change – Dr. Rich Swier

How to change the Beliefs of others — which will change their Actions…

When we use the word “Beliefs” many people think of religion. However, most of our Beliefs have nothing to do with religion. As outlined in Part 1 (w examples in Part 2), almost all of our Beliefs are our opinions about what things are, how things behave, etc. Examples of Beliefs are “Joe Biden is doing a good job as President” or “Unless we make radical societal changes, the world will soon cease to exist as we know it,” etc.

We are all frequently put in positions where we would like others to act differently — ranging from wanting them to support a certain political candidate, to keeping their dog off your property.

Most issues are not worth worrying about, but when any are (e.g., a close relative who is way off base on an important matter), you may decide that it is worth your time to try to fix that person’s misconception.

One of the most effective ways to get such people to change their Actions is to get to their Beliefs. There are four (4) basic options to get them to do our desired Action:

connect our desired Action to an existing Belief of theirs (that’s consistent with the desired Action),
modify an existing Belief of theirs (so that it now prompts the desired Action),
create a new Belief in them (that’s consistent with the desired Action),
eliminate an existing Belief of theirs (that’s blocking the desired Action).

Carefully think about these before proceeding on…

There are two methods to get people to change their Beliefs: Directly or Indirectly.

Directly (or consciously) would be (see this sample reference) to:

a) ask them what they think their relevant Belief is,

b) get a clear understanding of exactly what their relevant Belief is,

c) discuss the relevance of their Belief to the situation at hand,

d) assist them in scrutinizing any relevant Belief for its accuracy,

e) release any emotions tied to this Belief, and

f) break any bonds of faith that are established with this Belief.

Indirectly would be to use very different strategies than the direct approach.

Specifically, this would be accessing the other person’s subconscious mind (i.e., where their Beliefs are primarily located). If done right, they will not likely be aware that we are modifying their Belief system. However, before that can be explained, we must have a solid understanding of the two minds…

The Conscious mind vs the Subconscious mind might be compared to an iceberg. What we see (and deal with) in others, is the small visible part above water. That’s the Conscious Mind.

Below water is a MUCH larger part — the part that gives the iceberg its real strength. This is the Subconscious Mind, which is an accumulation of all your experiences.

We periodically give over control to our Subconscious Mind, without being aware of it.

A good example is when you are driving for a while on a highway. You start thinking about something else (e.g., an upcoming event). Suddenly you realize that fifteen minutes have passed where you were not consciously paying attention to driving. Yet, you still accelerated, braked, and steered around obstacles, while going 60 MPH. Your Subconscious Mind was controlling your actions.

Surprisingly, there is still a lot we don’t know about our Subconscious Mind, but here are some generally agreed on characteristics:

It is always on, 24/7. (It’s the Conscious Mind that goes to sleep.)
It processes millions of daily inputs that would overwhelm the Conscious Mind.
It puts many of your daily functions on auto-pilot.
It doesn’t reason.
It records our emotional response to events.
It stores memories.

Understanding how the Subconscious Mind works will help us be happier, more effective people, as it enables us to communicate better with others.

It should go without saying the Critical Thinking about our Beliefs (their accuracy, their applicability, etc.) is exceptionally important.

(How to communicate to another person’s subconscious mind is a fascinating topic. If I get the time, I’ll write about this in a future installment.)

Here are other materials by this scientist that you might find interesting:

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2024 Archives. Please send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time – but why would you?

Author of key “gay marriage” ruling espouses unproven “born gay” theory.

UNINFORMED: Judge Richard Posner needs to meet some EX-”gays.”

It is no small thing to accuse renowned legal scholar Richard Posner, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and author of a recent controversial ruling in favor of homosexual “marriage,” of being ignorant—but it appears that is the case when it comes to Posner’s assertion that homosexuality is “immutable.”

It has been said of the prolific Posner, author of nearly 40 books, that he ”writes the way other men breathe,” but apparently the judge has never breathed in the wonderful reality that many men and women have overcome the destructive pull of homosexuality in their lives. Posner writes in the Appeals Court decision September 4, 2014 striking down Wisconsin’s and Indiana’s pro-traditional marriage laws:

“The challenged laws discriminate against a minority defined by an immutable characteristic…And there is little doubt that sexual orientation, the ground of the [anti-“gay marriage”] discrimination, is an immutable (and probably an innate, in the sense of in-born) characteristic rather than a choice” [pages 7, 9]

Such simplistic and unproven assertions cover over a multitude of politically incorrect facts and nuances that contradict the “gay” activist claim that “sexual orientation”–itself a tendentious social construct–is inborn, innocuous and unchangeable. This false narrative conveniently serves homosexual activists who insist theirs is a “civil rights” movement akin to Black Americans’ noble struggle for equality.

The problem for LGBT advocates is that while race and ethnicity are truly immutable–there are no “ex-Blacks” or “former Hispanics”—some people do change their sexual self-identity and behavior. (Not to mention their “gender identity”—the transgender “T” in “LGBT”—which progressives reflexively regard as fluid.) There is ample evidence that many homosexuals “acquired” their identity as a defensive maladaptation to the abuse, alienation or other trauma they experienced during their childhood. One example: CNN’s Don Lemon, who considers himself proudly “gay”–despite acknowledging that as a young boy he was sexually molested by an older teenage male in his neighborhood.

CHANGED MAN: Former homosexual David Kyle Foster runs the Christian “Mastering Life Ministries,” which teaches people “how to heal sexual brokenness”–including those trapped in homosexuality.

Perhaps Judge Posner could deepen his understanding of homosexuality by visiting PFOX’s “Ex-Gay Awareness Conference”today and tomorrow in Washington, D.C. There he could meet real, live *former* homosexuals like Greg Quinlan and Christopher Doyle–who give the lie to his claim of immutability.

Or Posner could simply watch ex-“gay” testimonies like David Kyle Foster’s online [click HERE or go to www.PurePassion.us].

Moreover, Posner should consider that it is not only conservative Christians who speak to the reality of ex-“gay” change and evolving “sexual orientation”: former “lesbian” Chirlane McCray abandoned that identity when she fell in love with and married the future Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio.

Lesbian author Camille Paglia said McCray’s lesbian past was ignored in the mayoral race “because it upsets the current ideological applecart. Everyone from the mainstream media to Lady Gaga is preaching the ‘born gay’ gospel, but nobody is born gay, and no scientific study claiming that has ever held up to later scrutiny.”

Judge Posner should take heed. He himself wrote in 1998: “It is the lack of an empirical footing that is and always has been the Achilles heel of constitutional law, not the lack of good constitutional theory.” (New York University Law Review, “Against Constitutional Theory”).

Unfortunately, Posner has allowed his own bias in favor of “innate” homosexuality to negate the empirical evidence that “gayness” need not be permanent in a person’s life.

For information on AFTAH’s Oct. 25, 2014 banquet with Dr. Michael Brown CLICK HERE.

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Judge Richard Posner Ignores Empirical Evidence of Ex-’Gays,’ Wrongly Calls Homosexuality ‘Immutable’