Now, see, I have a lot of trouble with people who insist I must believe in something, or that the only things worth standing and fighting for are one's beliefs. I come across a lot of people who just can't seem to get to grips with the idea of having no beliefs. That belief is not necessary indeed. I have even heard it said that "belief brings meaning to experience".
Uh-huh. Right. Yes. Of course. /me pats source of such wayward assertions on the head and smiles kindly before turning to friends and making rude faces.
I'm going to annoy a few people (well I never) and turn to my faithful dictionary, which has stood me in such good stead over the years.
| belief n conviction of the truth of anything; faith; confidence or trust in a person, etc; an opinion or doctrine believed; intuition, natural judgement (as used by some philosophers). |
| believe vt to regard as true; to accept as true what is said (by someone); vi to be firmly convinced; to have esp religious faith. |
The etymology is derived from the Middle English, but that's not hugely important for these purposes.
Now, ignoring for a moment that singular odd man out used by some natural philosophers, what we have is a word that denotes a firmly held conviction, a truth held dear, something seen to be right and almost, practically, incontrovertible.
I don't think like that. I have not thought like that at any time that I can remember. Not when it comes to things concerning my own pagan wanderings. There are things like the issue of whether my parents are actually who they say they are, or whether my husband is really a human being and not some alien from the planet Zog biding his time until the puny Earthlings are just at the right stage of maturity to make good eating for his pet Thumblethrupp, and I have to say that I would be surprised and possibly dismayed if my current opinions regarding these things were to be proven wrong, but I am, as always, open to the possibility that they might be.
And that, ladies, gentlemen and assorted fluffbunnies, is the point. The nub of the matter, the crux, the entire focus of my argument. I have no firmly held convictions. I have only this working model of reality that just so happens to fit the data I have available far better than any other model I have tried so far. Each of those models was used the same way this one is used, to interpret the world presented to me by my less than perfect and highly individual perspective. This model may well stand the test of time, and I may find that I have no need to modify it significantly until the day I die, although I find this hard to imagine, and I would probably be disappointed if it turned out to be the case.
A model, incidentally, is defined by the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Earth Sciences [Oxford University Press, 1996 edition] as a"representation of reality in which the main features of some aspect of the real world are presented in simplified terms in order to make that aspect easier to comprehend, and often to facilitate the making of predictions".
I have no beliefs, I only have experiences. I do not believe that there is an evil feathered bastard who occasionally lands on my shoulder, leaving deep and colourful imprints with his nasty pointy claws, and whispers sour nothings and cheap gags in my ear. I experience it. Currently, my sanity, such as it is, is preserved by using a model that says such a beast is a discorporeal member of the Raven Family, but I am willing to concede that it might well be some bizarre form of psychosis with accompanying psychosomatic injury. I just find that life is easier to tolerate if the former model is used as the standard. If someone comes along and presents to me convincing evidence that I really am just a psychotic, then that's going to make life a bit less tolerable, but so be it. The evidence would have to be pretty convincing for me to give up my tolerable existence, however. I would be reluctant to leave this model behind on the basis of some paltry suggestion.
You see, belief inhibits change. If I were of the firm conviction that the puncture wounds in my shoulder (there to see for anyone who cares to view the scars) were caused by talons, if I held that to be truth that was axiomatic and divinedly inspired (spot the quote and you'll get a mars bar) then I would be exceedingly difficult to convince that some other explanation held more water, so to speak. All I require for me to change my ideas is someone to come up with an explanation that fits the facts better than the one I have, that fits my experiences better than the one I have. I have no wish to restrict my ability to learn by foolishly succumbing to the temptation to believe something. I am the critic, more a hierophobic than a hierophant. Doubt is the foundation of all learning. A questioning mind and an iconoclastic tendency can work wonders for one's breadth and depth of knowledge, of experience. All truths are transient. Nothing is absolute.
Finally, a few things to ponder.
The belief that "order is true" and disorder is false or somehow wrong, is the Aneristic Illusion. To say the same of disorder, is the ERISTIC ILLUSION.
The point is that (little-t) truth is a matter of definition relative to the grid one is using at the moment, and that (capital-T) Truth, metaphysical reality, is irrelevant to grids entirely. Pick a grid and through it some chaos appears ordered and some appears disordered. Pick another grid, and the same chaos will appear differently ordered and disordered.
Reality is the original Rorschach.
The real reality is there, but everything you KNOW about "it" is in your mind and yours to do with as you like. Conceptualization is art, and YOU ARE THE ARTIST.
Convictions cause convicts.
When I was 8 or 9 years old, I acquired a split beaver magazine. You can imagine my disappointment when, upon examination of the photos with a microscope, I found that all I could see was dots.
A person belonging to one or more Order is just as likely to carry a flag of the counter-establishment as the flag of the establishment--just as long as it is a flag.
Before he became a hermit, Zarathud was a young Priest, and took great delight in making fools of his opponents in front of his followers.
One day, Zarathud took his students to a pleasant pasture and there confronted The Sacred Chao while She was contentedly grazing.
"Tell me, you dumb beast," demanded the Priest in his commanding voice, "why don't you do something worthwhile. What is your Purpose in Life, anyway?"
Munching the tasty grass, The Sacred Chao replied "MU".
Upon hearing this, absolutely nobody was enlightened. Primarily because nobody could understand Chinese.
–Principia Discordia, The Magnum Opiate of Malcalypse the Younger
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away."
– attributed to Neils Bohr (although if anyone can confirm the source for me, I'd be most grateful)