Belief Foundations

Dear Victorious,

How can different people believe such different things? How can there be so many different beliefs?

Firm Believer

Dear Firm,

I'm not sure if I'm following your question very well, but I'll take a stab at it. It is easier for us to ask someone to believe. My teen-aged children used to tell me lies ... and expect me to believe them. The world asks us to believe things ... often knowing full well that they aren't true! It seems that belief and truth are not really connected. We can believe in things that aren't true. Conversely, we can not believe in things that are true. Like I said, belief doesn't appear to depend on truth. And that is to the misfortune of mankind!

I've learned that I don't get to pick my beliefs. I can not believe something and go on not believing it for years. But then the facts overwhelm me and I can't not believe any more. I become a believer and can never get rid of the evidence that overwhelmed my disbelief. In this way, I don't believe we are free to choose what we believe. We are only free to seek ... or not seek, the evidence that will form our beliefs.

So, for example, if I seek no evidence, no answers and study or question nothing --- I will still believe. It's just that my beliefs will be based on my ignorance. I can be sincere in my beliefs and I can be devout about my beliefs. But they will still be based on my ignorance. And they could still what we call "false beliefs."

Why do people believe what they believe? I'm not really sure there is an answer to that except for the level of exposure they've had to the truth. People develop their beliefs based on what they're exposed to. If they're exposed to truth, they develop good beliefs. But if they're not, they develop false beliefs (i.e., beliefs in things that aren't true). So to answer your question, people believe what they believe --- because of what they are exposed to.