Belief, Fact & Authority

Questions:

• How do we distinguish facts?
• What is our criterion for placing authority?
• Is faith and belief necessary?
• This sounds dull, will it be?

When I was an infant
I saw mother and I saw father
And they were my deities

When I was a boy
I saw priest and I saw president
And they were my devils

When I became man
I saw quark and I saw cosmos
And they were my undoing

What the hell? Sorry, folks, that poetry fart jumped out of nowheres. Nowheres, I tells ya! It sounds really pretentious don’t it? Sounds familiar too, hope I didn’t just plagiarize. Perhaps it’s just an overused formula.

In my defense, I was just sitting here figuring out how to start this entry. I was going to tell a story about origins of belief and authority. I was going to tell my story. So, I began with, “When I was an infant” and sometime between then and now it became a little poetry turd. Fortunately, it feels pretty representational, so I’m staying with it.

In this entry, I’m going to try and arrange elements which, I feel, form a core aspect of my outlook. First, I’m afraid we’re going to have to discuss our senses to start building this from the ground up.

Part 1: The Senses

So, when I was an infant (hah!), before I had science to tell me what my senses were doing, I experienced my senses pretty intensely. It must have been the craziest multimedia light-show ever. Now with smell AND touch! Dig that soundtrack!

I wish I could remember the moment I was first put in a nice soft, cozy blanket. That had to be so intensely soft and cozy. It’s no wonder I love sleeping in as an adult. Yay for naps!

So, then at some point, in my growth from diapers to mustache wax, someone told me a story. They told me a fantastic tale of how my senses worked! They told me there was a spectrum of light that I couldn’t see. They said there are frequencies I couldn’t hear. In other words, there was a whole mess of shit going on beyond the world of my senses. My senses didn’t tell the whole story. They were filters for my experience of this existence.

Thus, I took this view point. I accepted that my experience of existence was limited. It is, of course, important to note that this may be a mistake. Perhaps I’ve been lied to, but until I reenact all the experiments that support this line of thought (no current plans to do so), I cannot really confirm or deny it.

So, why do I take this viewpoint?

I suppose it’s because it’s the most convincing story I’ve heard so far for this phenomena. We could argue forever about why I perceive this as more convincing. Perhaps, a pan dropped on my head as a child, which dented my brain, which shifted the focus of neural connections, which strengthened the area of my brain which would someday be the area that deals with this subject matter. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. I’m still a battered human with these ideological leanings. Allow me to lean a little further.

Part 2: Facts & Knowing

If I accept that I don’t have the whole story because of my filters (you might include the brain in that group), then I must admit that I don’t “know” anything for certain. It’s like I’m watching a movie. I can see what’s taking place in the picture frame and I can infer what is happening as a whole. I may feel like I “know” who the killer is. I can sort it all out, but the real killer may still be just outside the picture frame.

This realization means I can only make mildly educated guesses about life’s phenomena. I can only infer from the available evidence, via the senses, which we’re holding to be limited. One might even say “flawed”. Thinking this, I feel obliged to look at other humans in the same way. They’re just as limited and flawed, fundamentally.

Thusly, if I’m inferring that other humans have the same basic set of limited-range inputs (senses), I conclude that others don’t “know” anything either. Isn’t that convenient?

Aside: Now, by pointing out that we “know” nothing, am I then saying that we should throw out all our “knowledge”? Give up? Go have a beer? No. We humans have indeed done marvelous things by inferring underling patterns from our limited data set.

Obviously, this inquisitive and creative way of getting acquainted with life’s mysteries is highly valuable within the realm of humans. We can use these observations to predict events (to a degree), manipulate our surroundings to suit our needs and all sorts of fun/useful stuff (art!).

What I’m trying to get at, is that when we get caught up with hubris, I feel it’s a good idea to take a step back and get the big picture. We are very small, very mortal and very limited.

Humility. Plain and simple. I think it helps ground a person and helps us from getting overzealous. If you ever need some humility, take a gander at some photos of space. You’ll feel small and stupid in an instant.

So, in the grand scheme, there are no facts. A fact is an abstract concept that we have mistaken for the truth (another “unknowable”). I am then compelled to conclude that all ideas whether scientific, religious, philosophical or other are essentially equal in probability. Now, we have a convention of holding an idea on which the majority agrees to be more valid than a less popular idea. In general, this tends to work out pretty well because though we are limited individually, the combined viewpoints and observations of a mass of individuals gets us a great deal further to getting the whole picture.

Let’s go back to our movie analogy for a moment. Previously, we had one camera, one viewpoint. If we had ten cameras all filming the same event, our understanding of the event rises considerably. One or more of us might actually see the killer pull the trigger though our lens.

There are however still limitations to ten observers, or even a million. None of the observers will know what the killer or the victim is thinking. So, while we may have caught the killer red handed, we can still only infer a motive. No matter how hard we try, the human collective can never seem to get the whole story. Further more, how can we as individuals trust other observers are speaking truthfully? Even if they are, how can we be certain that the angle to which they observed provided the right evidence? Perhaps their lens is defective. Who do we hold as the expert?

Part 3: Authority

There was a time, allegedly, when all the top “authorities” on the subject “knew” that Earth was the center of the universe. Then some folks came along and said, “Nope, nope. Wait. We figured it out. The SUN is the center! Just watch through our telescope (another filter), see how we revolve around it?”

These days, we consider ourselves and our solar system nowhere near the center (depending on what you call the center). Perhaps tomorrow we’ve think differently. Who knows?

So, if past authorities have been wrong, how can we decipher if who we hold as our current authorities are correct now? I myself, with all honesty, cannot.

I think a better, more useful question to ask is who decides who is the authority?

When I was an infant (oh dear), my parents were my authorities. More than that, they were my world. Then I started grade school and some of that authority was transferred to my teachers and my principle. My priest was granted authority over spiritual matters, who resigned the supreme authority to Yahweh. My government was granted authority over social and other matters. As I aged, I started wondering, “Who gave these people dominion over me?”

Naturally, I felt quite foolish when I when I found out. It was me!

Egg square on face.

Some might argue that I was tricked into giving it up. In the end, I can only blame myself for any misplaced authority. It was I who bowed in submission to mother, father, teacher, priest, god and government. Naturally, placing authority to a degree is vital and beneficial.

For example, by giving submission to my parents, they showed me how to love, taught me valuable skills as person and infinitely more. I not only imparted authority to them, I gave them the responsibility of taking care of me. This turned out to be an immense benefit for which I’m forever grateful. Lucky for me, my parents had my best interests at heart. Placing authority in them was a top-notch idea! What a smart baby I was!

Religion was another story. While again, I’m grateful for the experience of being raised Catholic (it shaped me also), I no longer place religious authority in the church. As I began questioning my beliefs (around 18), I soon found that these guys knew no more about god than I did. They were all just passing down a rumor in which they had placed authority. Very few, seemed to have actual experience with god. It was then that I decided to remove that authority and place it back to where I felt it ultimately belongs.

Me.

There is much I’d like to say about authority regarding religion, science and government, but this starting to become a tangent, so let’s get back on track. Perhaps, all these ideas are coming together. I now take for granted that no one person has the full story and that I am in control of who I grant authority. This is extremely empowering yet humbling at the same time. A contradiction to be sure, but then again I’ve always been one. There is, however, one last bit of this particular puzzle I’d like to address: faith.

Part 4: Faith, Belief and All the Rest

I’m not necessarily talking about religious faith, but that is one of facets to which this pertains. I think we underestimate just how much faith we show on a daily basis and just how vital it is in human life. In my personal dogma of the moment, the absence of perceivable facts and the arbitrary nature of authority, points to conclusion that all our beliefs (religious, scientific, etc.) are indeed equally signs of faith. Faith placed in priests. Faith placed in scientists. Faith placed in elected officials. Faith placed in your fellow humans. They say faith moves mountains. Belief is even stronger.

Belief makes things happen. It was a belief that a better life was possible which gave a new world colony the balls to secede from a king across the pond. It was belief in engineering that made skyscrapers rise. A few individuals believed one day, humans would fly and that belief turned into dedication which gave way to the fruition of that belief. It is belief that drives us. It quite literally makes our world.

Like most things in life, there is a downside. Belief also has been behind countless acts of religious-based violence. A belief that Africans were subhuman gave way to the disgusting enslavement of an entire race. A belief in WMDs got us into a war we can’t seem to find our way out of.

Like fire, belief can light the way. Kept unchecked, it can scorch us to the core.

Part 5: End It Already!

My hope is that these keystones of my outlook effectively balance me. Like Gautama Buddha, to whom I’ve allowed some religious authority, I try to follow the middle path. Mostly, I’d like people “realize” that we’re all scoundrels, all flawed and let there be honor among thieves. I hope that with self-empowerment; though authority in one’s self, yet hewn with humility, will help grow a world more peaceful, more fulfilling and more joyous to live in. If belief made us fly, let’s believe we can soar.

Disclaimer:
The obvious disclaimer is that in “fact”, I “know” none of this to be true. That’s ok by me.