Why Do We Believe? (dare you to read this whole post!)

Preamble: I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately (re: my post about “Grey Area Solutions”). The more I learn about practically everything the more I realize how ignorant I am. The ideas I have held as ultimate “truths” in my life are fleeting and ever-changing. BUT, I do think our beliefs, if based in realms of knowledge, can help us to get closer to truths about ourselves and this world. I delve into this topic here using the theory of evolution to bring to life my point. I know this topic can be touchy, I just don’t think it should be. So I going to use it anyway. Deal with it :)

Life has evolved on Earth and continues to evolve today. This is the truth. Do you agree? Let’s say you don’t. Lets say you think that scientists have fabricated facts like fossils, etc. to trick us. Or maybe you don’t think scientists faked it. Maybe you think that the facts themselves point to another conclusion. Either way, am I going to be able to change your mind on this in my post? I’ll tell you right now, no matter how hard I try to argue my points, bring up fact after fact, or show you the logical connections, I’m NOT going to be able to change your mind. Why?

Because the theory of evolution has become something society tells you that you get to choose to “believe in” or “not believe in”. Like it’s part of your identity. Like both choices have equal merit and you get to choose. But they do not have equal merit. And that’s just a fact. Let me emphasize my point. Do you believe that the holocaust happened? I’m going to assume (and hope) that you said yes. Are there people that believe that the holocaust didn’t happen? That it’s a big hoax? Absolutely (dare you to google it). Now if you are a kid growing up and all you know is that some people believe the holocaust happened and some people don’t, you learn that it’s a choice people have made to “believe in” somewhere along the way. But this doesn’t accurately portray the event at all. Were this child to learn about the holocaust (from a neutral source), they would discover that the historical and living evidence of the holocaust is enormous. They would learn about the politics, social issues, and context of the holocaust. Were they then presented the “evidence” that the holocaust didn’t happen, they would find it completely unbelievable and lacking tangible supporting evidence. Both sides of the argument are NOT equal (and they rarely are). One has ridiculously more factual evidence than the other. BUT, for that child to really understand this for themselves, they had to learn a lot about the evidence for the holocaust.

Frankly, most people don’t make decisions this way. We don’t learn the facts first, objectively analyze, and then decide. We decide and then look for only the appropriate arguments that will support our decision.

So why do we make decisions before we know the facts? The answer is probably culture. It is something our parents believed. Or if not parents, then other influential individuals or groups in our life. Maybe we lack the motivation to learn and find things out for ourselves. Or maybe we don’t know how to educate ourselves or what the sources of information are. Or maybe we simply have too much trust. When defending our beliefs we copy ‘sound bites’ from someone else that shares the beliefs. We seem to avoid objectively analyzing. We trust this as ‘truth’ no matter what.

Now there is nothing wrong with this in many cases. I believe an incredible amount of the information my parents have told me over the years. And my other family members, friends, etc. In some cases I had to trust their expertise to survive. But it is in fact true (as most of us will admit) that once I started compiling my own experiences and increasing my exposure to other outside information, my perspectives and even core beliefs drastically changed. I realized that my parents aren’t always right. It was then I began to put my trust in university education. I figured just by sheer number of influences that the ‘truths’ they shared with me have to be much closer to the real ‘truths’ of life. I still believe this. Now not everyone is like me, putting trust in higher education. Some people put their trust in a political affiliation, a religious affiliation, a church group, or another community group. The scary part for all of us is that we actually STOP looking deeper. We take the ‘truths’ they give us instead of looking for the source of information ourselves.

I absolutely admit I do this. And you should too. We are biological creatures and not machines. We like the feeling of belonging. We need to identify ourselves with a body of beliefs. We need to construct meaning to our life. And we define ourselves by the information we decide to believe is true.

Now if you have been believing that something false is actually true for a long, long time, change is not going to come easy (if at all). This information is important to you. It is literally part of who you are. Study after study shows this characteristic of human beings. Even when presented with an insurmountable amount of evidence to the contrary, we stick to our original position. Changing wouldn’t be just admitting we were wrong. It would be self sacrifice at the basic level.

In fact this kind of change is more than that. It is one of the most scary, lonely, and alienating thing we can do. To show you what I mean, let’s go back to the evolution thing. Again, let’s say you don’t ‘believe’ in evolution. Let’s say you don’t believe this because instead you believe that God created every living thing in it’s current form, unchanged. How did you come to this belief? Because you are a Christian. You take the bible and Genesis in it’s most traditional and literal sense and therefore you deny a seemingly alternative version such as evolution. You have found deep connection throughout your life to your faith and a special trust in your chosen church and the spiritually enlightened people that attend there with you. You see these people at least weekly and the topic of evolution has come up before. You trust the information these people share to be fact. They haven’t disappointed you before. So when they tell you evolution is a debatable topic and they say it’s false, why wouldn’t you believe them? They probably have very compelling arguments to support their belief too. It makes perfect sense, so you have no reason to investigate it yourself. You have no reason to become an expert yourself. Or explore other bodies of information before making your decision. It’s a ‘pack mentality.’

So what if I did sit down with you; present all the information; take you around the world; show you the unbelievable amount of evidence in support or evolution? What if I found a way to PROVE to you evolution was true? Would your change you mind? Probably not. Because if you did, that would mean not only renouncing that belief, but renouncing your entire pack (church, religion, etc) and the trust you shared. Not believing in evolution is part of your belief SYSTEM. Admitting one part is wrong is like implying it is all wrong. Which of course I don’t actually believe is true. But that is our instinct.

Alright, finally back to the evolution argument. If you really, really, really don’t believe in the evolution of life on Earth, I just have one closing thought for you to consider. How educated are you on what the theory of evolution is? The concept is simple enough, but it is in no way easy to understand. Can you broadly name the vast amount of information supporting evolution? Do you know its source? Have you looked at the fossil record? Can you name trends in the geographic distribution of life on Earth? Do you know the anatomical consistencies and divergences among species? Do you understand how DNA and genes are inherited and how we can watch their evolution in real time? Do you know the geological history of Earth? How the landscape and climate of Earth has changed since it’s inception?

I could go on, but you must see my point by now. If you answered no to any of the above questions, how can you possibly claim you don’t believe evolution happened? You lack enough information to make your decision.

If you dare, consider for a moment your personal influences and how your beliefs have organically arisen. Question if you have all the facts. Ask yourself if you really want this level of ignorance. I’m telling you, it’s gonna be a scary process. A fitting quote I came across recently:

“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.” - Elvis Presley