One of the primary sources of conflict and violence I see in the world are many people’s gross misconceptions about the difference between a belief and a fact.
Let’s face it – as a species we buy into some of the most ridiculous nonsense imaginable and then swear it’s the only way things could be. We are ridiculous that way. We have grown, educated people who should know better teaching myths to school children who have no ability to judge how rational or irrational that information is. There are instances where those same children are literally beaten if they do not agree. Now I ask you, is that education or is that child abuse?
We have religious, cultural and and political extremists on every end of the spectrum insisting that the most blatantly false information is Absolute Truth and must not be questioned, even when such nonsense is easily disproved in just a few minutes.
Now why is this happening? Well, there are all kinds of reasons – culture, religion, nationalism or “because that’s the way things have always been” are just a few. There’s also just plain ignorance.
It’s true irony that in this so-called Information Age, willful ignorance remains the order of the day. In some places, people are actually proud to not understand the world because they were raised to think that a two-thousand year old book or the supposed prophecies of someone from centuries ago are more important than they are. It’s not the beliefs themselves that are the problem, it’s that they think those beliefs are facts and that real facts don’t matter. They are very confused people.
There are whole swaths of our society, not just here in the US but all over the world, that are tearing themselves apart for lack of figuring out how to get this under control. But they’re solving the wrong problems, because there’s no way we can control those factors, not on a planet with a population of 7 billion people and counting.
Science and technology can actually help but here’s the thing: our technological advances have been made by a very few for the benefit of the very many. Unfortunately, there are some who decry science and reason yet can only get out their messages of hate and ignorance using the very technology that science has given them. More irony.
Because of our technology, ideas can spread around the world literally at the speed of light. It would be a good idea for us to get a grip on what kind of ideas we are spreading and what we are willing to believe.
So what do we do?
Here’s how I see it. No one is born being a racist, a sexist, a misogynist or any other -ist. There’s no proof that a gene or neuron tells people to hate other people just because they have a different skin color or come from a different place. Those attitudes and behaviors are taught either directly through pictures and words or indirectly through example and action.
There is no “one answer solves everything” but I believe that education is vital and one place we can start is at the difference between beliefs and facts. If people knew that just because they believed something, that doesn’t necessarily make it a fact – maybe we could get a grip on the
intolerance and ignorance which is destroying our species.
Here’s an easy way to look at it:
A belief is an idea you can change at any time. There may be real world things that support a belief or many people can share a belief, but by it’s very nature, belief is something that has not been proven to be real.
A fact is an idea that you cannot change no matter how much you change your mind about it or wish it was different. The fact is the fact regardless of what you think about it.
Example: The sun came up yesterday. That’s a fact. It happened and nothing you or I do will ever change that fact. We not only experienced it but we can corroborate its happening in any number of different ways. It’s very provable through a number of physical tests that demonstrate its reality, not just because we saw it but because of the physical effects that event caused and records we have of it happening.
I believe that the sun will come up tomorrow. It’s not a fact because it hasn’t happened and we can’t be 100% sure that it will happen. Science tells us that because of the facts we do have, the probability of the sun coming up tomorrow is very very high.
You see the difference? It may seem small but if you think about this for a bit, you’re going to see the differences are night and day.
There is very little that we can be 100% certain of, so isn’t it time that we stop killing each other over what we think we know? We don’t need to hate each other over beliefs. What we need to be intolerant of is intolerance.
Maybe we never will fully understand one another, but we can certainly learn to tolerate and even appreciate our varieties and differences. Critical thinking is all about learning these differences and similarities and maybe not agreeing with them all but at least learning to live with them. I realize this is a tall order and some may say it’s impossible but it’s a place we need to get to as a species.
Thank you for watching.
What is the solution to this problem?
Does conventional education help a person shed their false beliefs, or to separate facts from belief? Or does it make it worse?
How does a belief become established as a fact? Under the Scientific process, it is survey and concensus. If 95% of the people believe that dogs are better than cats, then it becomes a scientific “fact”. Nothing has changed about the objective reality of whether a dog is better than a cat, yet a belief is allowed to become a fact just like that! How can a person stop believing something they believe, or start believing something they don’t believe?
Humans don’t run on basic material principles. It’s not enough for us to know that a bamboo shelter, a wool blanket, and access to edible materials is all we need in life. If we were wired that way, we wouldn’t have YouTube videos, online blogs, or philosophical discussions about the nature of “belief”.
An alternative solution to insisting that all people rejecting all ideas that cannot be objectively measured in the 4 dimensional universe is to allow all people to develop their own objective realities, and teach people how they can learn to acknowledge and accept each other’s objective realities without conflict.
That is what I have found studying Scientology – the Life Improvement Courses. At that level, it’s not about willful disembodiment or ancient space dramas or past life recall. All those things are availble to pursue, if you want them and “believe in” them, but at the MOST basic level it’s about A-R-C – developing acceptance and understanding of others through basic communication and acknowlegement – “2 way communication”.
Well, I feel kind of bad bring Scientology into this post when you’ve studiously avoided it, but I see that you have presented a dillema and proposed a hypothetical solution, but have not (yet) presented a method. I feel like this is EXACTLY what A-R-C was created to solve.
That should have been “accepting each other’s SUBJECTIVE realities”
Scientology is the last thing a person needs to gain acceptance and understanding. It is a totalitarina control system of blatantly false information and pseudo-science which cloak its true intentions. The principle of ARC sounds nice but does not actually work. I believe Van that you have the right idea in thinking along the lines of acceptance but pushing a Scientology agenda is not the “solution” and never will be. I did not say that conventional education is the solution, I said that education is part of the handling starting with cleary defining the difference between belief and fact. I don’t pretend to hae a total solution, but this is a start.
I am new at posting so if this goes out twice please forgive me. I was so sorry I could not attend the conference in Toronto. Please tell me they have video taped your talks and you will be posting them. Although all the anti-scientology blogs are interesting, yours and Tony s are both interesting and informative. Your posts are particularly valued as they transcend this cult and speak to life in general. I am very glad you have decided to make this a Thing, as you characterize it. I don’t know if you have another job, but you should consider making a living as a speaker of some sort.
Thank you! Yes, the Canada conference will be available online. As soon as I have more specifics, I will post them. It was a blast!
CHRIS do you have a wife and kids. DIid they get out of scientology too ,I hope so
I had a wife in the Sea Org. She stayed when I left. I wanted a divorce when I left Scientology because our marriage wasn’t working out and I knew she didn’t want to leave. I hope one day she realizes that she is being lied to and ruthlessly taken advantage of.
Because you rarely share your personal history, and I sort of feel like I know you through your talks and I am nosey, did your kids get out and stay out . What are their ages .Obviously you don’t have to answer any of this,. But thank you if you do
My wife and I did not have kids. So….no.
Keep up the good work Chris! I don’t have anything to do with Scientology or any other religious or occultist organization. I believe in a higher power but don’t need any kind of organization to validate me as a human being. Critical thinking is what life is about, at least for me. It helps keeping us from being conned and or otherwise taken advantage of.