In Why Muse we established examining beliefs as one of the main purpose of Muse Week.  But what are beliefs? To answer this question, it is important that we first define belief to avoid the most common mistake people make when discussing any issue.

Searching for a definition of belief is a bewildering experience. There are myriad definitions based on either a limited perspective or incomprehensible complexity.  So, how does one start to understand something which is so difficult to define.

Applying Occam’s Razor for simplifying the complexity yields the following definition of Belief:

Beliefs are our internalised attitudes towards the
truth or falsehood of perceptions and ideas. 

Since beliefs are the satnav system of our life, their integrity is the sole arbitrator which dictates our success – failure, happiness – unhappiness, health – illness etc.

In the same way as a satnav needs regular updating to keep it relevant, we also need to continually evaluate our beliefs to keep them true to their purpose. This requires regular re-evaluation of our beliefs.  Familiarity with long held beliefs often creates a false sense of validity with little or no regard to their merits.  Jonathan Swift expressed it well when he said, “you cannot reason somebody out of a position they were not reasoned into”.  I believe the wisdom of this extends not only to acquired beliefs, but also to long held beliefs.

Unlike facts, beliefs by their very nature lack certainty and empirical evidence which differentiate them from facts.  Reason along with a healthy dose of scepticism are the essential sharpening and polishing tools for orientating our beliefs towards the truth.  Beliefs yield knowledge when true and deceit when false.

I propose the following hierarchy of beliefs to categorise and better understand them.  This categorisation does not purport to be absolute in any way and has a natural flexibility built in to allow for some overlap between the categories.

Hierarchy of Belief

• Universal
  These are the fundamental beliefs which differentiate humans from animals.  They are common to almost all societies and nations and include beliefs about human virtues and morality including Love, Honesty, Compassion, Empathy, Altruism, Non-violence, Non-stealing etc.
• Cultural
  These beliefs are typical of a group of people identified by race, religion, region, nation etc.  These beliefs are ingrained in individuals due to their group association through a process of repetition, environmental osmosis and familiarity.  These beliefs cover almost the whole spectrum of human activities including social norms, religion, family values, relationship, food habits, work ethics, traditions, rituals etc.
• Cultivated
  These are beliefs which become our own either by design or default through the environment we inhabit. These beliefs are individual and are acquired through family, friends, educational institutions, work, books we read etc.  These beliefs find an expression in our life through our choice of religion, politics, science, lifestyle, faith, morality, social behaviour, food habits etc.
• Personal
  These are subjective and customised beliefs which also include our own versions of all the above categories of beliefs which we adapt to our unique worldview, personal experience and aspirations.  Through these beliefs we rationalise both our conscious and subconscious desires. These beliefs have the greatest influence in either inspiring us or serving as bolsters for our insecurities and weaknesses.  Examples of these beliefs are our life style choices, politics, faith and religion, activism, social interactions, self image etc.

The susceptibility for corruption of beliefs in this hierarchy increases as we move down the ladder from Universal  to Personal  beliefs. While Universal beliefs are almost immutable, Personal beliefs on the other hand are most vulnerable to corruption as they are prone to be influenced by our self-interest, ego, habits and bias.

Science tells us that what our eyes see includes gaps in our field of vision which correspond to the location of the optic nerve in the retina. However, these gaps, or holes, do not register in our awareness due to the brains’ papering over them either from memory or a process of averaging out of the vision (a concept put to good use in photo editing software like Photoshop).

Our beliefs fill in the gaps in our knowledge in a similar way to create the impression of a smooth, seamless and logical worldview.  The lesser our knowledge the greater the need for our beliefs to step in and fill the gaps.  This premise is validated by the fact that ill-informed people rely heavily on external beliefs which opens the doors for them to easily fall prey to propaganda, misinformation and exploitation.  Extremists are a typical example of such people who compensate for their lack of knowledge by shouting, screaming, aggressive and violent expression of their beliefs.

From the above we can safely conclude that beliefs based on falsehoods create a false and misleading world view making True beliefs an almost essential criterion for a successful and happy life.

Muse:

• Have we ever evaluated the source and validity of our most cherished beliefs?
• How easy or difficult would it be for us to give up our long-held beliefs if we find them to be based on false assumptions?
• How can we test the above assertions to verify their validity?
• More importantly what is Truth?

Next Week – Defining Truth