Believe – In an age characterized by unprecedented access to information, scientific advancement, and widespread questioning of traditional institutions, belief itself sometimes appears quaint or outdated. Skepticism and critical thinking are rightly valued, yet from a psychotherapeutic perspective—particularly through Gestalt and Somatic Experiencing lenses—the capacity to believe in something remains fundamentally important to psychological health, resilience, and meaning-making. This essay explores why cultivating belief serves our wellbeing and how we might develop this capacity when it has been diminished.

The Psychological Function of Belief

Belief systems—whether religious, philosophical, political, or personal—serve several essential psychological functions that contribute to mental health and wellbeing:

Coherence and Meaning-Making

Humans are inherently meaning-making creatures. We seek to understand our experiences and place them within coherent narratives that explain why things happen and what they signify. Belief systems provide frameworks that help organize the otherwise chaotic flow of experience into meaningful patterns.

In Gestalt therapy, we understand that perception itself is an active process of organizing sensory data into meaningful wholes. Without some organizing principles—some beliefs about how the world works and what matters—we would be overwhelmed by the raw data of experience. Our beliefs function as the gestalt principles that determine what becomes figure (meaningful) and what remains ground (background) in our perceptual field.

When people lack meaningful belief systems, they often report a sense of disorientation and emptiness. Life events seem random and purposeless. This existential vacuum can contribute to depression, anxiety, and vulnerability to ideological extremism that promises simple certainty.

Nervous System Regulation

From a Somatic Experiencing perspective, belief provides essential support for nervous system regulation. The human nervous system evolved in environments where predictability enhanced survival. When we believe that certain actions lead to certain outcomes, or that underlying patterns govern seemingly random events, our systems can relax vigilance and allocate resources more efficiently.

Consider what happens physiologically when we face uncertainty about basic safety. The sympathetic nervous system activates, stress hormones surge, and the body prepares for threat. If this state persists without resolution, it creates wear and tear on physical systems and depletes emotional resources.

Belief that the world operates according to comprehensible principles—even when those principles include randomness and change—provides the nervous system with essential predictability. This allows for cycles of activation and settling rather than chronic dysregulation.

Identity and Belonging

Beliefs also provide anchors for identity formation and social belonging. They answer not only questions about how the world works but also about who we are and where we belong in the social fabric. Through shared beliefs, we connect with communities that provide support, validation, and collective wisdom.

In Gestalt terms, healthy development involves both differentiation (establishing a clear sense of self) and integration (connecting meaningfully with others). Belief systems support both processes by providing frameworks for understanding personal values and connecting with others who share similar orientations.

Types of Beneficial Belief

While any belief system can be distorted into rigidity or extremism, several categories of belief appear particularly supportive of psychological health:

Belief in Meaning and Purpose

Perhaps the most fundamental beneficial belief is that life has meaning—that our experiences and actions matter in some larger context. This need not involve traditional religious concepts; it might center on contributing to human knowledge, creating art, raising children, advancing social justice, or countless other sources of purpose.

What matters psychologically is the sense that one’s life is not merely random or futile but connects to something larger than immediate self-interest. Research consistently shows that people who report a sense of purpose demonstrate greater resilience

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Belief in Meaning and Purpose (continued)

What matters psychologically is the sense that one’s life is not merely random or futile but connects to something larger than immediate self-interest. Research consistently shows that people who report a sense of purpose demonstrate greater resilience in the face of challenges, recover more quickly from illness, and report higher levels of life satisfaction.

Belief in Agency and Growth

The belief that we have some capacity to influence our circumstances and develop our capacities—even within constraints—provides essential psychological support. This doesn’t require denying real limitations but rather affirming that meaningful choice exists within them.

In therapeutic contexts, we observe that clients who believe they can grow and change engage more actively with the therapeutic process and show greater improvements than those convinced of their powerlessness. The belief in possibility opens doors that deterministic thinking keeps firmly shut.

Belief in Connection and Belonging

The belief that meaningful connection with others is possible and valuable supports psychological health in multiple domains. It motivates prosocial behavior, encourages vulnerability, and provides emotional resources during difficulty.

From attachment theory through contemporary neuroscience, research confirms that humans are wired for connection. Beliefs that affirm our interdependence and the value of community align with our neurobiological needs and support optimal functioning.

Belief in Transcendent Values

Holding certain values as transcending immediate self-interest—whether justice, truth, beauty, compassion, or other principles—provides orientation for decision-making and meaning even in difficult circumstances. When we believe that some values exist beyond personal preference or cultural convention, we gain stability amid changing conditions.

When Belief Becomes Problematic

While belief supports wellbeing in many ways, certain patterns of belief can become detrimental:

Rigid Certainty vs. Living Belief

When beliefs solidify into rigid certainty that rejects new information or different perspectives, they lose their life-enhancing qualities. Healthy belief retains a certain openness—not indiscriminate relativism, but a humble recognition that our understanding is always partial and evolving.

In Gestalt terms, healthy belief maintains contact with present reality rather than clinging to fixed ideas that no longer serve growth. It involves ongoing dialogue between established understanding and new experience, allowing for what Fritz Perls called “creative adjustment” to changing circumstances.

External Authority vs. Embodied Knowing

Beliefs adopted purely from external authority without integration into personal experience often function as what Gestalt therapy calls “introjects”—undigested chunks of others’ worldviews that we’ve swallowed whole. These unassimilated beliefs may create internal conflict with our direct experience and intuitive knowing.

Beneficial belief develops through a process of testing, questioning, and eventually embodying principles that prove trustworthy in lived experience. This doesn’t mean rejecting tradition or collective wisdom but rather engaging with it actively rather than passively.

Cultivating Beneficial Belief: Three Practices

For those who find themselves with diminished capacity for belief—perhaps due to disappointment, trauma, or exposure to manipulative belief systems—the following practices may help cultivate healthy belief capacity:

Exercise 1: Values Clarification Through Somatic Awareness

This exercise helps identify and embody core values that can serve as foundation for meaningful belief.

1. Find a comfortable position where you won’t be disturbed for 15-20 Have a journal nearby.
2. Close your eyes and take several deep breaths, allowing your awareness to settle into your body.
3. When you feel centered, bring to mind a moment from your life when you felt deeply aligned, purposeful, or “in the right ” This might be a time of meaningful connection, creative expression, service to others, or quiet contemplation.
4. As this memory becomes vivid, notice what happens in your Where do you feel sensations? What qualities do these sensations have—warmth, expansion, vibration, steadiness?
5. Stay with these sensations, breathing into them and allowing them to develop fully in your
6. Gently ask: “What value or quality was present in this experience that made it meaningful?” Allow words to emerge naturally from the bodily sense rather than analytical
7. When a word or phrase arises (perhaps “connection,” “creativity,” “truth,” “compassion”), check it against your bodily Does this word capture what was precious in that experience? If not, stay with the sensation until a more fitting word emerges.
8. Once you’ve identified a resonant value, explore how it might serve as a foundation for meaningful In your journal, complete these sentences:

When I live from this value, I believe that…

This value suggests that the world is… Living by this value connects me to…

Repeat this exercise with different meaningful memories to identify 3-5 core values that might anchor a personal belief system.

Exercise 2: The Belief Experiment

This practice helps test potential beliefs through direct experience rather than abstract reasoning.

1. Select a potential belief that appeals to you but about which you feel This might be “People are fundamentally good,” “The universe is supportive,” “Beauty matters,” or any proposition that feels meaningful but unproven.
2. Rather than trying to convince yourself intellectually, design a 7-day experiment to live as if this belief were true. Consider:

What actions would naturally flow from this belief? How might your perception shift if you held this belief?

How might you respond differently to challenges if this belief were certain?

3. For one week, commit to living from this experimental Each day, take at least one action consistent with the belief and note its effects.
4. Keep a daily journal recording:

Actions taken based on the experimental belief Changes in perception or emotional state

Challenges to the belief that arose and how you responded Unexpected outcomes or insights

5. After seven days, review your experience. Did living from this belief enhance your sense of meaning, connection, or effectiveness? Did it create dissonance with your experience? What modifications might make the belief more aligned with your lived reality?

This experiential approach bypasses intellectual doubt by placing emphasis on the pragmatic effects of belief rather than its objective verifiability. As William James noted, some beliefs can only be verified

through the difference they make in lived experience.

Exercise 3: Finding Your Belief Community

This practice helps connect personal beliefs with supportive community.

1. Based on the values and experimental beliefs you’ve identified, reflect on what kind of community might support your emerging belief This need not be a traditional religious congregation—it might be a philosophical discussion group, a service organization, an artistic community, or any gathering organized around shared values.
2. Research potential communities in your area or Look beyond obvious categories to consider diverse expressions of the values you’ve identified.
3. Before fully committing, engage as a respectful explorer: Attend gatherings with an open, curious mindset

Notice your bodily response in different community settings—where do you feel relaxation, energy, constriction?

Observe whether the community’s stated values align with actual practices Consider whether differences in belief details matter less than shared core values

4. When you find a community that resonates, start with limited engagement before deeper Participate in specific activities that align with your values while maintaining reflective awareness.
5. Periodically assess whether this community supports your authentic growth and embodied values rather than imposing conformity.

Remember that in our complex world, you may find different aspects of your belief system supported in different communities. This plurality can itself be enriching rather than fragmenting when approached mindfully.

The Paradox of Belief

Perhaps the most profound insight about belief emerges through paradox: the most life-giving beliefs often include awareness of their own limitations. We can hold convictions with both passion and humility

—committed to values and perspectives that orient our lives while remaining open to growth, correction, and the mystery that exceeds any conceptual system.

This paradoxical stance reflects what Gestalt therapy calls “mature faith”—neither rigid dogmatism nor rootless skepticism, but rather engaged commitment that includes both certainty and uncertainty, conviction and openness. It acknowledges that beliefs are not merely intellectual propositions but lived orientations that shape our experience of reality itself.

Conclusion: Freedom as Birthright and Practice

In a world that sometimes equates sophistication with detachment and critical thinking with cynicism, the capacity for belief represents not regression but psychological maturity. Through belief, we create coherence from chaos, find purpose in challenge, and connect to communities that sustain us through life’s inevitable difficulties.

The question is not whether to believe—some organizing principles inevitably shape our perception and action—but how to cultivate beliefs that enhance rather than diminish our capacity for full, meaningful living. By approaching belief as an embodied, evolving process rather than a fixed intellectual position, we access its life-giving potential while avoiding its potential rigidities.

The journey toward beneficial belief involves both courage and discernment—courage to commit ourselves to values and perspectives in a world that offers no absolute certainty, and discernment to distinguish between beliefs that expand our humanity and those that contract it. Through this challenging but rewarding process, we discover that belief at its best is not an escape from reality but a fuller engagement with it.

 

Keywords: Anxiety, believe, polyvagal theory, gestalt therapy, psychotherapy, parents, parental trauma, somatic experiencing
Contact us: Feel and Heal Therapy Office