You are searching for the truth, where do you find it? Books? Online, Googling it? A friend in the know, or a professional in that field of expertise perhaps?
But, when you find it, either no one believes you, or they choose to believe something else, perhaps more perceived than real. You then find you can tell them what you have found, quoting several reputable sources, yet they still choose to believe what they already ‘know’.
There is a saying that goes (something) like “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities, while truth is not.”. This has been attributed to Mark Twain, or words to the effect. But, trying to ascertain the validity of the owner, or even the exact words sees a myriad of potential sources and the precise saying.
So why do people prefer an opinion based on their existing beliefs, rather than the facts they are presented with? Psychologists sometimes call this motivational reasoning, where people, either consciously, or not, distort or completely fabricate the truth to satisfy some end. This maybe to fit in socially, to allay certain fears or perhaps build up their hopes.
Real or Unreal?
What is a Belief?
These are some of the definitions of belief as found with a ‘simple search’ of the Internet.
It is an acceptance that something is true or does exist, sometimes with little or no proof.
A trust, faith or confidence in someone or something to be who or what they say they are.
Something that you take to be or accept as true, be it based on fact, opinion or assumption.
Beliefs are our brain’s way of making sense of and navigating our complex world. They are mental representations of the ways our brains expect things in our environment to behave, and how things should be related to each other—the patterns our brain expects the world to conform to.[1]
These beliefs start being formed at an early age, through education, your family, friends and other external influences. They are the brains ways of interpreting, rationalising and storing information about the World we live in.
Once you have established these your World becomes a little easier to live in, until someone or something challenges your belief. Then you either choose to dismiss this other view of the World or you investigate to try and validate a new idea.
There are matters such as what will this new view do to your social, emotional and spiritual self you would need to consider. Then weighing it all up, will you change your belief, possibly to your detriment—e.g., maybe losing a friend, family member or your sanity? And this could take a considerable amount of your time, effort and energy, for possibly no outcome other than to keep the same belief!
[1] Source Psychologytoday.com How difficult is it to change someone else’s belief?
Well research suggests that if you like someone, it follows that you are into their beliefs. So, it would seem the reverse to be true as well. If someone were to tell you something, you are more likely to believe a close friend than a complete stranger. So why would you change your belief (and why would someone else), and what would trigger it?
A change may occur where this is some discord in your own belief in something. For example, if you were a smoker and have been for many years, with no real unhealthy side effects—but, contrary to published facts that smoking can cause cancer. You felt that smoking was really okay, so kept on smoking.
Then, your father, also a smoker for many years, is diagnosed with emphysema, which is generally accepted as being attributed to smoking [2], be it directly or passively. What do you think now, good or bad for you? So now there may be in conflict—between your yearning to smoke and consequences to your father, and ultimately to your own health.
This fear is one trigger which can lead to change in attitude, the other being a highly reliable and creditable source. Once a change is seen in the attitude, the behaviours will also adjust accordingly resulting in less conflict in beliefs.
A creditable, reliable source
What would you consider a reliable and creditable source? Well, searching in Google gave around 765,000 results in 0.43 seconds! Pretty awesome hey. Here are some answers—
Academic journal articles which are reviewed by other academics before they are published to ensure their claims are backed up by scientific evidence.
A source that provides a thorough, well-reasoned theory, argument, discussion, etc. based on strong and proven evidence.
A credible source is one that is unbiased and backed up with evidence.
The common key theme here is ‘backed up with evidence’, thorough and unbiased. Interestingly, one site also mentioned not to use Wikipedia as it was open to editing and at times maybe scant on credibility. There are in fact several scholarly databases as well as online encyclopedias such as Britannica and InfoPlease.com. Of course, there is always the local hard-copy book library, not as easily searchable but still a creditable source [3].
Is the Earth flat or round?
The Earth was considered flat for many years, and still is to this day by some people. Scientifically this has been proven to be a misconception at best. Greek mathematician Eratosthenes managed to measure the circumference of the Earth in 240 BC, then in 150 AD another Greek, Ptolemy came up with a system of coordinates (latitude and longitude) theorising the Earth was round.
Considering the Sun and all of the other planets are round (as observed by the naked eye and though telescopes), that the Earth’s shadow can be seen on the Moon during a lunar eclipse and as a ship comes into port, first the top of the mast is visible, then the remainder, it would follow the Earth too is round. Then came the photographs, what more proof do we need?
Yet, there is growing movement that the Earth is indeed flat, and people are out to prove it. The movement uses various platforms to inform and influence including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. There is a belief that this is the reality, and the arguments are quite strong, with continuing momentum for a flat Earth existence—and who knows, maybe the Earth really is flat!
So how can we tell what is real and what is not? This is the challenge for today’s constant and omnipresent array of information at your fingertips…distinguishing between the real and perception.
Unreal, man! Great read Charlie. ✊