Belief. A six-letter word with such immense power that the world revolves around it. A belief is generally referred to as anything that we accept as the truth irrespective of whether the evidence is present or not. Beliefs are generally adopted by society from its ancestors and are passed on to the next generation creating a non-halting chain of passing on an idea which was once thought by a person about centuries ago and is to date considered true by us. Of course, beliefs can be voluntary, but the main question is, will society accept them?

Ever since our childhood, we’ve been taught that there’s a soul which existed long back and he served humanity and brought grace to the world thus, he is God and we, as his children have to worship him. We don’t have proof, any kind of proof but we do have our parents and grandparents constantly stressing the fact that “God exists”. It falls in the category of a belief which is present worldwide.

Though the majority do believe in the theory of God some do differ by saying they would rather stay away from this belief. Now, whoever defines themselves as a non-god believer, is o en termed by society, called out names, and has to go through specific hardships just because the person decided to differ from the belief that has been sent out for ages.

All of us have specific phases in our life where we face some hardships in our lives and in most situations, you’ve been told that you need to stay strong, you need to be stable, you need to take care of your family, you need to gather yourself and a million other things but each one of them has one thing in common, positivity.

Let there be two people, ABC whose mother just passed away, and XYZ whose wife passed away. ABC was broken after this incident although he gathered himself together and started an NGO under her name. XYZ, on the contrary, was vulnerable, he skipped meals and stopped talking to everyone around him irrespective of their worth in his life. In this situation, almost 90% of the people would appreciate ABC for being positive throughout but with XYZ, they would maintain distance.

In the above two paragraphs, it is very clear that everybody prefers a person who is positive and handles situations while being emotionally strong. One of the most common everyday beliefs that takes action in such situations, positivity is the key to happiness. ABC was considered the better one due to the belief that positivity brings happiness and people are more attracted to him since he stays positive. XYZ on the other hand was o en ignored by society and people preferred avoiding him since according to them, talking to that person would make them sad and they did not want to ruin their mood.

Beliefs are highly influenced by the type of surroundings we live in, including the people, the culture, and the natural habitat. They differ from time to time and from person to person but some specific beliefs are commonly shared by the society. The presence of God, mythology, the idea of karma, and which political party to vote for next, are such examples. A coin has two sides and so do beliefs.

Beliefs can have a positive impact on us a lead us to be disciplined, follow a specific religion, and live our lives peacefully. When people violently start attacking each other due to some specific beliefs is a larger negative side of it which cannot be ignored.

Personal experiences add to the way we think and how we plan on taking the next decisions of our life making them an integral part of the beliefs we have in life. A person would want to believe the fact that karma exists if they have experienced any of the byproducts of it or someone around them has experienced it. It is as simple as when you don’t want to eat a specific dish because you don’t like its taste and that experience is coming from you.

Nowadays, social media is like gallbladder, a weird example but everyone has it even though it's not that useful for our body, we still have it and can easily be thrown out when not required. Social media is another factor which influences our beliefs. There is a wide network of uncensored information

available for all age groups on social media. It starts to poison the pond when this information starts influencing how we live our lives. Fake news, inflammatory news, and targeting specific groups lead to communal and religious hate affecting and manipulating our beliefs.

A person P lives in poverty, it is very difficult for him to make ends meet. He o en sleeps hungry due to a lack of employment. Even endless promises made by the different governments to provide employment or unemployment benefits, food, shelter, and other basic resources, P did not get any of them thus shattering his faith in governments and leading to a belief in his mind that no government can bring good to him and the other people who find it hard to gain those basic needs.

Socioeconomic factors play a key role in one’s beliefs. A person suffering from poverty would have different thoughts and views from a person born with a silver spoon or a person who earned the silver spoon. Economic factors contribute to how our surroundings are and thus affect the course of our thinking.

To conclude, beliefs are something that differs from place to place, state to state, city to city, district to district and person to person. They can be altered and controlled by us or even by someone else. Although some people stick to their beliefs about something or someone, some events can alter that as well. Coming to the end, I would like to highlight the point that beliefs are voluntary, but they can easily be manipulated and shaped into other beliefs by our surroundings.

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