It’s strange how people hold on to beliefs even if they don’t make any sense, be it life or spirituality. Alex Edmans points out why people sometimes believe in things even though it doesn’t make factual sense. They are as follows:
Confirmation Bias – We accept what supports our beliefs and reject what contradicts them.
Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias describing the human tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values, while simultaneously minimizing or ignoring information that contradicts those beliefs.
Black-and-White Thinking – We oversimplify complex realities into binary extremes: good/bad, true/false, always/never.
Black and white thinking, also called dichotomous or all-or-nothing thinking, is a cognitive distortion where people see things in absolute extremes—either good or bad, right or wrong—without considering the middle ground. This rigid mindset can lead to emotional instability, unhealthy relationships, and difficulty coping, and it often involves using words like "always" or "never" to describe situations. This way of thinking can be a response to stress and is commonly seen in conditions like anxiety and depression.
Together, these two turn even the smartest thinkers into believers of absolute rubbish. However, it gets more interesting. Edmans dissects confirmation bias into three distinct types:
Biased Search: You only look for information that confirms your view.
Naïve Acceptance: You blindly accept what supports your position without questioning it.
Blinkered Skepticism: You aggressively scrutinize anything that challenges your view.
It’s not just that we are biased. It’s that we use our intelligence to become better at being biased.
In Eastern culture one who spends a good amount of time in giving a discourse on human goodness can be considered as a god. There are spiritual gurus who are revered and worshipped. Institutions, trusts and charity organizations are established in their remembrance. We all need inspiration and motivation to be good. Unfortunately, not all what inspire us and draw us can rescue our souls. The matter of life, death and afterlife cannot be the matter of confirmation bias. If it happens that way then the possibility of missing the truth is greater.
I happened to have a conversation with a doctor who made the statement that many patients who visit have so much to say about their personal challenges and stress more than their physical ailment. As our conversation ended, we agreed that people are struggling and fighting their personal battles, alone. The social hierarchy, caste system, inequality, patriarchal society and religious demands are burdening them and having an adverse effect on their physical and emotional wellbeing.
People approach their personal favorite gods for help and peace. The religious environment brings calmness to some extent but the personal problems and challenges remain unchanged. Talking about the spiritual systems, the middleman or the agent manipulates people to advocate on behalf of the people. The matter of gods and religious system are boxed within the framework of financial institutions. Man at the best cannot be gods because even they are the victims of the greatest problem of mankind, i.e. death.
If there did exist a person in human history who defeated death and rose again, it was Jesus Christ. He pointed out sin to be the greatest problem of mankind and not physical death. Jesus could raise people from death just by His words. At the same time, He rose from the dead after three days, as He predicted. He makes this bold claim, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;”. Jesus is not a religious leader. He is our Saviour.
What’s a belief you’ve held for a long time that feels true?
Truth can never be relative which means, all cannot be true at the same time. It is not about whose truth wins. It is about finding the absolute truth that can tell us how we can find forgiveness apart from religiosity and find hope of resurrection from death. You don’t have to exist to survive this life somehow. God of universe promised that “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
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