Beliefs are not inherently verbal
A belief, whether conscious or not, is an attitude. It is a postulate, presumed to be true, and therefore is an attitude held by a person which determines every aspect of the self that is pertinent to that attitude. Although a belief may not be, or ever have been, expressed in words or recognized as a personally held assumption, it is nonetheless held in at least a non-verbal way, and in all other psycho-physical ways as an aspect of the person; which we refer to as the personality.
From November 11, 1995 talk
Your lack of joy is a question to me, is a request without words. You are asking “Do you really love me as much as I hope you do?” I will answer you. After all, you don’t have to ask in words when you don’t want to. There are just some things we’d love to know without using words to ask. I think that is beautiful.
From Collected Writings, “There is no doubt about it for me”
Words as a sign of an underlying attitude
Many words that people will use are just other words for being unhappy, like “stupid.”
From “The Practice of Option”, 1973
“Perfect happiness is not good for me”. That belief can be made self-proving by manipulating the meanings and loading the words so that the terms are mutually exclusive.
From Collected Writings, “Happiness and Safety”, February 20, 1974
Romantic love’s greatest test is when the beloved needs something contrary to the lover’s need. These are the kind of the words that you’ll find being used by these kinds of lovers: duty, sacrifice, selfishness, disappointment.
From “Love as Giving”, Monday Night Study Group, 1973
On the meaning behind other’s words
The reason we don’t use other words besides the client’s own language is two-fold: first, they will very frequently have a different meaning for another word, and secondly, they will think that your use of another word is some kind of a judgment on the word that they were using, and that you have a reluctance, perhaps, to use the word that they were using. And perhaps you might very well be, if you’re avoiding their word and using your own.
From “The Practice of Option”, 1973