We
call something a “faith” or a “belief” because we DON’T know. If I say that I
“believe” something, it simply means that I have made a choice, and that I have
to live with the consequences of that decision. It would be a bit kinder world
if we could simply and without bias share our experiences, about beliefs that
did or did not happen to work out for us.
Beliefs
are a conceptual bridge between the known and the unknown – and some are more
stable or useful than others. I suppose it’s an odd glitch in human nature,
that the more stridently and intractably one expresses a belief, the more the
public tends to accept it – leadership must not hesitate, or pause to consider
complexity, probability, ambiguity, guile or even justice, least it be
condemned as unsure or dishonest. Every cop, politician, doctor, clergyman,
boss, huckster and con man knows this.
As
an example – my wife used to run a mainframe computer. Whenever the power went
out to the building, coworkers immediately asked her what happened – and when
she didn’t magically know, they treated her with disrespect. They were all
standing in the middle of the same building, surrounded by darkness. Just as an
experiment, once when that happened, she answered that a drunk had taken out a
light pole a couple of blocks away – something she couldn’t possibly have known
– and that absurdity was accepted without question, because it was delivered
with authority. My point is, all theological debate aside, most beliefs are
pinioned to our unconscious responses to adamancy and hierarchy. Little
progress and less peace will be made until we consider how we are wired
psychologically and socially, before we cross swords over belief.
