Believe It, or Not

“If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.”

― Gordon A. Eadie

If I were to divide humanity between two distinct classes it would be the believers and non-believers. People who believe in a flat earth against people who believe it is fairly spherical. People who believe in democracy against people who believe in communism. People who believe in God, ghosts, Satan, spirits, voodoo, astrology, black magic, alchemy against people who don’t.

We can both be a believer and a non-believer at the same time depending on the context. One may not believe in the existence of God but believe in logic, reasoning and scientific rigor. The members of opposite camps, take Universal Moralists versus Relative Moralists, are believers for their respective sides and non-believers for the oppositions.

Beliefs are part of our everyday actions. Every time we give an opinion, we construct them on some preconceived beliefs. Our sense of morality, what is right and what is wrong, itself is based on such beliefs.

What of then the people who say they have no opinion on a matter? If a person’s answer to the question - do you believe that aliens exist or they are just hoax, is that they have no opinion regarding the matter then should there be a third class as well - anti-believers, the ones who refuse to be part of any of the two contrasting belief systems?

The answer might be tricky because a person’s outright denial of playing the role of either a believer or non-believer might not reflect their true state of mind. It could very well be that people are often hesitant in expressing their genuine opinions and avoid such matter in public. In my opinion, everyone has an opinion on almost everything, which makes every human being a believer or non-believer in at least some contexts. At the very least, all the people are equipped with their own sense of morality, which as I have already mentioned, depends on their beliefs. So there is seemingly no escape from the act of believing or not believing and so, no one can claim with utmost certainty that they have not a single opinion on any earthly or heavenly matter in existence!

But must we believe at all? Should we not try to achieve neutrality and take neither sides to avoid prejudices and biases? Would not becoming the ideal anti-believer, one who is devoid of all senses of believing and not believing, be our ultimate goal?

The answer is no. This is where the distinction of belief and faith is important because unlike the latter the former is not blind. A scientist does not have faith in evolution, but it is a theory they have come to believe in after much logical studies and gathered evidence. Beliefs can often be presumptuous, unsubstantiated as well, but a society lacking any sort of belief will be equally disastrous if not more.

In an ideal world with equal rights, equal possessions, equal possibilities, systems of belief might not play an important role. Whether you believe in centralization or decentralization, social welfare or free market, empathy or dispassion, might not have grave consequences. But the world is far from being ideal. Our society is ridden with inequalities, crimes, sins. In such a society without strong beliefs, justice cannot be delivered, peace cannot be restored, fairness cannot be practiced.

And so we must believe in something or against other things. Whether we believe optimistically in a brighter tomorrow or nihilistically in a looming doom, believe we must, or not.

The Thinker (1904) by Auguste Rodin. Source: www.britannica.com