Belief - Fact
and Faith
by
B.W. Holmes
When
people fantasize about a perfect life, they usually
envision great personal wealth; which frees them from
the necessity of going to work each day, and worrying
about apportioning out their income in order to pay the
bills. It allows them to acquire the things they desire;
perhaps even staff to take care of the mundane cooking
and cleaning. They dream of having all the things that
money can buy. The parts of the fantasy add up to what
they truly desire: freedom from the stress of
competition, where they no longer have to struggle to
get ahead in life, but simply enjoy it.
When
people fantasize about a perfect existence, such as the
type promised by religions, they envision a state of
bliss. Existence free from all stress and competition,
unhampered by the pressures of the material world. For
some it is a natural setting without the trappings of
modern civilization: there are no expensive automobiles,
yachts, or fancy clothes in this dream. Whether it is
the vision of substance held by the Western religions,
or the release from the physical realm desired by other
beliefs, the result is the same: an end to the struggle
that is part of life.
The two
fantasies have the same fundamental goal, but the
differences are significant. The first dream is
constrained by reason: however unlikely, it is seen as a
logical possibility. The second dream is spiritual
imagery, and does not require an empirical connection to
reality. One is only what people can hope for, the other
is beyond what they feel is realistic to desire. The
important point is that when people imagine perfection
that is unrestricted by the physical world, materialism
and competitiveness disappear.
There
are two aspects to the way we perceive the world. There
is that which is connected to the physical: things and
concepts we can see, and verify logically. There is the
spiritual: concepts of the mind which are abstract,
without tangible substance, and frequently difficult or
impossible to establish empirically. The two perceptions
are often categorized as being based on either fact, or
belief. The physical world is defined rationally, with
substantive data to prove something, or sufficient
related evidence to reason toward a conclusion. A mental
perception of the world might not have adequate proof to
define something as fact, and is therefore belief or
theory.
Mankind's
mental ability to reason abstractly is responsible for
that which separates our species from the others on this
planet. To move beyond the obvious requires a spiritual
nature; and much of our technology is built upon this
ability to believe something, without having any hard
evidence to support it. Most of our advanced scientific
knowledge began with concepts that were not provable at
the time: the notion of the atom was theorized by the
Greeks thousands of years ago; and even today, the
theory of Quantum Physics is not supported by any
physical evidence. Complex scientific ideas often begin
as mental explanations for observable phenomenon. Rules
are created to account for events, and if the rules
consistently work over a sufficient period of time, we
consider them to be true.
Our
ability to learn of the remarkable properties of the
physical world is dependent upon our mental powers; and
the conclusions we reach are subject to our perceptions,
and a finite amount of knowledge: therefore, even what
we see as the truest of "facts", may actually
be false.
Every
old belief, that we now find amusing, was at one time
the product of the greatest minds and most advanced
scientific techniques in existence. The situation today
is no different. For example: we believe there are
subatomic particles, and we build machines to verify
that this is so. Each machine that does not give us the
result we desire is discarded, because it obviously
doesn't work, and we continue to change them until we
make one that proves our theory. If any subsequent
machines disagree with our belief, we consider them to
be flawed, because we only have faith in the one that
provides us with the "correct" answer; yet
logically, the only thing that makes this particular
machine "right", and all of the others
"wrong", is the fact that it validates our
belief.
This is
an oversimplification of the concept, but the fact
remains that much of our knowledge is based upon
circular arguments: "our theory correctly explains
the phenomenon, and the phenomenon occurs because our
theory is correct". As history has demonstrated,
mankind will blindly cling to a belief until the
evidence against it becomes overwhelming.
Fundamentally,
there is only one principle that is unquestionable: you
exist as a consciousness at this moment, because you are
aware of your existence at this moment; all else,
including a memory of a past prior to this instant,
could be an illusion created by your awareness.
Obviously, you cannot go through life accepting that
this is the only truth, and nothing else is as it seems;
our faith in the existence of the corporeal world allows
us to function within it.
This
does mean, however, that everything beyond this
unquestionable truth is by definition, only a belief;
because you cannot prove otherwise. This is not to say
that we should be skeptical of everything, but we must
be prepared to question the "truest" of
claims, and not simply accept them because they are
commonly held to be infallible.
If
everything aside from our own self-awareness is a
belief, how does one determine between a logical belief,
and one that is irrational? One must apply reason to all
principles. Some may say that this is apparent: but in
practice, such is definitely not the case. The most
obvious example is organized religion: the thousands of
different versions, each claiming to be the one true
system, are all basing this conclusion on blind faith.
The members believe that their particular sect is true,
yet there is no sound justification for this: aside from
the common principles of moral behavior shared by all
religions, the differences in doctrine are based on the
unsubstantiated claims of individuals.
Religion
may be the most easily recognized demonstration of
belief without reasoning, but blind faith exists in many
forms. The people who believe that capital punishment
deters crime, in spite of the fact it has been proven
beyond doubt that it does not; those who insist that the
Earth has infinite resources, contrary to simple logic;
and groups that insist that Caucasians are superior to
other races, while "begging the question": not
only rely on blind faith, but actually believe in things
that are patently false. They do this because these
beliefs are the cornerstones to the more complex ideals
that they have built their lives upon; and to lose the
myths that support their illusion of reality, is to lose
their self-structure. The fear of such an event will not
allow them to risk having reason affect their
convictions.
Blind
faith has always been a major part of human society. The
vast majority of people lack the resources and
inclination to establish that what they know is actually
true: we accept what we are told by experts, and live by
the assumption that these individuals have proof of the
soundness of their conclusions. This system works
reasonably well, and common knowledge has been right
more often than wrong. The drawback to trusting those
who disseminate information is that it can lead to the
widespread acceptance of something that is untrue. Aside
from the chance of error, there is also the practice of
intentionally promoting a false ideal. The persons who
control society see the majority of people as simple
sheep, who can be herded in a desired direction. Due to
this conformity, beliefs are cultivated that control and
manipulate society, often because leaders feel that the
public cannot cope with the truth. You can be certain
that a significant portion of your knowledge falls
within this category.
Using
deceit to guide society in a way that is perceived to be
in its best interests can effectively maintain
compliance and conformity, but there are two major
problems with this. Although most people are incapable
of dealing with the complexities of the technological
and moral issues that govern modern society, a great
many of them could, if given the opportunity. We are
told what to believe, and how to behave, from birth. A
minority of people are able to subvert this pattern of
conditioning and become the independent thinkers, many
of whom develop into the controllers of society. We then
have a relatively small number of individuals who are
attempting to solve the world's problems. Others, who
need more information in order to "break from the
herd", could expand the total number of minds being
applied toward understanding the universe, and how we
fit within it.
The
reason accurate knowledge is not readily going to be
made available to the masses is due to the second
problem with our control system. Whereas many leaders
truly have mankind's best interests at heart, a great
many others use their power for entirely self-serving
purposes, and can be a destructive force within society;
it is not in their best interests to encourage free
thought. These self-centered individuals may be
reasonably intelligent, but they are narrowly focused on
power and material gain, and accomplish these goals
through utilizing the blindly obedient nature of the
majority. Opportunistic leaders of this kind are
actually casualties of the very system they now control,
and have had the artificial ideal, that material
pursuits are the meaning of life, instilled into them by
their predecessors.
Such
people are as much victims of conditioning as the bulk
of humanity, and blindly strive for more power and money
without ever completing their quest; continuing to
compete, even after accumulating great authority and
wealth. The truth of the matter is that, for most of
these people, materialism cannot satisfy their deepest
desire for freedom, and they simply continue along the
same path. Even after gaining billions of dollars, they
feel unfulfilled, and have no idea of what else to do;
so they desperately follow the same narrow vision, until
death finally brings them peace.
Continuing
to accept the manipulation of the general population may
not seem to be a negative thing; after all, most people
would rather live as sheep, without the obligations that
come with independent thought. There will always be
those who simply exist: they become aware, live as they
have been trained to do, and then die; all without any
comprehension of anything beyond their own day-to-day
concerns, and with little or no positive impact upon the
world.
The
problem with the status quo, is that the system is not
working. We have advanced to the point where we are
capable of providing enough food to maintain the
well-being of everyone on Earth; medical technology can
cure a seemingly endless number of ailments and extend
the human life span; industrialization has provided the
means to shelter all people and give them a level of
self-sufficiency: yet only fifteen to twenty percent of
mankind sees any substantial benefit from our scientific
prowess. The vast majority of people suffer as they have
for thousands of years. Our inventiveness has not
eliminated war, nor reduced violent crime: it has only
given us more efficient tools for killing one another.
Our population continues to increase, while we
progressively strip the planet of resources and other
life forms. Leaving mankind's destiny in the hands of
the few is not only failing to improve the lot of the
majority: it is gradually leading all of us toward a
crisis of epic proportions.
There
are no quick solutions to the problems facing humanity,
but there is a way to begin moving in the right
direction. It does not demand revolution, or drastic
upheaval; nor does it even require organization. All
that is needed is for individuals to begin to sort out
their lives, and realize what is truly important to
them. If people concentrate on eliminating the obstacles
that prevent them from reaching inner peace, through
acquiring understanding: the larger problems will take
care of themselves. Just as all things are components of
the whole; the difficulties of each individual are the
components of our global dilemma. To understand, and
appreciate, what is meaningful in life -- and to see the
artificial conditioned ideals for what they are -- not
only frees you from the stress and competition in your
life: it will eventually lead to a better life for all
of humanity.
Copyright
1999 B.W. Holmes
Recommended
book:
Courage:
The Joy of Living Dangerously
by Osho.
Info/Order
this book.
About The
Author
B.W. Holmes is a student of the
social sciences. The author states: "I resist revealing my
gender, race, age, or any other information that may subconsciously
bias a person's opinion of the text. Whether we like it or not, humans
are conditioned by society to perceive others in certain roles; and I
prefer to remain as neutral as possible." This article
"Belief - Fact and Faith" is part 15 of an online collection
of connected essays called "Reasoned Spirituality" on the
author's website http://www.reasoned.org.
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