What Happens When You Drop All Beliefs? (Peter Ralston)
Is mental suffering optional?
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"A belief is not true. By definition, a belief is not true. A belief is a concept that you have of something you think is true that's totally different, and most of your beliefs, you don't even really think are true." (54:16 in this cast)
Peter Ralston is a visionary consciousness teacher, world-class martial artist, and author of 12 books including the The Book of Not Knowing.
As the founder of Cheng Hsin, Peter has spent over five decades exploring human potential, and helping others applied the teachings of ancient wisdom. Intent on revealing the depth and power of this work, he became the first non-Asian ever to win the World Championship full-contact martial arts tournament held in the Republic of China.
I was excited to explore Peter's radical perspective on attaining freedom, consciousness, and assertion that emotional suffering is completely unnecessary.
He is an incredibly entertaining guy and its obvious he is coming from a very deep experience.
This episode is great for:
Those struggling with anxiety and emotional suffering seeking a radical new perspective
People feeling trapped by unworthiness who want to understand why
Anyone ready to question their fundamental assumptions about reality
Those curious about how social conditioning shapes our suffering
Ideas that really stuck out to me:
All suffering is self-created. Peter believes we actively generate our mental suffering through thought patterns that we can choose to stop doing, just like we can choose to have a thought and then stop having it. The key is recognizing we're the ones doing it.
"Worth" is a social invention. One of the most liberating insights is that concepts like self-worth and feeling broken are purely social inventions with no basis in reality. A rabbit doesn't worry about its worth - these are mental constructs we can let go of.
Reality exists beyond beliefs. While many focus on changing "limiting beliefs," Peter advocates dropping ALL beliefs since they inherently block direct perception of truth. A belief is just something we think is true, not truth itself.
Thoughts create our world. Most of what we consider "reality" is actually an intricate web of thoughts and concepts we've mistaken for what's real. Our entire experience is shaped by mental activity we're not fully conscious of.
Happiness can be independent circumstances. Using the example of a joyful three-legged dog, Peter shows how our suffering comes from our thoughts about circumstances, not the circumstances themselves. No achievement will create lasting happiness if we're generating suffering internally.
It’s Impossible To Know Truth With Preferences. Peter believes if what you really seek is fundamental truth, then you must drop your biases. It’s why he advocates for letting go of all beliefs.
Peter’s perspective is unique and thought provoking. It’s a bit different than many guests I’ve had on the show, mainly in its directness which I felt confronts us in a good way.
I was so intrigued by Peter’s ideas that I have begun reading his seminal The Book of Not Knowing and so far am really enjoying it. His new book the End of Mental Suffering which expands on many of the ideas will be coming out soon if you seek to explore his ideas more.
I hope you enjoy this mind-expanding conversation.
- Scott
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Episode Transcript
Show Notes
00:02 - Realizing the Truth of Suffering
03:14 - The Social Self and Suffering
07:55 - Challenging the Concept of Suffering
09:46 - The Role of Thoughts in Suffering
23:28 - The Social Context and Beliefs
23:51 - Letting Go of Beliefs
29:35 - The Importance of Perception
36:00 - The Concept of Worth
36:52 - The Role of Thoughts in Physical Pain
39:08 - The Practice of Being a Rabbit
Listening now (just 19 minutes in) and stuff is coming up, so I thought I would comment.
It feels like an ungentle approach, just stop doing it. But that doesn't take into account what's underlying why the human is engaging with suffering. Why there's holding onto clinging. Why you're maintaining an identity.
He seems to be saying, it's just so simple. You're suffering. Stop thinking.
It's sort of like what an ex-boyfriend told me when I was sitting deeply with feelings that were like my internal alarm system saying this whole scenario is off (there was a codependency going on in that relationship, and I'd lost my sense of internal sovereignty). While that was going on, he told me that he has chosen that when something "negative" arises, to just turn it off, just stop thinking. That wasn't my choice, but he tried to put it on me, and it added the third or tenth arrow or whatever to what I was feeling, because he completely made no space for me to have feelings or process.
From my own inner guidance path of accessing a consistent inner voice conversation, I've never been told "stop thinking". Rather I bring the pain down and say all that it is. Then what comes is a deeper understanding, so all these instances of triggering and suffering have been used to come to much greater understanding. The closest that came to being told to "stop" was probably a few weeks ago when I awoke at night crying about not belonging in my family, and inner voice explained that there was holding a victim state, and that victim state is not loving. My mind was seeing it as sort of "they're wrong; I'm in the right", like a "self-righteousness" thing. But when that message came with love, there was increased understanding. From that understanding, I chose to let go of the victim state. Then all the suffering was gone immediately, and energy returned to my body. But I didn't stop the story prior to that to just stop feeling suffering.
One of my biggest breakthrough sessions last year was about how the ego is rooted in love -- that at the root of why ego is held is entirely love. That was so shocking and freeing, and more to write about when it's ready. But the point is that when you just try to stop what you're doing, it often doesn't work, because the very deep root reason you're doing that is actually love. And we're here to love.
Hi Scott,
I'm a former apprentice of Ralston, I've been studying with him for over 6 years now, and just wanted to thank you for doing the interview with him.
I have not found anybody alive even close to being as profound as him and his work, and because of this I really want more people to hear about him. He does not care about marketing at all. He is over 70 now and I would be very sad to see him pass away before a wider audience can hear about his work. It changed my life and I'll be forever grateful for him.
Hope to see you one day down in Pipe Creek!
Thank you again and best regards,
Viktor Balogh