or apparently able to do anything about it. Maybe I am too much in the grips of it. Or it doesn't seem to be the right circumstances. Or I can't identity the belief. Or I investigate it but am still not quite ready to allow it to go. (Still nigredo.)
And the third is exploring it from the emptiness and form sides. From emptiness, I can find myself as awake emptiness (headless, Big Mind) and be OK with it, even embrace it as it is. From the form side, I can explore the belief in different ways, such as The Work... Do I know it is true? What happens when I hold onto the belief, and the world comes up against it? Who or What would I be without it, in the same situation? What are the grains of truth in the many reversals of the initial belief? (Albedo in alchemy, the work, the differentiation, sorting out, clarifying.)