Believe It or Not

In six sessions at our Lifetime Learners group, colleague Mike and I led an examination of how we come to believe what we believe. In Believe It or Not we tried to sort out what belief, truth, knowledge mean to us. Are they the same or different? Do you believe everything you think is true? Conversely, is everything you believe necessarily true? How do you know?

If by now you want to go far, far away and not continue the discussion, we understand. We kept matters tolerable by dealing with specific ideas and problems. I led off with problems of religious belief. Using Maimonides (c. 1100) as an example, we looked at how one reconciles truth based on observation with the truth of revelation. Then, using Karen Armstrong’s book, The Battle for God, we examined the various meanings of Fundamentalism and its implications today.

Mike offered the analysis of Descartes as a counter to revelation and then moved on to examples of Innumeracy today, as we asked why people believe things in spite of contradictory evidence.

At our first session — before our students were thoroughly wised up to how hard it is to support any belief — we asked them each to write a sentence stating something they believed. Here are the unedited results, grouped by type or content. Although written before the later sessions, they accurately reflect the opinions our students expressed in our discussions. Draw your own conclusions about the groups: mine appear at the end.

Group 1

I believe that I exist physically in this world.

I believe I was born in England – with an English father and a Welsh mother.

I believe I love my family.
I believe I am very fortunate.
I believe my husband is a great person.

I believe that today will soon be part of “the good old days.”

Group 2

I believe:
That the world is round!
That night follows day!
That man is not here forever!

1. I believe U.S. health care system is not as efficient or effective as those in many European countries.
2. I believe the wealth distribution in the U.S. is a source of major political problems. The poor can’t buy influence.
3. I believe the “big bang” theory is wrong.

I believe – that all social mores and laws are for the purpose of controlling the inherent evil in mankind.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, I believe it is a duck.

Group 3

I believe that change is an absolute part of life and our perception of truth will change.

I believe that the only universal truth is continual change.

I believe that the only truth is change. Nothing is constant and what is true today may not be tomorrow for me, the world, and the universe.

I believe that everything is relative and always changing. There is no absolute truth.

Group 4

I believe that the world has existed forever and there is no God controlling the universe of humans.

I believe that God was created by man.

I believe in a loving God whose love is so great that we are given the freedom to accept or reject that love.

I believe there is a greater force – I don’t know if that is “God.” I believe I’ll be here next week. I don’t know if that’s true.

I believe God is an element.

Group 5

I believe what I know is factual – by observation, by experience, by deduction.

I believe I don’t know why, how or when we arrived or why or how we happen to be here. I’m an agnostic and find it difficult to understand how any thinking person can believe otherwise.

I believe that what we believe is forever evolving.
-          There are things that we know.
-          There are things that we don’t know.
-          There are things that we don’t know we don’t know.
We are in endless discovery.

I believe nothing in the universe is absolute! The more we know the more we realize we don’t know.

I believe that reality is a mystery. We cannot know what is real. We can only act on our own experiences and perceptions.

Group 6

I believe there is absolute truth in much of mathematics.

I believe that everything is and that each person is so different in their thoughts and emotions that what is is the truth to them.

I believe man has held so many beliefs to be “the one true belief” that it’s next to impossible to be sure what is the truth.

I believe that “truth” is based on evidence; evidence collected to support or deny a thesis or premise.

I believe that as I age, it is harder to distinguish between belief, faith and truth.
Hopefully, this class will make it easier to define one from another.

My analysis –

Group 1 – Beliefs related to the person making the statement. Mostly not testable.

Group 2 – Beliefs regarding external events or processes. Some may be testable.

Group 3 – Beliefs about change and relativism.

Group 4 – Beliefs concerning the nature and existence of God.

Group 5 – Beliefs concerning knowledge.

Group 6 – Beliefs about the nature of truth.