No. 49: Part 1--Believing
January 12th 2010 21:29
Everyone has a belief system of some sort, whether they admit it or not. It may be all the way from believing nothing, and boasting of it, to positional extremism. Whether atheistic, religious, political, personal, or any other (you name it), we use our beliefs to seek comfort and equilibrium in our lives.
Knowledge is definitely increasing exponentially. As it does, often times it creates dissonance between formerly held beliefs and what we are now learning. Beliefs that may have satisfied peoples of former generations are now in many ways, confusing many of today.
People are hungry, and not just for physical nourishment, as tragic as this is.Often, secretly, we long for an understanding of how and why we exist. The evidence is everywhere – in our families, schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, politics, gutters, drug misuses, suicides, and institutions throughout the world. This hunger knows no socio-economic exclusion. The highest celebrities, the lowest field hands, the poorest, the richest, and most in between, feel the need, and many people openly express dissatisfaction with many answers provided thus far.
We need to define and identify just what believing is first. So, let us take a look at some semantics that may lead us to a better understanding.
Although, anyone can write a dictionary, and anyone can label a book “Webster’s,” I will quote Webster’s New Twentieth Century dictionary as a guide to lead us along. Believe -- “1) To accept as the truth, 2) To expect or hope for with confidence, 3) To have confidence in a promise, or statement (from another), 4) To think or suppose, to hold views or opinions.”
One can say that he or she truly “believes,” when oftentimes, not much thought could have preceded such a personal “opinion.” An opinion, I think, we will agree, “… is not based on absolute certainty or absolute knowledge, but thought to be true.” Opinion has to be based upon prior knowledge.
Believing is ultimately based on gut feelings, intuitions, emotion, opinions, hunches, and/or hypotheses. They can be from a myriad of other things gleaned from prior observations, experiences, and knowledge. Some pass it off as just “faith.” The faith may be genuine and apply to some, but the word is often used as an expression for not wanting to delve into what they think is believed or why, simply because it makes one uncomfortable or fearful.
In order to really “believe,” we probably should first look at ways in which thoughts have been fed to us, then look at why we choose them, followed by whether or not these reasons are verifiable and valid. Otherwise, are we really believing or just following the pack?
Let us use the rather trite example of electricity – We do not see it pulsing through our house wiring, but—based on prior knowledge—we believe it will light our bulbs, turn on the toaster, etc. Most people do not need an understanding of physics or even E=IR theory, etc. to have an opinion that it will bring the expected result.
What other prior knowledge could influence us to believe in an idea, our origin, theology, purposes, goals, political persuasions and so forth? Our small list should include written and spoken words from trusted sources (i.e. teachers, authority figures, ancestors, family members, friends, peers, and political and religious leaders). We should also list other media sources such as television, film, radio, etc. Let us not forget some of the most important, but more subtle ones like advertising, (both overt and subliminal), music, song, chants, and other forms of symbolism in various art forms.
Long ago--thousands of years in fact--mankind learned to manipulate the beliefs of others as a means of control. Sociologically, it may have started with hunger-gatherers when one primitive man said to another: “Don’t eat the red fruit on that tree over there, ‘cause it will kill you.” The fear was placed into the other because the speaker only wanted the fruit for himself and family. This form of deception and manipulation has grown to the present. Although we may have begun with a small band of hunter-gatherers, the earth’s population has been growing steadily, and in need of more control as it grew in complexity. Without evolved controls on our beliefs, can you imagine the chaos of a planet with approx. six billion different belief systems? Four or five major belief groups are easier to project and control (with a smidgen of others) than attempting control of unlimited diverse religious and political ideas. Although no one should imply a conspiracy of modern religious thought control here, controls have evolved nevertheless.
To say that political figures have not been influential in growing belief systems for political and religious purposes is to show an ignorance of history. Some giants of history have used religious belief systems as a form of mind control from the dawn of civilization. The height of it was when whole cultures were taught that their most important political figures (the Pharaoh, king or emperor, for examples), were direct descendents from God and that their attendants should also be obeyed always. Earlier peoples were taught their leaders were superior to everyone else because “God” had established them to be.
Both political and religious leaders have used two of our strongest secondary drives (love and fear) as a means to keep the group cohesive and controlled. “If you do not believe,” they would say, “you will die.” If not, then torture might bring you to either recant or wish you were dead. We know that far too often, they carried out these threats when challenged. It is amazing how long a belief system can be fed as long as it is promulgated by the sword.
There are other emotional drives and triggers that should be named when looking for ways we are taught to believe a certain way, such as vanity and hatred. Vanity is used to urge us believing in a product from enhancing our appearances to “we are more pious than you,” or “our city/country or possessions are better than yours,” or it is better sticking with the crowd. Hatred is used to turn people against one another, such as when the Pope turned believers against the Templars or when Islamic fanatics fly planes into buildings.
We have known for eons that in order to keep the group cohesive and normative (in line), we could present a threat to constituents from outside the group. Leaders have used other religions and figures for this purpose, from simply opposing their thoughts to attacks and all-out war. There are whole volumes written on this and the possible villains named, some real – some perceived.
Stay alert, my friends! They all use these methods. Your local councilperson, your pastor, other religious leaders, and state and Federal legislators all use these secondary drives to feed beliefs to us. The irony is that many of them are unaware they are using them and for what purposes. Their intentions may be noble, but the end result is that we are not all always objective, but due to manipulations, we are mostly subjective--without even realizing it. This further creates the confusion and dissonance within us. An uneasiness develops and we see the results as described in paragraph three.
In Part 2, we will attempt a look at deeper reasons why society needs help spiritually. Later, we will take further looks at how modern, more updated, knowledge is available for the inquisitive. I will take no doctrinal approach, but will leave the conclusions to each reader.
Please keep it between the lines.
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