Our brain, when it comes to conscious thought works very much like a computer. The mind to function properly, must have a set of rules or beliefs to work with. For humans to fulfill social needs and communicate effectively there needs to be agreement to the definitions we place on our perceptions. The primary communication tool we use is language. If someone says, lets meet by the oak tree at 5 pm, those involved would need to share the same beliefs about time and oak trees.
The nice thing about oak trees is that once they are defined, humans can easily identify oak trees. If someone pointed to a palm tree and called it an oak tree, we would understand that the poor fellow was mistaken. A belief, like a computer program, determines what decisions we make. The individual who believes that an oak tree looks like a palm tree won’t be at our meeting.
Our three great western religions claim revelation. Orthodox jews believe completely that god revealed himself to the entire nation of Israel at Mount Sinai approximately 3500 years ago. Jesus and the Prophet Mohamed had revelation more recently. The events were then codified many years later. Today none of these traditions agree upon the nature of god. They all disagree so adamantly with each other about god that they have been killing each other over this for millennia. Is god a palm tree or an oak tree? To my knowledge no one has ever killed a person for believing a palm tree was an oak.
We consider a person to be insane if they claim beliefs that are unsubstantiated by the rest of us. Asylums are full of people whose internal personal beliefs are considered ludicrous. Revelation of god is unsubstantiated and yet to millions of people it is the core belief in their lives. Their decisions and actions are based on a system of belief (ideology) that is completely unknowable by human intelligence.
In order to appear normal, religious beliefs have to be held by large groups of people. To accomplish these ends religious people have many children, raise them in sheltered environments and incorporate their values at a young vulnerable age. They see the secular world of science and technology as an enemy. Books of literature and history not written in their slant are prohibited. Independent thinking amongst their followers is discouraged. To me it sounds like a cover-up. If god and his ideas were so great wouldn’t free people naturally gravitate towards it. Why in today’s world are so many people forsaking religious life.
Beliefs in things that are unknowable will lead us to actions that are unconscionable. The most horrible abuses in human history were done in the name of god. Social ideologies such as nazism and communism take their cues from religious ideologies. To control large groups of people to do your bidding, find a set of unsubstantiated beliefs and get people to buy into it. Since the belief is unknowable, logic and reason no longer need to apply to actions resulting from these beliefs. In god’s world a palm tree and an oak may be the same thing. In god’s realm ideas that are bound by time, space and human logic need not apply. Anything is now possible. All a religious person needs to do is preface what ever idea they may have with “god says”. When the Church said the world was flat, then that became the belief which guided geographical exploration for years. Sailing ships would never venture too far out to sea for fear of falling off the earth’s edge. In today’s world the Church tells us that the human soul enters a fetus at conception, this unknowable belief has become a limiting factor in stem cell research. Interestingly it seems that jewish talmudic law disagrees, in that they say human life starts at birth. Since no one has seen or identified a soul, who really knows. And yet Christian fundamentalists will defend killing Doctors who perform legal abortions.
Nazi fascism worked so effectively because it utilized a social ideology of taking different groups of people and classifying them as superior or inferior (us vs. them). Once people bought into the arbitrary belief that ethnically pure germans were supreme beings, the Nazi leaders were able to get people to make decisions and take actions based on those beliefs. The outcome as we know was catastrophic.
Big Brother Burt encourages people to examine their core beliefs. Core belief that we ascribe to should be based in knowable, understandable phenomena, which strikes us as logical and rational. Beliefs based on mythologies, ancient texts or just something our parents or teachers told us at a young age need to be critically reviewed. Beliefs based on exclusivity, racism and hatred need to be rejected.
As free thinkers we have a responsibility to align our beliefs with reality. In doing so we can ensure that our decisions and actions will lead to results that make this planet a better place to live.
Big Brother Burt