B U R N I N G !

Mogwai Live Film "Burning" Teaser from Nathanaël Le Scouarnec on Vimeo.

Truth, and Self Deception

I was thinking about truth tonight.

This is not an unusual subject for me. It's in my head a lot.

I have trouble wrapping my brain around a concept that a lot of people seem to have no problem with at all. It frequently rears it's head when someone is choosing their personal religious beliefs. It's the concept of a person choosing a belief, or group of beliefs, that "fits" the person's preferences, or meshes with their personal worldview. It seems to come up most often for the people who consider themselves spiritual, but not religious. Those who subscribe to a certain segment of a doctrinal belief system, but not all of it. Maybe they even subscribe to slices of different belief systems, without wholly believing in one completely.

This isn't in itself a problem. I'd be pretty hypocritical if i stated that everyone should pick a belief system and decide every part of it is true and that's that. Not accepting parts of traditional religion while accepting others is fine. Especially considering the amount of "extra" things that get tacked onto groups of beliefs over time due to tradition and cultural influences. Denying parts of a belief system that the majority of other believers accept is perfectly fine, as long as it's for the right reasons.

The problem is the reason that some people do it. Some people do it because they don't like part of a belief system.

This is where i become flabbergasted a bit. What does liking something have to do with it being true? If something is true, it's true whether you or i like it or not. Gravity is gravity, no matter how much you think it would be nicer to just float around all day. For most people, that kind of absolute truth is obvious, but when it comes to spiritual beliefs it suddenly becomes a matter of preference.

I suppose i shouldn't be flabbergasted at all. There is part of human nature i know all too well that is most likely behind this. People, whether they realize it or not, are incredibly prone to self deception. When the chips are down, unless they are fighting against the urge, they will gladly believe in whatever makes them feel better. They will subconsciously ignore the realities in life that make the most obvious and logical sense, and skip right to the one that helps them sleep at night.

I'm 15 years removed from my last Psychology class so i won't pretend to profess any specific clinical reason for this, but you don't have to look hard to see it. It's amazing to see sometimes how parents refuse to believe things about their children that are obvious to everyone else. Substance abuse, abusiveness, self destructive behaviors.... things that everyone with a pairs of eyes and 5 minutes in the same room with someone can see, parents are frequently oblivious about. Somewhere deep down in the parent as a defense mechanism their subconscious is saying "not *my* son" or "not *my* daughter", and they go to sleep at night blissfully ignorant of what others can clearly see.

We deceive ourselves.

Self deception terrifies me. It terrifies me because even though I'm cognizant of it's virus like abilities in our subconscious, i still know that my awareness of it doesn't make me immune to it.

It's not just the "spiritual, but not religious" crowd that is prone to this. It's a behavior that is certainly prevalent in the devout religious people as well.

I frequently see the following behavior in conservative Christians (I pick this group because it's one that in my life travels i have, by far, spent the most time with). The behavior I'm referring to is a propensity to "protect" their faith. They wont entertain viewpoints from people who are atheist, or anti-christian in some way. They wont watch movies or listen to music created by people with ideas and beliefs that vary widely from their traditional Christian views.

Why? If what you believe is true, opening yourself up to other ideas will bring you back to the same place you started. If it doesn't, then maybe what you believe *isn't* true, and it's time to reassess your beliefs. Truth doesn't need your protecting, it's validity is all the protection it needs. A scientist doesn't think up a hypothesis, but then refuse to test it in fear that the tests may prove the hypothesis false. A scientist knows that as good or as exciting as any idea is, it's worthless until it faces as many tests as they can throw at it, and is still left standing.

I suppose a lot of people have no desire to reassess their beliefs, even if their beliefs are not rooted in reality. They "like" their hypothesis so much that the last thing they want to do is find out if it's really true or not.

The question i suppose then is this: Would you rather know truth, even if it makes you unhappy, or makes it difficult to sleep at night; or would you prefer to believe in something that makes you happy, gives you hope, and let's you go to sleep at night with a smile on your face, even if it isn't actually true?

Wedding Work

We are working on a wedding website. Should be fun when it's up and running.

I have been surprised to find out how much i am enjoying planning a wedding with my fiance. I think that's just another indication that I'm marrying the right person.

Though it's not like i needed any additional signs.

More is Coming

Seriously.

Sorry.

Just give me a day or two.

Promise.