Beliefs are like the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, which when taken
in provide a surrounding bubble of air to keep the effects of the sea at
a distance.

If you internalize the belief that using your mind is unnecessary, then
you create a bubble of thoughtlessness around yourself that follows you
wherever you go. As a result, you perceive thoughtlessness in every
location.

But if you instead take in the belief that your sentience is valuable
and act accordingly, then a nimbus of wisdom surrounds you and travels
with you, spreading to those you encounter.

If you believe that the Gods are not a part of your life, then you
create a bubble of godlessness that you carry wherever you go, and you
perceive pointless faithlessness around you in every empty-seeming
direction.

But if you believe that the Gods watch over you always, then you find
yourself seeing the Divine in all aspects of your surroundings, as the
filter of the bubble of your belief shows you that an invisible Divine
is not an uncaring Divine.

If you believe that your perspective is the only true one, then you
create a bubble of isolation around you. All who encounter you will
perceive you only through this bubble, and they will be forced to
conclude that you are unimportant to them, because the surface of a
bubble is reflective equally on both sides.

Yet while the pear's bubble exists, is the sea any less real? When the
pear's bubble bursts, does the might of the sea stay its hand?

Penned by my hand on the 14th of Variach, in the year 133 MA.