Frameworks and Belief Systems

We all meet and interpret life through frameworks and belief systems that are mostly invisible to us, except in extreme circumstances. 

I think of frameworks as the unseen structure within which we process what occurs in life (i.e. if it doesn’t fit within the framework we have, we ignore or reject it), and belief systems as slightly more conscious sets of beliefs – but frameworks shade into beliefs in ways that are hard to differentiate, so I won’t try.  Essentially, we are talking about our basic assumptions -- about the world, about ourselves, about other people, that are pervasive and mostly invisible.  Yet these assumptions govern our thoughts and behaviour in major ways.

For example, think of an African tribesman a century ago, a monk in the Middle Ages, a poor immigrant mother who has just moved to North America.  They would have very different frameworks about many things, but it doesn’t even occur to them to notice the frameworks.  Their ideas about other people, the natural world, the spiritual world, what can be expected in the future, what is important, what is possible – all might be completely different.  To them, though, it is just ‘reality’.

Some of the most powerful frameworks and belief systems involve things like:

--what a ‘good person’ does, what makes someone a ‘bad person’

--what kind of person I am, what are my characteristics

--what other people think of me

--religious frameworks

--political frameworks

--whether people are mostly well-intentioned or ill-intentioned; smart or stupid; trustworthy or dishonest

--what people expect from me

--what are the important things in our lives

--what gives my life meaning and value

--how much I’m responsible for other peoples’ happiness

Though our frameworks might vary, there are also some assumptions we have in common as humans.  For example, despite our conceptual understanding that things can change drastically at any moment, we imagine that tomorrow will look pretty much like today.  We don’t even notice we expect this until we get shocked out of our assumption by a major shift, such as a death in the family or a world event such as 9/11. 

Whatever challenges our frameworks and belief systems, really bowls us over or causes a strong reaction.  We can feel very resistant, defensive, aggressive – or, groundless, drifting and uncertain.  
 

“We might gradually come to the understanding that whenever we’re having an emotional reaction, it’s a signal that we have some belief system in place that we haven’t yet looked at deeply enough.” 

Ezra Bayda, Being Zen


It can be interesting to see peoples’ frameworks when we are working towards goals in a group, at work, in a family, in a sports team or a spiritual community.  If there is a difficult situation, how will it be differently perceived by the person who:

--has a chip on their shoulder, thinks they are taken advantage of?

--doesn’t think it’s good or appropriate for anyone to display emotion?

--wants everyone to be happy and will do a lot to make that happen?

--is usually confident that they know the answer?

--is worried that they always make mistakes?

--feels that their needs are very important and should always be taken into account?

--thinks uncertainty is a bad thing
 

The important point is not that we all see it differently.  The main thing we need to absorb, as expressed in the first section, is that we each think we are the ones who are seeing clearly and that the views that are different from ours are distorted or wrong.  Often we can see that others are filtering reality through the lenses of their habitual frameworks.  But somehow we assume, against all rationality, that we are the only ones in the room who see accurately, without distortion.  That delusion is the very nature and foundation of our story-built self.

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