Debugging Beliefs
“The first step is seeing that beliefs are not truths but habits of interpretation.”
Surfacing the Invisible Code
Beliefs are like tinted lenses: they filter everything you see, hear, and feel. Most of the time, you don’t notice the lens — you just assume the world really is that color. Debugging is about noticing the tint, holding it up to the light, and asking: “Is this the only way reality can appear?”
This chapter is not about adding “better” beliefs on top of “worse” ones. It’s about surfacing the hidden assumptions that quietly shape your world and giving you the choice to keep them, shift them, or release them.
Why Debugging Matters
Psychological level: Hidden beliefs fuel shame, guilt, fear, and loops of self-sabotage. Surfacing them dissolves unnecessary suffering.
Systemic level: Beliefs act like code in the operating system of reality. Debugging them changes the loops you unconsciously reinforce.
Nondual level: All beliefs veil the seamless whole. Debugging loosens their grip and opens into the freedom of what is, before story.
Practice 1 – Spotting Beliefs in Language
Beliefs often hide in plain sight inside our words:
“I should be more productive.”
“I’m always the one who gets left out.”
“That will never work for me.”
Red-flag words like should, always, never, impossible are clues. Each one points to a belief filter.
Exercise:
Spend a day noticing your “belief words.”
Write down 3–5 sentences you catch yourself thinking or saying.
Translate each one into a clear belief statement. Example: “I should be more productive” → “My worth depends on productivity.”
This is the first step: turning fog into code you can actually read.
Practice 2 – The Scaling Method
Beliefs don’t exist as simple yes/no switches. They live on a spectrum. One powerful way to debug is to scale a belief from worst to best and then write it out in detail.
How to Do It:
Write the numbers 1 through 10 on a page.
Place your current belief at 4 (e.g., “I don’t feel especially worthy”).
Fill in 1–3 with progressively worse versions (e.g., “I’m the least worthy person alive”).
Fill in 5–10 with progressively better versions, with 7 being the “operational” belief you’d like to make true (e.g., “I’m worthy in and of myself”).
Expand on 4–7 in short paragraphs, describing each in more detail.
Example (Worthiness):
4 – Current: “I don’t feel especially worthy. Success feels shaky, failure feels like proof.”
5 – Slightly better: “Sometimes people appreciate me, and maybe that means I have worth I can’t always see.”
6 – Stronger: “I make mistakes, but that doesn’t erase my worth. My value is steady even when I fall short.”
7 – Target: “I am worthy in and of myself. Nothing I do or fail to do can take that away.”
By walking the scale, you give your system a believable ladder rather than trying to leap from despair straight to perfection.
Practice 3 – The Inquiry Loop
Sometimes the most powerful debug tool is a simple question: “Is this absolutely true?”
This isn’t about forcing yourself to deny the belief. It’s about poking gently at its foundation. Most beliefs dissolve under inquiry because they are partial, not absolute.
Exercise:
Take one belief from your scaling exercise.
Ask: “Is this absolutely true?”
Notice what happens — not the words in your head, but the felt sense in your body. Does the belief loosen, even slightly? That loosening is the debug.
Reflection
Beliefs are like code. When hidden, they run your life automatically. When surfaced, they become editable. Debugging isn’t about rejecting beliefs or clinging to better ones — it’s about remembering they are provisional lenses, not absolute truth.
Questions to journal on:
What belief surprised me the most when I wrote it down?
Which “scale step” (4–7) feels most alive right now?
How does it feel to hold a belief as “just code,” rather than ultimate truth?