"Why
do human beings have the peculiar impression that a
belief is the same as the truth?"
- Gene Brewer
from K-PAX
"All struggles are essentially power struggles,
and most are no more intellectual than two rams
knocking their heads together."
- Octavia
Butler from Parable of the Sower
"An enemy is one whose story we have not yet
heard."
- Gene
Knudsen Hoffman
Where do
our beliefs come from? Why do our beliefs become
absolute truths so quickly? What do we do to insure
our belief system's continuity? Why are we afraid of
even listening to opposing belief systems? Do we feel
the need to "believe" in something even
though we haven't quite worked out all the specifics?
Do we feel intimated when people have strong opinions
especially if we may not be that sure about our own?
Do we think we must have an opinion on every issue in
order to be valued by others? Do we become reticent
due to our fear of being exposed for not really
knowing all the facts? Do we need to know all the
facts before we can believe in something? Do we
simply go along with the major opinions of the day
since it's safer that way? Are we curious about what
we believe in and how our various dialogues proceed
with friends, family and coworkers?
After September 11th, many of us are engaging in
discussions either in sequestered agreement or in
heated debates. I think a discussion about how we
engage is crucial.
Beliefs are vital to us. We cherish them, fuel them,
feed them, surrender to them and will even die for
them. Why is this? What happens when we become so
rigid that we cannot listen to, or at least tolerate,
alternative beliefs and views? If we are simply
arming ourselves with facts that substantiate our
beliefs then what is really going on? Will dialogue
ever be possible? Or will we simply be content in
living in our separate boxes resting assured that our
precious beliefs are in proper order?
Most of us have worked years (perhaps a whole life
time) developing a cosmology or ideology to fit any
situation. We simply need to explain things so we can
get up in the morning and get on with our lives. If
we adhere to a statement such as "terrorists
hate our freedoms" and that's all there is to
it, we've created a pretty comfortable ideology that
seems to fit future terrorist actions. It might make
us feel okay but what does that have to do with
getting at the truth of the matter?
Is there a cosmology or ideology that actually
encourages listening, that tolerates and appreciates
different viewpoints? Actually, I think that ideology
is called democracy. The term is used so frequently
and loosely that I wonder if we truly understand what
it means. If democracy requires that we welcome a
variety of viewpoints, we seldom practice it in our
homes, our work places, academia or in the military.
So, what is "democracy" all about, and why
would so many people cheer killing for it if they but
rarely taste it?
Of course our personal life experiences will
frequently determine what filter we use to understand
situations. But how often do we step back to study or
observe our filters?
I was lucky. An interesting educational experience
jolted me out of my rigid belief patterns. Each
person in a small group of 12 practiced putting on a
different filter. Our teacher asked us to suspend our
comfortable beliefs in the hope of expanding our
horizons, stretching the boundaries of our filtered
knowledge.
My job was to read right-wing literature since the
filter I was accustomed to was 100% left wing. I
didn't like the assignment at all. It took me years
to finally get to a point where I could argue the
left perspective successfully! Now I was being asked
to suspend it?! I didn't want to admit my insecurity,
or that my identity was completely wrapped up in a
particular ideological movement. I simply wanted to
out-yell someone who disagreed with me. I wanted to
be right! And I would go far and wide to prove that I
was right... dig into those archives and accumulate
more and more evidence (ammunition) to substantiate
my feelings and beliefs.
What I didn't comprehend was that the particular
psychic mechanism (call it need or whatever) that was
alive and well in me was also working in other
people.
Somehow if I could grasp that we were all working for
truth, basic wisdom, and that we are all basically
good, but just coming at our positions from different
angles then perhaps my respect and compassion could
widen. But it didn't. Something in me just wanted to
make them wrong. When you make someone wrong it is so
easy to take the next step demonize them, make them
an enemy and finally have all the necessary
righteousness and callousness to murder them.
However, reading right-wing, conservative
anti-liberal literature did not turn me into the
feared Aryan Nazi that I so perversely imagined it
would. I gradually expanded my awareness to include
others' arguments and their ideological positions in
my ever evolving landscape of beliefs and
perspectives. When I actually spoke and befriended
someone I'd previously judged to be an
"enemy," I was able to apply this
awareness. We talked, listened, argued, and grasped
the inner motivations that inspired each of us. We
also had the opportunity to see each other's
gestures, and learn about our likes, our passions,
our fears. The person I once called my enemy became a
bit more human in my eyes. And to murder such a
person would seem so devastatingly wrong.
This process helped me enormously. But it was only
the beginning. I discovered that calming the inner
fascist takes an ever-growing heart that realizes
that we are literally and viscerally interdependent.
The heart knows that if we had the others' life
experiences, we might well believe as they do... and
vice versa. This is why often we will not change
unless and until we directly experience what the
other has experienced. And doesn't democracy include
the notion that each of us has a bit of the truth?
Because I did not lose a loved one during 9.11 my
interpretation may be wildly different from someone
who did. Because I didn't lose a loved one during the
killing of more than 3700 Afghan civilians by the US
bombing, I will not know the kind of vengeance that
might grow in my heart.
Another method that assisted me in becoming more
flexible and open to different viewpoints was
starting a magazine that explored wild theories about
the origin of human beings and why we have become the
way we are. Granted, I already had an inclination to
be suspicious of so-called Reality Makers, such as
popular TV pundits, broadcasters, writers, government
leaders, celebrities. I felt I needed to go outside
the box, sometimes way outside of the box, so I could
grasp a deeper truth. And because of that experience
I learned the incredible vitality, beauty and
diversity of various viewpoints... and learned to
respect them all.
There are truths that are expedient and necessary for
a temporary fix. But if one wants to go beyond the
superficial opinion makers, one needs to go much
deeper than limiting one's source of information
solely to mainstream media. One needs to pursue truth
with committed passion if one is seeking genuine
knowledge and wisdom.
So, what kind of questions can we ask ourselves if we
are serious about pursuing truth. We could ask:
- Where are
we getting our information? And how do our
belief systems affect where we look and what
we find?
- How much
do we trust it and why?
- How much
does psychological and emotional needs have
to do with beliefs? Do we believe in gravity
because it's a theory, because it feels good
or because it's a fact? Do we believe in
democracy because it's a good theory, because
it feels good or because someone told us?
- How does
our mind-body-spirit organism resonate with
certain information? Is our intuitive
bullshit detector turned on or has it become
layered by filters that have more to do with
feeling secure, keeping our jobs, or being
comfortable than with discovering the truth?
We
are at an incredible turning point. We can use the
9.11 attack as a wake-up call to ask some very deep
and disturbing questions... or we can go slipshod
into our business-as-usual syndrome and attack anyone
whom we despise. Winston Churchill wrote, "Most
people, sometime in their lives, stumble across the
truth. Most jump up, brush themselves off and hurry
on about their business as if nothing happened."
I hope we can use our dialogues, arguments, and our
study of 9.11 as an opportunity to stretch ourselves
to a deeper truth. And when we make such discoveries,
I hope we will allow them to permeate our core and
change us.
Bob Banner is
the publisher of HopeDance Magazine. He can be
reached at editor@hopedance.org or
805-544-9663.
