where do beliefs come from?

 I'm not just talking about religious or spiritual beliefs here I'm talking about all Beliefs.

For example, how is it that some people believe they can ride a motorcycle or surf a wave and some do not? I think it is somewhat the same with spiritual or religious beliefs both for good and for ill.

Some experiences teach you to believe one thing or another. Even PTSD in a way is about beliefs. For example, wartime PTSD is about believing you shouldn't be killing other human beings a lot. So, if you believe you shouldn't be killing people (any people) then obviously this creates a contradiction in your brain and then you are living in an untenable paradox. It's not so much what you want to believe it is what you were conditioned to believe as a child being domesticated in a family or home somewhere by your relatives or caregivers.

So, everything from PTSD to religious experiences to spiritual experiences to believing whether you can surf a wave (of any size) or ride a motocycle is all based upon belief. And if you believe things you cannot safely do then also you are dead before your time too.

So, from this point of view if people didn't believe what they do they couldn't do anything at all not even walk. Because if you don't believe you can walk then you can't. IF you don't believe you are smart (even if you are) then you might not act smart and use your abilities usefully or fully.

I like the story (which is true) about an experiment where they told teachers that all the F students were A Students and all the A Students were F Students. Pretty soon the F Students became A Students and the A Students became F students.

So, a lot of believe of teachers and stuff changes children's future too for either good or bad.

So, it's not just what you believe it's also what people believed who were raising you and what your teachers believed as well as what you believe that causes you to have the kind of life that you are presently having.

So, by understanding your beliefs better you survive better and maybe you change some of them because you realize those beliefs might be others beliefs that they put upon you which don't keep you alive?

So, be very careful what you believe because it affects not only you but also your children and everyone around you for good or ill or in between.