What do you believe?
November 24th 2009 22:28
* It's never easy for me to say "I believe". The verb seems to imply the static and the simple -- black and white, yes or no.
But I don't wish to hide from reality, or to conceal its messiness.
* "What do you believe?"
If it's asked whether you believe in God, or capitalism, or sex before marriage, the implication, surely, is that reasonable minds can differ, or that this is something concerning which the human race is uncertain.
But why should the individual hold a superior position to the species?
It may be plain silly or unfair to expect people to hold definite opinions.
* Whenever I'm asked what I believe, or myself ask myself, what I find is different types of beliefs, with different weightings attached to them. And what I encounter is the difficulty of accessing my beliefs in the first place. For there are many voices within me, and all of them changing, dependent on each other, and probabilistic.
* I think myself to a particular conclusion -- and then forget it. I can be persuaded by an argument and fail to remember it afterwards.
* Writing down thoughts is always a matter of working out what you believe, not expressing what's already there.
But I don't wish to hide from reality, or to conceal its messiness.
* "What do you believe?"
If it's asked whether you believe in God, or capitalism, or sex before marriage, the implication, surely, is that reasonable minds can differ, or that this is something concerning which the human race is uncertain.
But why should the individual hold a superior position to the species?
It may be plain silly or unfair to expect people to hold definite opinions.
* Whenever I'm asked what I believe, or myself ask myself, what I find is different types of beliefs, with different weightings attached to them. And what I encounter is the difficulty of accessing my beliefs in the first place. For there are many voices within me, and all of them changing, dependent on each other, and probabilistic.
* I think myself to a particular conclusion -- and then forget it. I can be persuaded by an argument and fail to remember it afterwards.
* Writing down thoughts is always a matter of working out what you believe, not expressing what's already there.
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Comment by Journeywoman
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As long as people know that their beliefs are beliefs only, and not true knowledge, then all is well. Problem is that many don't make that distinction.
Comment by Anonymous
" If it's asked whether you believe in God, or capitalism, or sex before marriage, the implication, surely, is that reasonable minds can differ, or that this is something concerning which the human race is uncertain.
But why should the individual hold a superior position to the species? "
That's an interesting question because if you're speaking of groups of people who do believe in god then your question is irrelevant. Because to those people the species doesn't matter, it's only God and God's word that matters.
But, for those who put the species first then the individual must also be put first. It is the small groups of individuals that have mutated or found new forms of adaptation over time that has kept our species alive. It was group knowledge that made fire, built the wheel or invented the light bulb. It was small groups or individuals that created the change to keep us going. If nothing else, that is a pretty strong reason for individual beliefs to matter.
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