Discussion»Questions»Religion and Spirituality» "There are none so blind as those who will not see". Some people's beliefs are so strong that facts won't change them. Defective brains??
Insecure, lacking self-confidence maybe. Brainwashed, in some cases. Most such people are as intelligent as anyone else, but for some reason they are frightened - though won't admit it. Afraid of?
- Their own beliefs for a start, perhaps in some sort of circular reasoning that defies logic.
- The uncertainties of the real world, and of scientific method (which works by observing, asking and testing). Books like the Bible give such believers a spurious sense of certainty based on no more than its earliest books having survived in their basic form, so far as anyone can determine, from their Middle Eastern, Bronze Age tribal days - and with roots going back into older cultures with earlier religions.
- Peer or family pressure to conform. Basically, fear of bullies.
- Cults. Some belong to insidious, bullying cults that worship ignorance in their own god's name, and insist the leaders' interpretation of the Bible (or other works) must be taken as absolute truth. Such cults can be very hard to leave without risking very serious social consequences like broken families. The fear of that is much more logical than fear of own intellect, as it is of an external force: the cult leaders' or elders' own fear and hatred of apostates. Even when professing to be "Christian". It is bullying but by an organisation so probably much harder to escape than bullying by an individual, even in a free country - the Internet shows a sizeable amount of mutual-supporting by cult escapees.
Now, a moment's rational thought suggests even the cult can be escaped, so sitting down and calmly assessing your own beliefs and the way you let them control your life cannot be that hard, can it? Unfortunately it can. It seems a human trait to want to cling to beliefs even when such belief is barely credible or tenable, or even makes one very unhappy. And in most cases, it's a trait that has little or nothing to do with mental health or IQ, but is a matter of one's personality.
Thank you for your thoughtful answer Durdle and Happy Friday. Clarity of thought. Logic. Reason. Critical thinking. Some abandon these and cling to beliefs that are absurd. For example they set aside their morals/integrity/honor to support someone in whom they have developed great faith for no ascertainable reason. The someone can be the antithesis of everything they were taught to believe in but it matters not to them. How intelligent is that Durdle? What intelligent person sets aside all of that to embrace charlatans/scam artists/con artists/liars? I cannot think of one. There is a defect there somewhere. Maybe it is semantics that is the hurdle here. A lacking of something essential. A willingness to give up an uncomfortable reality for a fantasy that exists only in the words of the scam artist. Defective. Inadequate. Lacking. Insubstantial. Fuzzy. Misguided. Delusional. These are not words I associate with intelligence. Of course what you mean by "intelligence" and what I mean may not be the same. I think being illogical is a defect. You may not. And so it goes! :)
This post was edited by RosieG at August 9, 2017 11:12 AM MDT
Thank you PeaPod. That false blind self-faith is one of the worst of human traits, though whether a psychologist would see it as "defective" technically, I've no idea. (I know they stopped using the D- word decades ago!)
Thank you for your reply PeaPod and Happy Friday. Having strong beliefs isn't the problem. Being illogical is. Supporting someone in whom you have absolute trust and faith for no ascertainable reason because he is a scam artist/con artist/liar makes no sense. Yet people set aside beliefs to support such a one. That is illogical. The strength of the belief doesn't validate or invalidate it. It is the logic of it that does. In my opinion. I think being illogical is a defect. If it doesn't make any sense at all and you believe in it wholeheartedly that is your right. But it is suspect. Whether you agree or not is your right. It's just how I see it. :)
Pearl 