Conviction, Belief, Faith, and Obedience

Conviction, belief, faith and obedience.

Should all social regrouping be based on convictions?

Definitions:

Conviction—A firmly held belief or opinion, an opinion that is arrived at by resolving doubts, and by examination of evidence.

Belief—An idea that is accepted as truth without evidence.

Faith—Strong and unshakable belief again with out supportive evidence.

Obedience—Dutiful or submissive behaviour, doing as commanded without questioning the demand.

Anarchy—The absence of any guiding or unifying principle, resulting in chaos.

When we are babies, we learn by observation and exploring our own personal evolving senses. When we are small children we learn from the example of those around us. When we are a little older, we start formal education and there we are expected to be obedient to teachers and to believe what we are told. For example we are told 2+2 =4 and we have to believe that saying 2+2 = 5 is wrong. We are told that an apple is an apple and not (for example) a “pear.” We learn to read and speak articulately, by accepting as truth, that the words we read, say what we are told they say and the sounds we make mean what we are told they mean. As we get older we are expected to follow social normality, to accept the rules that provide cohesion to groups of people interacting with each other.

All of these learning steps are there because they help society function without disruption. They are not natural indisputable laws. They are necessary as the alternative would be anarchy and anarchy is ultimately destructive to humans coexisting in social groups. As adults we are expected to make decisions based on knowledge, experience and perception. The perception is to come from rational analysis and remembered evidence, from our learning and experience.

As young adults we are very vulnerable to manipulation because our perceptions are formed with very little real life, personal, basis. We form our perceptions and views largely based on what we have been told by others. This is the most dangerous period in individual development but also it is a period when some of our most important decisions are made. We make many decisions that will affect not only the rest of our lives but also the lives of any children we may bring into the world. It seems a perverse situation; we are at our most vulnerable to misdirection, when we make the bigger directional decisions of our lives.

Most religions, as differing from philosophies, expect followers and adherents to believe in some form of creed. Almost all demand obedience to the earthly management of their religion. When there are questions that they can not rationally answer, they all demand that the followers have faith in the chosen creed.

Listening to a preacher and allowing yourself to be persuaded, that you should not question or doubt, but just to believe and follow what they say; is not a good idea. It is laziness, not conviction. We should all listen to many views, question all of them, read many opinions and doubt all of them. Come to our own conviction then trust in it, until convinced, by experience, that it can be improved; then modify your conviction to the new improved version.

Equally you need to be mindful that going out and preaching, convincing others to believe what you believe, is not the right way. You must allow others who have the same conviction as yourself, to come to you and join with you. Then you are of the same conviction naturally and can magnify your strength.

Increasingly we humans live in much larger groups with much less empty space around us. We live in close confines with each other and we live lives more interconnected with each other, than was the norm 500 years ago. Humans are still evolving but the pressures, that our ever increasing populations, put upon the rate at which we need to evolve, is causing a lag between what we need to become and what we still are. We have not yet evolved into creatures with the ability to live in very close confines with each other and because of this we have to have social rules. We need laws and conventions that enable us to live in relative peace. This means we have to have obedience to these rules and laws. Whether we agree with every rule or not, they have to be obeyed. Once we have some people exempt from some rules, some rules for some but not for others in the same social group, then we are inviting anarchy.

To live a constructive life it is helpful that we gain conviction about our individual purpose. We need to be convinced that our life has a justifiable reason for our living it. We also need the self control to have obedience to, even when not in full agreement with, the rules of our society. This way we avoid disrupting the rights of others to find their purpose and their conviction. In a perfect world communities would be organised around ideals rather than any geographic boundaries. We do not live in a perfect world but increasingly we are able to move and select the communities we feel at home with. As we get older we change the convictions we have, we change our view of priorities, we change our perception of our individual purpose. So we should also change the social community we relate to. Nearly every person has reservations about change and many deplore the fragmentation of family life but if it allows regrouping based on shared convictions, then may be these restructuring will be beneficial.