It’s a question that eats away at the core of any believer… whether one’s beliefs matter.
Belief systems, by which I mean religious, political, social, ethnic, and so on, all hinge on a single human trait: the ability for a human to accept as truth something that they cannot know for certain. Or they need to convince themselves of its truth.
Why Do We Have Belief Systems?
It seems belief systems are endemic to the human race. Despite any downsides to belief systems, I would be hard-pressed to think there are normal functioning people who do not have belief systems.
Origins
Humans are born and need many years of nurturing before they can survive on their own. This period of being raised means adult[s] must feed, clothe, protect, and train their young for many years. Since a child does not have the cognitive ability to understand the world around them, it is up to the adult[s] to teach them. People see their children as extensions of themselves, and children bond with their care-givers. So the child, like it or not, gets inculcated in the entire fabric of culture of the adult[s] around them.
A child’s survival depends on their being accepted and nurtured by an adult. So children are susceptible to whatever the adult teaches them. So the belief system continues, and is passed on to the next generation.
For What
Humans associate themselves with their beliefs. Humans live and die for their belief systems. In fact, people often ascribe their belief systems as greater than themselves. People have destroyed themselves and others, other nations, countries, civilizations, all because of their beliefs and belief systems. But do their belief systems matter?
Thinking…
Here is a thought experiment. Consider some civilizations that have come and gone in human history. There are plenty. Many civilizations ended because they were conquered by others. The vanquished certainly had belief systems that sustained them before being destroyed. And I am sure that had solidly-held beliefs. Let’s now think of the aftermath, after the civilization was destroyed. Are the belief systems that once held sway matter now? Probably not, except maybe to some historians.
Benefit
I would say that belief systems matter in that they give opportunity for an individual to participate in a shared commonality. If everyone around you holds some particular beliefs, you may wish or need to be accepted, even if you don’t realize it is a human-imposed idea. As a result, it seemingly doesn’t matter what the belief system is, just that there is one.
Have you ever thought about your belief systems? Let me know here.
The illustration of Madam Sukhomolina is from “Siberia and the Exile System Volume 2” (1891) by George Kennan. Courtesy Wikisource.
The post Do My Beliefs Matter? appeared first in Smile If You Dare.