Healthy humans will progress to their 3rd belief system.

The best humans are on their 3rd belief system. 

Everyone has a belief system. They organize their lives around what they value. Part of being human is to organize your life around some set of values.

Whether it's passive or active we are all bowing down. Some think they are shirking off all bias and presupposition but that is impossible. They are bowing down to not bowing down. 😜

Here's a pattern I've observed in stories thousands of years old and modern day lives:

FIRST BELIEF SYSTEM
Your first belief system is what surrounds you at an early age. That belief system might be a positive experience from adult to child. Or it could be a negative belief system you formed in response to the hurts and pains. 

Some never completely adopt their first belief system. They give it a nod here and there sitting through church or temple or mass but it stays at the surface. 

You might think you still hold the same belief system you had as a child but for most it has changed even if only a little...

SECOND BELIEF SYSTEM
Your second belief system is the first one you choose for yourself. It might be a belief system of bitterness or protest. 

Bitterness results from tragic pain or comparison. The lives of other people are better and you start to nurse the wound that life isn't fair. (And life isn't fair. It never will be.) Some tragedy hits so hard that you develop a mindset to protect you from feeling that level of pain again. 

The second belief system can also be one of protest. You find out that in some way the world isn't fair. (And the world isn't fair.) You're convinced the ill of society is evil corporations or animal testing on makeup or the lack of diversity on the university's board or who the president is. Yes corporations have done bad things. They've also done amazing work and moved the world forward. The anti-_____ (fill in the blank) stance is vacuous. People committed to solutions are those who grow and extend their influence at capacity. Dedicating your life to eradicating a problem is a diminishing return.

Some build their second belief system on positive results they've experienced. Now they're convinced everyone has to believe the same as they do. "Have you tried this supplement I ordered?" "Successful people do _____ so you should too."

Few make it past the second belief system. It's easier to stay riled up than calm down and focus on your mission.

THIRD BELIEF SYSTEM
The third belief system is where you progress beyond thinking that life or the world should be fair. You get busy improving what you can for yourself and others. The third belief system is where you learn to make your own meaning. The third belief system is where you pursue your own values. You can use the tactics and strategies of others but at a principled level you own your decisions. In the third belief system decisions originate from a secure identity. These decisions are the change that moves society forward while developing the individual.

There will always be lots of cul-de-sac distractions along the way to your third belief system. But that is where life gets interesting and maxes out your abilities. You'll start to see what others don't. And you won't be able to stop from taking action.

IMPLICATIONS:

1. We need to do all we can to level the playing field of life. But it will never be level. So don't focus on your disadvantages. That will erode your mindset. You can't learn resilience when you're drowning in comparison.
2. Only build healthy institutions. Whether places of work or marriages or any relational group the quickest way to be evil is to reinforce and keep people trapped in their first two belief systems. This is another way of defining co-dependence.
3. Individual identity supersedes group identity. Your sexuality is a part of who you are but not all who you are. Your race is a part of who you are but not all who you are. 
   "I do not represent blacks or tall women, or women or Samoans or Californians or Americans. Or rather I hope I do, because I am all those things. But that is not all that I am. I am all of that and more and less. People often put labels on people so they don’t have to deal with the physical fact of those people… I simply refuse to have my life narrowed and proscribed." Maya Angelou
   And in the current political climate there's a blindness to this reality. When group identity supersedes individual identity you've turned the clock back to tribalism. You've missed the last 2000 years of development in the West that has learned to champion the individual. When group identity is more important than individual identity a ripe environment exists for a manipulator to rise to power and justify atrocities both small and large. Make no mistake this is how millions were murdered in the 2oth century.
4. The answer isn't to figure out where you've been victimized but to embolden yourselfand lead others to their freedom (3rd belief system). Whether you're a white male or Asian female you have to figure out you and lead others.
5. Parents and "evangelists" of causes please remember people are in motion. Abrasive forcing of your beliefs on them will not end well. This is also why SightShift is about helping you get your own insight rather than "breaking you down" to "build you up". 

My obsession is teaching the SightShift framework and helping others teach it. You could word it this way: I love helping people get to their own chosen third belief system. 

By the way, I help you do that in one of the courses in the always-on-and-ready-for-you SightShift academy. Have you checked it out yet? Take me to the academy.

The number 1 feedback I've been hearing is, "It's like having Chris on demand to help me grow ". Here to serve. 🤗

Where do you think you are?