From the Archives
Originally written on 13 February 2019 on my earlier blog “Just felt like it!”. Refined and republished on 27 April 2026 for clarity and readability, while preserving the original thought and intent.
Binders: Beliefs and Solutions
In the literal sense, binders are clips or fasteners that keep a bunch of papers together and in order.
There is usually a good reason for binding documents that are relevant to a particular issue, project, or subject. The contents are protected, organised, and kept together.
But if we look at it differently, a binder can also represent a kind of imprisonment.
Beliefs as Binders
Likewise, when a group of people think alike and share a certain perspective, they tend to gather together in a uniform manner. Over time, they become bound by their own patterns.
This can provide protection.
It can also provide conviction.
When people are surrounded by others who think like them, their own belief patterns get strengthened. They feel reassured that their way of seeing the world is correct.
Perspective, Mindset, and Early Conditioning
Perspective can also be called mindset.
Mindset usually begins forming very early in a person’s life. Beliefs arise from convictions — some blind, some experienced, and some inherited from what we observe around us.
The way we see our parents, relatives, teachers, fellow children, and the environment around us during our formative years shapes our perceptions. These perceptions slowly become beliefs. Those beliefs gradually form our mindset.
Beliefs Shape the Path We Choose
Beliefs and mindsets become the pillars on which we base our daily actions.
They also influence the path we choose toward our goals.
Just as there are many possible routes to reach a destination, there are also many belief patterns that can take us forward in life. We usually choose the route that conforms to our own mindset.
But it must be remembered that some paths may be faster than others only because of where the signals, bridges, highways, and obstacles are placed.
A shorter path does not always mean it is the best path.
There may be more hurdles further down the road.
Why Beliefs Need Reinforcement
We go to temples, churches, mosques, and other places of worship based on our respective belief patterns.
Why do we go again and again?
Why do we repeat the same activities at these places week after week?
Perhaps because such repetition reaffirms our beliefs and convictions.
Beliefs need to be reinforced from time to time. If they are not reinforced, they may become unsettled and lead to confusion.
Solutions and Mental Blocks
Solutions to problems are often biased by individual beliefs.
At times, we may be able to see the best way out of a situation, and yet we do not move in that direction because of a set pattern of mental blocks.
In simple words, those mental blocks are also beliefs.
Sometimes, the solution is visible.
But our mindset does not allow us to accept it.
Conflicts of Opinion
Solutions to conflicts of opinion are among the most critical.
In one way, such conflicts can sometimes be resolved by money, especially when need or necessity becomes stronger than belief patterns.
But another way is through understanding.
A solution may emerge when one person is able to gently convince the other person to look at a different perspective, even if only for a while.
It is important to let the other person know:
“I understand your belief. I respect where you are coming from. I am not trying to disturb your belief system. But for this particular situation, perhaps we can step aside from that belief for a moment and look at the practical solution.”
This is difficult because it requires us to understand and feel the other person’s belief system.
Why is the person behaving this way?
What belief is driving that response?
What fear, conviction, habit, or conditioning is behind that behaviour?
When Beliefs Block Timely Action
It is not that there are no solutions to many problems.
Often, the solution exists.
The difficulty is that we do not want to look in that direction. We do not want to endorse the proposed action or thought because it conflicts with something we strongly believe.
We may say:
“Even thinking in that direction is wrong.”
“How can you do this to me? I am a pure vegetarian.”
“No, I am not going to agree because this is not the correct way.”
“I would have agreed if the same thing had been said in a nicer manner.”
Are these not examples of how we avoid taking timely action?
Instead of looking at the solution, we often get pulled back into what we strongly believe to be the correct way.
Final Reflection
Beliefs can protect us.
They can give us identity, conviction, and direction.
But they can also bind us.
When beliefs become too rigid, they may prevent us from seeing solutions that are already available.
Perhaps the real challenge is not to abandon our beliefs, but to become aware of them.
To know when they are guiding us.
And to know when they are quietly imprisoning us.
