In the prologue of Michael Shermer's book The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies---How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths writes the following words which sum up my situation perfectly:I believe that the truth is out there but that it is rarely obvious and almost never foolproof. What I want to believe based on emotions and what I should believe based on evidence do not always coincide. I'm a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know.
Belief can be the most comforting special effect our brains can produce. Knowledge can often be unsettling, downright troubling. That is why most of us hold our perceptions of truth at least a little loosely. The wise person is always open minded to the extent that new light will be welcomed.
It was physicist Richard P. Feynman who observed:
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
How true.
It seems to me the case that most of us have trouble accepting the degree to which our emotions form our worldview. That is just the nature of humans.
This is why I always enjoyed the character Mr. Spock of Star Trek. I always admired his firm commitment to logic, mostly jettisoning emotion. However, being part human as he was, his emotions did take the stage occasionally.
Ah, it's that struggle of emotions versus reason that makes life so challenging, so interesting, and at times so ugly and frustrating.
Well, I try with varying degrees of success to emulate Spock.
6 comments:
Very nice post. I absolutely agree !!! Well said -- simple, to the point and full of imagery.
LOL. I was forced to watch this show a biziion times by my Mrs., anyway, Spock was my favorite character. OK, I am often accused (especially on Face book) of being a "naysayer" about the latest MS treatment. I have often been called a cynic, etc. I see myself quite differently, I just want the truth and it is rarely right before our eyes. I am a truth seeker and that offends many people. Dealt with this all my life from people---now, I don't give a rat's ass what people think of me. This is who I am and I prefer the company of other truth seekers, none of whom I would ever call a know-it-all. (But that is how we are seen---makes no sense to me.)
@ Sabio - Thanks very much for your kind words.
@ Diane - I never tire of Star Trek. Good writing, and some good insights into human nature. And Spock: how can you not love him if you are a rationalist? Oh, I've been called a cynic many times. I think the shoe fits me. But like you, I'm at a point in my life that I don't worry much about what people think about me.
A while back, there were some studies done on people in California who had suffered brain injuries that resulted in their inability to have emotions. The studies had an interesting upshot.
Basically, the subjects could reason as well as anyone, but they could not prioritize. In some cases, they would sit for minutes or hours trying to figure out whether it was more important to, say, go to lunch or make a stock trade.
The authors of the study concluded that emotions may be essential to our prioritizing.
@ Paul - That is interesting. Although I'm not sure I understand why emotions would be more essential to prioritizing that good old fashioned reason. Sounds like Buridan's ass to me. However, being unfamiliar with the studies to which you refer, I can't really comment on the conclusion. Except to say it didn't seem to be a problem to Mr. Spock. LOL!
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