What do you believe?

April 03, 2016

Have you ever stopped to question your own belief system? Why do you believe what you do? Actually, what you believe is derived from the learning process because what you know is practically synonymous with what you believe. Of course, we learn in more than one way. Probably the first process is Emulation/Imitation (“monkey see, monkey do”), right? Even before we’re able to crawl, we learn to mock chewing food because we see Mommy and Daddy do it — even before we have teeth. Of course, another process is “Trial and Error.” According to science, we can account for about 80% of what we learn to this process. Troubleshooting a computer is the perfect example of trial and error. We don’t know how to fix it, but we attempt several changes until we find the correct change which fixes the computer.

Well, there are still other processes for learning too. Two of these can be said to be the two sides of the same coin — comparing and contrasting.

1. Comparing (finding similarities between ‘A’ and ‘B’)
2. Contrasting (finding differences between ‘A’ and ‘B’)

When you compare a square to a rectangle, you can see they are almost identical in definition. However, they’re obviously different and that obvious difference is that the square has 4 equal sides while the rectangle has only 2 pairs of equal length.

When you first learned the English word “blue” and started associating it with the sky — do you recall why? In America, it’s usually a parent, but someone you trusted told you that the sky was blue. You had little reason to doubt them, right? Why would they lie?

You have collected an infinite amount of data over your lifetime. From the time you’re an infant to this very second that you’re reading this article. You compare and contrast every piece of data that comes to your attention. You compare it to what you already know (or believe to be true) and if it doesn’t conflict with your present belief system, you incorporate it into your belief system. However, if the new data conflicts with your present belief system you either discount the new data or you hesitate and need to reflect on it more. If I tell you that the sky is green rather than blue — you have no trouble and waste no time discounting the statement. However, when the data is questionable or more closely aligned to your existing belief system you justify the newly acquired data to fit into your present belief system. If at a later date you find that it outright contradicts your belief system — you abandon the idea.

This is why religion stays “close to home.” This is why Christians tend to rear Christian children and Muslims rear Muslim children. This is especially true when the religion teaches children that questioning their belief system is wrong.

What do you believe? Do you believe that the American government works for you? Do you believe Democracy is more resistant to manipulation than other forms of government? Do you believe it to be coincidence that the 34th President of the United States (Eisenhower) issued a warning during his farewell address about the Military Industrial Complex and that the 35th President of the United States (Kennedy) was assassinated in office?