The Nature of Belief

What do you believe? Why do you believe that? What is the fundamental nature of belief?

Is a belief a perception of the five senses or is it a perception of emotional feeling? Is it better to say "I sense" and/or "I feel"? Is it better to say " I know" than "I believe"? Is belief based on experience or on a idea? My thinking is that belief/believing is a very missed used word.
- Anonymous

These are BIG questions with several facets...

Language: Before we can get down to true thoughts and feelings, we have to deal with language. We may call it "English," but we don't speak the same language. We have regional differences and cultural differences as well as personal differences. In addition, our language is changing rapidly. We may agree on words like "door" and "walk," but words like "belief" and "God" call up different images for each of us.

Some words are "trigger" words. "Liar" is certainly a trigger word for many people. It creates an emotional reaction that is way beyond the literal meaning of the word. A few days ago, I discovered to my dismay that the word "scapegoat" is that kind of trigger word for a few people. It is very easy to use someone else's trigger word in a completely innocent way, as I did, and then be accused of making a racial, religious, gender, or personal slur.

Getting back to "belief," when one is having a deep one-on-one conversation, it is worthwhile to create a mutual working definition of the key terms of the conversation, such as "belief." In public speaking or writing, sometimes it is important to state one's own definition of key terms, as I do in Simply An Inspired Life.

On a day-to-day basis, however, just be clear with yourself about what you mean in conversations with others and especially with yourself.

In everyday conversation, I seldom attempt to be truly precise in my speaking. Like most people, I say "It's a beautiful day." and "The cheesecake is terrible." and "He shouldn't talk to her like that." I KNOW those are merely my opinions, but it's impractical to label everything I say as being my opinion. Everything I and everyone else ever says or thinks is merely an opinion, whether it regards the nature of God or the state of the cheesecake.

So how do we form our opinions? Our opinions (or our beliefs, feelings, prejudices, or knowledge, if you prefer) come from only two sources, our genetics and our history. "Prejudice" is another trigger word, but it describes an often-valid practice. Our ancestors wouldn't have survived without prejudice. If I watched my father being eaten by a lion, I become prejudiced against all lions. Perhaps the next lion would be friendly, but ... NO, of course I don't think religious, racial, or similar prejudices are okay, but I do understand that they are based on instinctive generalizations.

Whether we say "It is my opinion," "I believe," "I feel," "I sense," "I know," or just state something as if it were a fact (such as "The cheesecake is terrible."), we are speaking about our perception of the world as we relate to it, and cannot with any validity imagine how others perceive their worlds. Moreover, I contend that it is presumptuous for us to think we know how others SHOULD perceive their worlds.

Further reading: Suggestions for Reading Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote

Meddling - 5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice

Friedrich Nietzsche: There are no facts, only interpretations

Perspectives on the Nature of God - Which of these Five Views Matches Yours?

Oscar Wilde quote: Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.