Belief is the Problem

BELIEF IS THE PROBLEM

Humans have a propensity to believe. This attribute of ours may serve a beneficial purpose, but it also has detrimental aspects, especially in modern societies, causing us to reject facts and follow spurious solutions. The ability to believe may be related to imagination, our ability to create fictional situations and fantasize out of whole cloth. Usually, when we do this, we know what is the fantasy and what is real. So, we wouldn't want to destroy our ability to imagine or believe, which would end our humanity, but to cure the emotional attachment to belief or the need to believe.

Belief is acceptance of ideas which cannot be proven as fact or absolute truth. Beliefs are thought constructs about how existence is constructed and one's behavior relative to that existence, therefore, they are opinion or speculation, arbitrary and unprovable. They are necessary to human existence, but usually unfounded, except on tradition, only sometimes by experience. Beliefs form part of the individual identity. By the laws of logic and rational thinking all belief is false. It is living a lie. One becomes emotionally attached to one's beliefs if they are raised to be insecure and prejudiced, belief becomes personal identity, that is the reason beliefs are so difficult to change when one is confronted with information to the contrary. Beliefs defy rational discourse. Then, we are forced to justify and rationalize our beliefs as excuses in defense of our behaviors.

A culture or society is a belief system, i.e., many interlocking beliefs, many in opposition, only by existing as polar opposites, not as new ways of perceiving life. The cultural relativist position is based on this assumption. It is often derided for presuming all cultures are equal. Whether or not this assertion is factual, cultural equality cannot be true. Belief systems can be judged by how well they function. Many of them are highly dysfunctional, they do not fit the facts of the natural environment in which they arose, and thus limit the believers lives or cause them great misery. Such dysfunctional societies cannot exist for long. Therefore, some societies/cultures are superior in that their beliefs are constructively founded and are a better fit to the facts of existence. These societies function better than others, offering the people fuller, more productive lives.

Existence is so broad that it allows many functional as well as dysfunctional belief systems. Much of existence appears to be created by widely-held beliefs, thus is a consensus reality. There is much conjecture about the absolutes of existence; how much is dependent on human perception? Therefore, to what facts must beliefs fit? Do facts fit beliefs? Which is true? Nevertheless, we do not know enough to construct an accurate picture of existence. All beliefs must be contingent on current knowledge, proven or otherwise.

Even science is a culturally-based belief system. It denies belief, except in hypothesis or theory, but it seeks provable facts that are ever open to revision in interpretation within a wider concept. But the answers science offers must ultimately be right or wrong, absolutely predictable. There is no middle ground once all the facts are established.

Just as we now view many beliefs of the past with humor or horror, depending on the prejudice, or as mere superstition, some of our current beliefs are as likely to be viewed in the future. We attach too much significance to particular beliefs. Emotional attachment to belief is bigotry. Societies change as their people change, and beliefs come and go, like fashions. Other societies view our beliefs as nonsense, and we, theirs.

If a belief doesn't serve you, it's faulty. If you dare, you can look at the consequences of your belief to see how it works and where it might lead you. Perhaps it should be examined and changed.