Using Beliefscapes to Make the Invisible Visible

 Beliefscapes are like pictures or paintings we call “landscapes.” Instead of seeing trees, mountains, rivers, animals, etc., we are able to see belief models. Beliefscapes reveal belief models that exist at the subconscious level of the brain, an invisible environment that we are usually unaware of at the conscious level.

 

The brain uses belief models to make distinctions between things and assign meanings to them. Without belief models, the conscious level could not function as it does. Image life in world where meanings do not exist.

 

Creating a beliefscape begins with these two steps.

 

1.    Define the immediate context for the words we are reading.

 

2.    Identify “things” in that context. A “thing” is an object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to.

 

Let’s create a beliefscape for the first verse in Genesis. Below are translations from different versions of the Bible. The “things” in the verse are underlined.

 

● In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (King James Version)

 

● In the beginning God created heaven, and earth. (Douay Rheims Bible)

 

● In the beginning of God`s preparing the heavens and the earth. (Young's Literal Translation)

 

Take a moment to consider what these “things” mean to you.

 

● God –

 

● heaven –

 

● heavens –

 

● earth --

 

Below is a literal translation of the Hebrew words the translators above worked with.

 

At the beginning of a god creating

the solid dome-like structure and the dry thing.

 

The meanings of the underlined things are below:

 

● a god – The god is not named. The Hebrew word elohiym refers to a type of entity (a god); it is not the name of a specific god.

 

● solid dome-like structure – This is the thing the god made and placed beneath the surface of a shoreless body of deep water. It created a barrier that divided the deep water into “two separate bodies of water.” The solid dome-like structure was named “heavens.”

 

● dry thing – The water inside the solid dome-like structure gathered in one place -- a place that had previously been covered by water became “a dry thing.” The dry thing was named “earth.”

 

How did your beliefscape compare to the ancient beliefscape? If there is a difference, you have not be able to understand the wisdom the ancient text was created to teach. But now that you are aware of the ancient beliefscap take another look at the translation you normally read -- and if you pay close attention to the English words -- you will be able the see the ancient beliefscape in them.

 

So, did the ancient beliefscape above make it possible for you to see something that was invisible before? Seeing the ancient belief models behind the English words in our Bibles make it possible for us to learn from ancient lessons that have been invisible.

 

Thank you for exploring with us. Please share and discuss it with others.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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