Belief in any form can be overwhelmingly powerful, and as a matter of personal opinion I hold that it can be the strongest emotional/psychological state a person can experience. Belief has the ability to be the strongest force any person can manifest from within themselves. Once belief has manifested anything is genuinely possible for that individual.

What about faith? What about confidence? What about persistence in order to obtain something?

They are all meaningless without the fundamental foundation of belief.

If you have faith in something, say that an event will take place, you are saying – essentially – that the event will take place because you believe it to be so. If you say you have the ability to accomplish something because of confidence in your abilities to do so, you are saying you believe in your abilities to bring an end result into reality. You will not quit until you reach your goal because you desire the objective and you believe you will obtain it. If you continue to pursue a goal, if you continue to pursue a dream, if you do something – anything – in a repetitious manner expecting your actions to satisfy your desires you believe it will happen, thus you continue to do so until it does.

While we walk through life everyday simply performing tasks that we know must take place in order to keep a sense of balance or social responsibility, such as waking up on time in order to go to work and paying bills, the true motivation that keeps humanity (as a whole) moving forward is the belief that something will be rewarded to those who continue to push foward.  When broken down on an individual level it does not matter what, exactly, that is… just that something will be given in order to move forward.

Without a pay check would you go to work? Without a motivator would you get up routinely at a specific time?

No.

The belief that life (or your actions) have a point, the belief that you will be able to obtain your desires, the belief that you have the ability to fulfill your dreams, is what continues you to move you forward.  Without it what is the point?

Conversely, the same may be true. The *lack* of belief may be the strongest emotional force known to humanity.

A lack of belief transmits the viewpoint that nothing – or very little –  is possible, be it the ability to accomplish a goal or desire, simply because what one aims for is a dream.. a fantasy… and realm that is unattainable.

A lack of belief is saying that something does not deserve the time and energy. A lack of belief is saying something is unattainable or untrue.

The irony in the outline above is that  a lack of belief requires that one *believes* such a thing was unattainable; ergo the power of belief remains the most powerful force within human psychology. Be it a positive or negative the fact that one has the ability to say something will or will not happen shows just how powerful belief is.

You have the ability to do anything in this world. If you want to change society or, if you desire to change the impact of one specific situation, you have the capability to do so… if you believe you can. If you believe you have no ability to impact the situation that, too, is true.

Believe in yourself, believe in what you are capable of, and believe that something of significance can come to fruition…

…if you do anything is truly possible…

A research article that is to be published in the Brain Research Bulletin is making the claim four major personality types – novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and persistence – are directly tied to the physical structure of the brain. Researchers say the brain differences can be measured by the size of specific regions of the brain that are associated with the four personality types.

Brain scans that measure differences in volume down to an accuracy of less than one cubic millimetre found, for instance, that people defined as novelty-seeking personalities had a structurally bigger area of the brain above the eye sockets, known as the inferior part of the frontal lobe.

People with smaller volumes of tissue in this region displayed higher levels of timidity, approval-seeking behaviours and a greater tendency to seek gratification from external sources such as food or drugs, said Professor Annalena Venneri of the University of Hull.

While my days of education in the world of Psychology are years behind me, I find this quite interesting as such a finding has the ability to impact the understanding of personal development.  It also has the ability to potentially alter discussions and views on metaphysical discussion (free well and what have you).

If tissue volume plays a role in determining what personality an individual has, what else does it play into?  Does size dictate what individuals will be prone to depression?  Substance abuse?  And how does the years of nurturing, or lack of, determine what kind of an adult a child will develop into?

The problem I have with the concept of Nature being the driving force in personal development is the lack of accountability in ones actions. Say it is fact the a part of the brain with more volume controls how shy someone is, and a person is shown to have this trait via testing, they have the potential to say “I can prove to you why I am this way and why I won’t change.”  It’s almost like a crutch – I don’t want to try to change, I don’t want to put myself in different situations because it won’t work…

So, ultimately, if volume does indicate potential personality types, can the personality be modified via exposure to other personality types and, if so, does the physical structure of the brain also change?

I guess this has the potential to be a case where size does matter.

So, what is this all about? I’m not talking about politics, war, or anything specific that may be going on in the world at this very moment, no, this is question on issues of individual existence and experience – what is life all about?

At the risk of sounding negative, I have to ask is there a point to life? Individuals with a personality rooted in philosophy could suggest that the purpose of each life is simply to exist. Not to accomplish any significant goals, not reproduce and, maybe, not even to find happiness. Simply exist in order to experience life. Maybe that is why the saying “It’s not about the destination, it’s the journey” comes from. For me, however, simply existing lacks fulfillment.

What about happiness, is that the point of life? No matter one does there is no way one can be happy at every moment in their life, it’s impossible. I don’t care how positive your attitude is, it just cannot happen. Outside influences interfere with mood, chemical and physical reactions within the body influence your perception and, hell, just being tired could put one on edge. Maybe the point is not to be constantly happy but understand what happiness is and apply that to your life when you can and, when you cannot, be content with what you have.

Maybe the act of existence is not about us as individuals but for the good of the species. If we look the question from a fundamental viewpoint, as much as one may want to deny it, humanity is a bunch of psychotic apes running around trying to make their way in this world – that is to say we are nothing more than self aware, ultra high functioning animals. What if our whole “purpose” is simply to procreate? While the act itself has it perks not everyone has offspring, nor does everyone wants to. If that was each individuals role within the species one would think every person would have the desire to have children.

Yes, there is a natural selection argument here – those who do not desire to reproduce are simply not meant to. If that is the case the question still stands, what is the point of their life?

There may be a simply answer to this question – there is no point. We are not here for the experience, we are not here for the accomplishments, we are not here to reproduce, we just are. There is not point of our existence. It could all be random chance.

In the end the purpose of existence, I suppose, is determined by each individual. We each decide what life is to us. If we want to be happy, we find a way… if we want to have a family, we do… and on and on. It’s not a question that can be answered but, without a doubt, it one worth asking.

So, what is life all about?