We all know how forgotten leftovers sit in the back of the frig until they start to smell. Then you have to search around to find the offensive item because its existence has passed completely from your mind. 
Just like leftovers spoil if they sit too long, out-dated beliefs can be toxic, especially when they are unconscious.
Ancient beliefs do not die easily. They come with us through our DNA and are carried on the energy of mass consciousness. Beliefs that you thought you had left behind long ago, beliefs that you don’t think you believe now, and even beliefs that you thought died out generations ago, may be lurking in your unconscious and influencing your behavior and relationships, especially your relationship with yourself.
Many years ago my husband and I were struggling financially when neither of us could find employment in our professions. With two very small children to raise, I never knew if I could find money to feed them, let alone pay the bills.
During that time, I received an ad from a spiritual bookstore listing new books available. One of the books was called “Creating Money”. This title drew my attention immediately and I was somewhat shocked at my reaction. I found myself becoming very angry that a “spiritual” bookstore would carry such a book. I found the title almost blasphemous and was outraged that such a book was being peddled to me.
But I was also wise enough (even then), to realize that my response was more than weird. Why was I so upset?
So I bought the book (Creating Money by Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer) and read it. The book helped me realize that I had a deep-seated, unconscious belief that spirituality and abundance could not exist together. On an unconscious level I believed that I could not be spiritual and also be comfortable financially. I thought that resources were finite and I didn’t want to hog them.
Perhaps I had spent many past lives as a monk or nun, having given up all my worldly belongings in order follow a spiritual path and/or please God. Perhaps I had just taken to heart the Biblical passage about how hard it is for a rich man to get into heaven (like an camel going through the eye of a needle?). Perhaps I just didn’t want to feel guilty about being comfortable when others were not.
This discovery really amazed me because I had left the Christian church at the age of 11 and have considered myself totally a-religious ever since then. But this belief had somehow burrowed into my psyche and stayed there.
Through the book I was able to identify many other beliefs and behaviors around money that were blocking my financial well-being. Once I became aware of them, it was fairly easy to let them go. The book showed me how to replace these old beliefs with new ones that I liked better and which seemed much more appropriate to my current life and spiritual outlook. The key to this transformation was simply identifying the unconscious belief and replacing it with something more appropriate, in other words, awareness and intention.
Within a couple of months after readjusting my beliefs, (I am happy to report), our financial situation changed dramatically and has gotten better and better since.
Religious beliefs about money are certainly not the only way the residue of the collective unconscious affects us. There is the notion that suffering is noble and martyrs are somehow benefiting the collective, (Jesus suffered to save us from our sins). There is the idea that there has to be sacrifice for God to forgive us (Jesus died to redeem us). There is the belief that the sacrifice of human life is a sign of courage and strength of character (soldiers who die in war are heroes). Consequently we tend to accept as fact that sacrifice of self in order to serve others at our own expense is a sign of sainthood.
Although these beliefs may still be affecting me, when I examine them closely I realize I don’t believe any of them anymore. Suffering for others doesn’t really help anybody. And why would a loving God demand any kind of sacrifice, let alone his own son? Soldiers fight because they’ve been conscripted, because that’s their job and because some of them even like it. In the 21st century, is killing people in the name of war something we really want to glorify? Giving our energy to others to the point of exhaustion is not healthy and usually results in others just stealing our energy. Most of the time it is wiser to empower people to solve their own problems than to do it for them.
And then there is the question of who is worthy and why. There is the belief that bad things happen as a punishment by God for something we’ve done wrong, (why do bad things happen to good people?) As a result, many people still think poor people are poor because they are lazy and stupid, (in other words, not deserving). When we ourselves are having financial difficulties or other problems, it is easy to feel like a victim, like we don’t deserve to have this bad thing happen even though we are unconsciously afraid our lack of worth is the real culprit. Whenever you hear someone say, (or think yourself), “I don’t deserve this”, you can bet this outdated belief is still there. It’s hard to love ourselves and access the energy needed to move forward when unconsciously we feel unworthy.
Even though we may not consciously believe any of these things anymore, these beliefs may nonetheless be coloring our thoughts and actions just like those leftovers forgotten in the back of the frig. The odor tells you there’s something rotten, but you have to search to find out what.
So too, discovering unconscious beliefs may take a concerted search and discovery effort. But if you keep your energy senses sharp, your eyes open and your nose engaged, you may be able to find them before they start really stinking.
You can learn more about the energy realm in my book, “It’s All About Energy: Adventures in Expanded Reality”, found on Amazon, and on my website, www.transformationalexpansion.com.