Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: What'S worthwhile healing Mind, body and spirit. I'm Ramsey Zimmerman. I choose peace of mind, vitality of body, and joy of spirit over stress, exhaustion, or overwhelm. Together, let's explore and pursue the many ways to build holistic health and wellness.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Hey there.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: It's Ramsay here.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: I've had this phrase bouncing around in my head for months now. You need to be open to believe.
At first, I was not really sure what I meant by that. Was I saying that in order to believe, you first needed to be open, or that the necessity was to open to the idea of belief? You see, we can accomplish powerful things when we believe. And our bodies work far better when our minds and spirits are aligned with it. Sound confusing? Maybe. But open up your mind with me for a few minutes and let's explore the nature of belief.
You need to be open to believe.
First off, I think that being open is a prerequisite to true belief.
Let's start with being closed and not having any beliefs. If you are closed up, not looking around, not available to new ideas, you won't acquire any beliefs. How would they get in?
If you open up, even if you don't really believe anything strongly now, you will have the opportunity to create beliefs.
Nature abhors a vacuum. So if you are open, new ideas will come and visit.
But let's say you believe some things, but you are not open. You are closed, closed off to new ideas, not interested in anyone else's perspectives and experiences.
Then your ideas are not being tested. How do you know that they are true? Do you deeply believe them? Are those beliefs even yours? How did you get those beliefs in the first place? If you were closed, likely you were open at some earlier point in life.
Maybe those beliefs were planted there in childhood. Or maybe all at once during a traumatic event or betrayal, were a rescue that happened years ago.
So did something slam shut after that? If you are closed up around your beliefs, why is that? Because your beliefs need protection?
Does your faith need protection? Here's the thing though. In scripture, Paul talks about the full armor of God, and that includes the shield of faith, which blocks and extinguishes the flaming arrows of the enemy. We don't need to protect our faith.
Real and true faith protects us.
Huh? So what is strong real and true faith based on? I'll tell you what it's not based on. Being closed up. That is denial, refusal, dismissal. That's like holding up your hand, closing your eyes and turning your face away. Wait, that's a meme, right? That is not Real faith that is no shield. That posture won't hold up under pressure or block arrows. True and real faith is belief based on being open, looking around, seeing and hearing new ideas, different perspectives, comparing them to what we already know and believe, sifting and sorting the new and the old, taking and leaving, based on evidence and insight and what rings true.
After all, the full armor of God also includes the belt of truth, not the belt of blind acceptance. Blind acceptance would be basing our beliefs on the dogma and rules given to us by our tribe. Every tribe has rules, spoken or unspoken, written or implied. These dogma are the beliefs and faith of the closed up. Which is stronger? If your faith is shielded, how can it shield you? When trouble, accusations and tribulations come, you need to be open to believe.
On to the second meaning, being open to believe.
I believe a lot of things I can't imagine, not believing things that I cannot prove. That is the definition of faith. By the way, believing what cannot be seen cannot be proven scientifically or empirically or emphatically. And how can anything be completely proven these days when sounds, voices, images and video can be altered or even created by anyone or any AI?
Some things must ultimately be taken on faith. Yeah, maybe everything is taken on faith because we believe the evidence.
Today, even evidence requires belief.
So yes, to get anywhere today, we need to be open to the idea of belief.
Here's the good news.
Real, true, strong, tested faith based on openness is a great thing for you and me and everybody. Check it out. It contributes to peace of mind. When we are open, we look around, take things in, say hello, see people, seek to honestly understand them. We learn things, expand our understanding of truth, and when challenges come, we are empowered to hold up high our shield of faith and speak truth without fear of its shattering. Being open to belief also builds our joy of spiritual we connect more to other people and to God by exploring and discussing and living out our beliefs. Yes, even by testing them with alternative facts and explanations.
Being open to believe means not hiding behind lists of rules declared ages ago by people in power, seeking to keep and protect that power at the expense of the truth. And most interesting, perhaps, is how belief contributes to vitality of body.
Everyone's heard of the placebo effect, right?
When you take a medicine or get a procedure or use a modality that you believe will help you, it is more likely to actually improve your situation.
That is because your mind lines up with your physical body instead of acting against it. That effect, unfortunately, also works in reverse.
If you believe that something will harm you, your body will automatically go on the defensive and start giving you negative symptoms. Maybe nausea, racing heart rate, cold sweats.
Those are all stress and anxiety response symptoms that you can suffer even from a belief of a physical threat or problem.
Bottom line, believing at least in the possibility of treatments or actions improving our lot are essential and effective in healing and improvement. And when we are open and honest and listening and expressive, we inspire others.
We lead and empower them to do the same.
Things get better and for today, that is enough.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Where to Go from here? Visit whatsworthwhile.net to learn more About Me Ramsey Zimmerman and please reach out to me and let me know what you think. I don't want this podcast to be some message in a bottle thrown out to save.
I want to hear back from you. Please send me a message or an email or hit me up on X, LinkedIn or Instagram. And please leave a rating and review for the what's Worthwhile podcast on Apple, Spotify, Iheart or Amazon. Thanks.
