Quick Reference Glossary
Core Technical Metaphors
Operating System (OS)
Standard Definition: The core software that runs a computer and manages its functions.
Belief OS Lens: The hidden framework of beliefs that runs your mind and shapes how you experience reality.
Source Code
Standard Definition: The instructions written by programmers that tell software how to run.
Belief OS Lens: The underlying beliefs and assumptions that silently drive perception and behavior.
Bug
Standard Definition: An error in code that produces unintended results or instability.
Belief OS Lens: A flawed or limiting belief that distorts perception or creates self-sabotaging loops.
Crash
Standard Definition: When a program stops working, often because of a bug.
Belief OS Lens: A breakdown in life experience when conflicting beliefs collide, leading to suffering or stuckness.
Debug / Debugging
Standard Definition: The process of finding and fixing errors in code.
Belief OS Lens: The practice of surfacing hidden beliefs, questioning them, and rewriting them to restore clarity.
Loop
Standard Definition: A sequence that repeats in a program.
Belief OS Lens: A repeating cycle of thought, feeling, and action that reinforces itself.
Voltage
Standard Definition: The force that drives electrical current through a circuit.
Belief OS Lens: The intensity of conviction that gives a belief its power and makes it feel real.
Alignment
Standard Definition: The proper arrangement of parts so they fit and work smoothly together.
Belief OS Lens: When belief, attention, and conviction move in harmony, making life flow with less resistance.
Resonance
Standard Definition: The amplification that happens when vibrations match in frequency.
Belief OS Lens: The sense of ease or synchronicity when your inner beliefs match the reality you’re experiencing.
Field
Standard Definition: An invisible space where forces operate, like a magnetic or gravitational field.
Belief OS Lens: The wider field of consciousness in which all possibilities exist — what you “tune into” shapes your experience.
Ego Tunnel
Standard Definition: A narrow perceptual frame that excludes other perspectives.
Belief OS Lens: The narrow identity of “me and my story” that limits how reality is experienced.
Retuning
Standard Definition: Adjusting frequency (like a radio) to access a new channel.
Belief OS Lens: Shifting attention and belief to align with a new possibility or version of reality.
Core Spiritual / Philosophical Terms
Manifestation
Standard Definition: The act of making something real or visible.
Belief OS Lens: Shaping your reality by aligning belief, attention, and conviction. Less about “wishing something into existence,” and more like tuning into the version of reality where it already fits.
Nondual
Standard Definition: A view that sees apparent divisions (self/other, inside/outside) as illusions.
Belief OS Lens: Recognition that everything is already one seamless field of consciousness.
Māyā / Illusion
Standard Definition: In Indian philosophy, the appearance of the world as separate or independently real.
Belief OS Lens: The way beliefs and perception create a convincing but dreamlike reality.
Awakening
Standard Definition: A sudden realization or shift in perception, often spiritual.
Belief OS Lens: A glimpse of nondual recognition — temporarily seeing through the ego’s story into a wider field of consciousness.
Enlightenment
Standard Definition: A stable state of clarity or liberation beyond illusion.
Belief OS Lens: Stabilized awakening — abiding nondual recognition where the illusion of separation no longer returns. It means both living in the truth of oneness and understanding the mechanics of the dream.
Alignment (Spiritual sense)
Standard Definition: Agreement or harmony among parts.
Belief OS Lens: When thoughts, feelings, and actions line up without contradiction, creating coherence and flow.
Resonance (Spiritual sense)
Standard Definition: A state of harmony or vibration that amplifies itself.
Belief OS Lens: The felt sense of synchronicity or “click” when your inner state matches outer reality.
Consciousness vs. Awareness
These words are often used interchangeably in spiritual and scientific writing — and sometimes even reversed in meaning. In Belief OS, we use them in a specific way for clarity and consistency:
Consciousness \= the field. The limitless ground in which all thoughts, emotions, sensations, and perceptions arise. Both container and content.
Awareness \= the spotlight. The perceptual activity that illuminates some contents of consciousness while leaving others dim or unseen.
Attention \= the aim of the spotlight. The specific direction awareness takes within the field of consciousness.
Note on usage elsewhere:
In some traditions, “awareness” and “consciousness” are used as synonyms.
In others, the terms are swapped (e.g., “awareness” as the field, “consciousness” as the act of noticing).
In modern science, “consciousness” often refers only to the contents of awareness (what we notice in the moment), not the larger field.
Our use here is not “the one true definition,” but a working lens. Treat it as a map: helpful for navigation, but not the territory itself.