Belief Makes Us Vulnerable

One of the weaknesses the human races suffers from is our tendency to belief without evidence. Maybe it starts with religious belief or learning to not question adults as a child. I have been/am there myself and I know where it can lead. It may even partly start in our genetics.

The premises that non-fact based belief can lead to suffering and even ruin for individuals and even countries applies to any religion or belief where a person is asked to accept the existence of a being or beings without evidence that the being exists. With that belief comes required belief in a compendium of written words, and oral traditions which govern behavior and what they are expected to do, say, and think. This leads to a circular logic loop where the writings and traditions are pointed to as proof of the ‘god’s’ existence by the faithful. The end result is life altering to some degree and it all started with accepting the premises that the religion or idea is a true thing. It is interesting to note that whatever the religion living people stand in the place of and speak for that invisible being.

How many people have you heard base some specious argument on the Bible. Why do they do that? Because they have accepted that the Bible is the word of God. From the moment they accepted that they shifted the basis of their thinking from reality to that books contents. Many will accept what that book says over observable fact even though it was written by people with a tiny fraction of the knowledge the modern world possesses.

In the case of a cult the leader becomes the sole source of ‘knowledge’. These ‘oracles’ will claim their knowledge or wisdom comes from a higher power or has received the approval of the claimed power. This is usually accompanied by a story of how they came to be the chosen mouthpiece of that power.

Pseudoscience is another belief based system that masquerades as actual science. The person is pulled in by what appears to be psychological help or some tasty ‘scientific’ discovery. The successful cults many times actually do ‘help’ the person in some way but, as they go deeper in things get weirder until the true core of the cult is revealed. Usually at the core is some benefit to the person who started it and a core of ‘leaders’. Many times if they go this deep it is too late for the person to leave or if they do realize the danger and get out they may never fully recover from the experience.

Whatever the cause once a person starts down this path, it becomes easier and easier to accept more ideas without proof or even logic. It leads to sloppy and sometimes dangerous thinking. It opens the person to be manipulated by politicians, social media, the press, businesses, family members… the list goes on and on. Many times the person looses touch with reality all together because the actual proof based sources of information no longer sound right to them.

We as a society and as individuals need to be better than our more primitive ancestors. We must not put our head in the sand out of fear and ignorance as they (understandably) did. Crying out the to gods and to men for answers. Each of us must require proof of statements we hear or read. The proof is out there, maybe yet to be discovered but most times available with a little digging. We must take the time to dig for the right answers to our questions. The volume of human knowledge is vast and growing at an exponential rate. There are many true answers out there already. If we don’t know a thing then we must wait for technology and knowledge to improve till we do know the answer rather than making up fables to answer our questions.

Many say that we need belief in order to have purpose and to feel safe. Maybe that is true for many or most people. In that case the belief should be contained and understood as just that, belief not proven fact. Never let that line blur. We get into trouble when we let belief mascaraed as fact. That is the door that opens people to all kinds of manipulation.

The human, animal, and general Earth damage and suffering caused by people accepting unverified statements as fact is beyond belief. How many people have been ruined by get rich quick schemes. How many ruined by deceiving politicians, nefarious sales people, religious leaders claiming to know god’s will, and cult leaders? The list goes on and on. The hurt caused by simply accepting something because someone we trust says it.

When we cut loose from the moorings of fact and slip out into the ocean of belief the shore of reality can, for some, slowly fade away until they are lost at sea with no rudder. They are now vulnerable to whatever plausible sounding belief that comes along sounding right or happens to fit into their personal preferences (cognitive bias). They create an echo chamber where they hear what they want to hear and reject the hard facts which are usually available. They become mental cripples and chew toys for anyone who lacks the scruples to help rather than take advantage of their weakened mind.

We have to become better than this. We need to work toward a future where we realize we are responsible for our fate. We need to protect this planet and we must learn to live with one another. Can we get there? Not all of us can. Those who can, particularly those who lead or influence others must get there. Those leaders who are greedy, lacking in scruples, sociopaths, and narcissist must be recognized as unethical and removed by vote from leadership positions. These people should be reviled not praised. We must be smarter about identifying them and that starts with research and knowledge by the general population. Those are the weapons which shine a light on these base humans who would lead the rest of us to ruin for their own gain as they have since humans became sentient.

We need fact based leaders who have vision for a better future. We will not get that future by wishing for it, we must work toward it. Yes we have come a long way as far as our capabilities but so many people think that belief somehow got us here. Rubbish! Every comfort and advantage that we enjoy is traceable directly back to science and engineering break throughs and how we apply them.

We need to get over the idea that we are some deitie’s children. We need to get over the idea that anyone besides ourselves is responsible for our future. We must live unafraid.