Let us first look at what belief is as a concept while contrasting it with knowledge. Belief has always been a choice. It can be persuaded, but ultimately it has to do with if the person will believe what they have either seen or been told. Belief is entirely distinct from personal knowledge. It exists on a different plane entirely. You can know one thing but believe something else in a process known as self-deception. This can be done through a defensive action or by a deliberate one.
Now let us look at knowledge. Knowledge is a clear and certain perception of that which exists. It is based entirely on truth and fact. Conversely knowledge is not at all based on your perception of a falsehood. The latter is referred to as a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding is, by definition, a mistake in meaning. It happens when you see something but misinterpret what you see for something that is not really there. It does not create knowledge but a corruption of what is known. Knowledge is only that which we are aware of that is actually truth.
Since a belief is a choice, if one chooses to believe in something that is alternate to what is being presented, it begs the question if they actually knew the truth in the first place. Saying I am choosing to believe in something else is like saying, "I know that is true, but I am more comfortable in believing in something that is not true." This creates a forced misunderstanding that the human being will accept as knowledge. Another name for this would be an accepted corruption of the mind.
Remember my early example? "I don't believe in God because he has been responsible for the deaths of so many people." It is possible that the person saying this actually had no idea that God did that at all. Only hearing that God did it is not knowledge. It's merely unconfirmed information. But this still makes the act of choosing to believe otherwise very suspicious! If they don't actually know that God did those things, why are they bothering to choose an alternate belief. Why are they denying something that has not been confirmed as knowledge?
The answer could be that they are, for some reason, assuming that it is true. I mean... they may have been brought up and taught that everything said in Sunday School is true and simply became annoyed with it later in life. An assumption is a weird animal in and of itself. It is the act of supposing without proof--also known as a supposition. It is the act of treating an unconfirmed fact as if it were true knowledge. Differing from a misunderstanding, an assumption may actually be true. A misunderstanding is never true.
An assumption is stronger because it is commonly based on a serious amount of indoctrination. If the majority of the world seems to believe in God, then God may very well exist. Otherwise, why would so many people be inclined to do so? Clearly God must have left an impression. Either way, it is still a maybe. It is an assumption--one strong enough to act in place of knowledge. This leads the person who had become annoyed or offended by it to choose to believe otherwise. But therein lies an innate problem.
Choosing not to believe is basically admitting belief in the first place. The brain is a funny machine that tosses out garbage on a regular basis. It misses its own mistakes as a commonality. Choosing not to believe in something is not an action taken against an assumption or knowledge. It is an action against belief itself. You have to already believe in something for you to choose to turn your back to it. You can not look away from a rock that is not already there. Either the rock is there or you can assume it's there (if, I guess, you closed your eyes or something), but you have to believe in the rock before you can clearly state that, "I turned away from that rock!"
The perception that you are turning away from something that has absolutely no relationship to you is a pile is brain-generated garbage. Of course, this whole process seems to take place one subconscious layer down. It is dark enough that we sort of skip over it. We end up creating the rules of our reality which are really just fake. Doing all these things does not break the human mind. It just sort of lets the wackiness happen and moves on slightly more corrupted than before. We do this a lot sadly.
My advice is to be very clear what you choose to believe in. Don't be so quick to just paint a reality the way you want. Be open minded and ready to accept some truths that are not particularly comfortable. Knowing hard truths will not make you weaker. On the contrary, you will be more prepared to deal with life when it tosses you those curve balls. Simply be aware and ready for anything. And when I say anything, I mean ANYTHING!
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoyed it or even hated it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. Thanks!
Wow! Your articulated the differences between BELIEF and KNOWLEDGE and all things related wonderfully! Interesting that a person can willingly corrupt his or her thought processes. More often than not, such people invite something inhuman to download thoughts into them. They ACCEPT the viruses. To BELIEVE in good is to focus on doing good. To BELIEVE in false things instead is to divorce one's thoughts from reality.
ReplyDeleteI was using the old Webster 1828 Dictionary. The newer editions often factor in perception as truth because of the common misuse of certain words. Common use has nothing to do with the truth. Errors can span generations.
DeleteFascinating, many would rather corrupt their own mind than believe the results of a truth that is right in front of them. Accepting the hard truths we rather not is the first step in becoming free of the self-imposed control that blinds us from our reality. There is an ongoing effort to hide certain knowledge from humanity, as well as a campaign of distraction to sway us from ever finding the answers that are right in front of us. Choosing not to believe ensures that we will be forever lost stumbling in the darkness.
ReplyDeleteThere is a movement against the human populace of this world under the banner known as "empowerment" that says, "We can choose our own reality and rest comfortably in the world we have created for ourselves." The problem is that the one who started this trend know what reality is, and suddenly, they find themselves moving both the black and white chess pieces while the other place simply sits back and stops moving. It is a living death.
DeleteA willing belief in a falsehood is suicide wrapped in life. It is the giving up of one's free will for the sake of someone who you have never met. It is compositely counter to both the natural order, common sense, and a person's native instinct to survive. It is placing yourself before a lion who is not yet hungry and waiting for him to dine. But you would never know these things if you choose to believe in happier things.
People would rather deceive themselves, than to face the truth. However, they reveal themselves by protesting too much. It is not that they do not know, it is that they are afraid they do.
ReplyDeleteGosh, there is nothing wrong with being afraid of truth. That's normal. It is just blasted irony that in avoiding one danger, they give in to a greater one.
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