Doubt and Belief

Many of us are convinced that the things we believe to be true are true regardless of whether there is any evidence to support the beliefs.

Some of these beliefs are related to concepts that are difficult to quantify.

I know my wife and sons love me. I believe that they do. The evidence is difficult to procure, because the evidence isn't really tangible. If you ask me how I know for sure, I would be hard pressed to give any real examples.

And yet I still believe they do.

Belief, in this case, is basically in a healthy state. It helps me to believe that they love me.

Sometimes, though, belief can be challenged by many examples of tangible evidence as in when I believe something that is really not true, can be disproved with evidence and yet still believe.

This type of belief is often very harrowing to the one who has it. And very often we need to realize that we each hold these kinds of unhealthy belief.

That is why it is important to keep doubt as a part of our arsenal. Doubt provides a gap for evidence that we might otherwise choose to ignore.

A few days ago I was having a conversation with a family member and they were telling me about a legend that circulates in the reservation in our state. The Indians there tell of a group of smallish woodland warriors that harry the tourists and kidnap children.

The Fox Mulder in me wants to find some explanation that supports this: long list tribe of pigmy Indians, and so forth.

But the reality is, it is probably just a legend. And legends are, by their very fabric, both believable and unbelievable at the same time.

To hold such a belief, though, is harmless, but it is the symptom of a mind that rejects doubt.

My first reaction to this tale was skeptical laughter. My family member reinforced the truth of the tale by claiming he knows some folks who know for sure.

Regardless if there are pigmy tribes in the mountains around Cherokee, we need to temper our innate gullibility with doubt. It may be true, but we had better seek to prove or disprove it. By blindly accepting this, and making it part of the fabric of our world view, we threaten to burden our ability to be incredulous to any and all claims.

If in doubt, it probably isn't true and that's why I always hang on to doubt.