Although I would have hoped that every reader of my blogs would have gotten it by now, it bears repeating, as may soon be apparent, on the relationship between systems of belief and value, that the purpose of the former is to ground the latter, which is absolutely necessary for consonant living; and the former, once it has done its job, is quite secondary, unessential and oft, even ornamental to daily life – a thing not quite yet grasped by fundamentalists of all stripes and sorts, whose unhealthy approach to beliefs and interpersonal attitudes stems directly from this lack of clarity in understanding.
There are religious fundamentalists (both Catholic and Evangelical….and in every religion for that matter), political fundamentalists (on both the so called ‘left’ and ‘right’ of the political spectrum….even a thoughtless centrism can produce its own brand of fundamentalist recalcitrance), scientific fundamentalists (those of you who have not yet watched Sheldrake’s 10 dogmas of science ought to take the time here so to do) who all share in common this lack of insight into the architecture of knowledge systems and the nature of human consciousness, so let’s get back to basics. Communication 101.
Feelings and thoughts are the only stuff of consciousness. It’s what consciousness is and does. Give consciousness a body to work with and whatever it does, emerges from the totality of the interaction between its thought and feelings. I’ve elsewhere gone into a more precise distinction between the two, but here I will focus on the distinctive nature of belief versus knowledge to try to illuminate, for whoever may be in search of light to the fundamentalist dilemma – the confusion of fact and belief, and the purpose of both in the cosmological orientation of humans whether in societies or as individuals.
It’s first perhaps necessary to point out the very distinct cognitive processes involved in the apprehension of both. One arrives at fact by an expansive process of observation, confirmation and experiment. Something observed is confirmed by outside parties and tested through experimentation for every inferred defining boundary. Awareness is in its expansive mode.
One arrives at belief, in contrast, by an inverted process of suggestion, internalization then filtration. This is awareness seeking a gravitational center, not expanding its horizons. Something suggested has been accepted and by constant repetition, deeply internalized. Then, in order to secure itself, every contrary suggestion is methodically colored, and filtered through a negative inductive process leading to its denial, dismissal, or repudiation.
Unfortunately, both processes lead to a similar disposition of certainty, understandably conflating fact and belief in the un-self-aware. The real problem is what people do to each other with their ‘certainties’. We might measure how much harm rather than help is proffered in the name of the things of which we claim greatest certainty.
I’ve blogged about the harmful and regressive attitudes and movements generated in a fundamentalism unanchored to the highest aspirations of a people, whether in science, religion, law or politics. We all need both a gravitational center (so a tempered fundamentalism has its place…or at least its time) as well as aspirational horizons. When the radial connection between both is skewered through unclear thinking and untrue being, then warped life unfolds.
We answer our phones by asking the question “Can I help you?”. O to be able to truthfully answer, “Certainly!” Till then, let’s stick to asking questions. Despite all our claims to vast reservoirs of knowledge, till our experiences out-picture with some degree of consonance in our interpersonal relationships a harmonized creativity and mutual satisfaction, let’s stick to asking questions, listening out for what we don’t yet, but certainly need to know.
YeKengalé 