uh, I believe you're wrong

(for those uninterested in thinking right now, you may want to skip to the entertaining links below.)

My friend Carl had an interesting post on his blog a couple of days ago. It dealt with the concept of belief. Specifically, do you get to choose what you believe? I'd like to frame it a little differently: is believing an active, conscious process that you control? or is belief the product of the unknown clockworks inside our hearts and minds?

I submit that it's the latter. Carl offered an intriguing test: try to make yourself believe something that you don't believe. For example, believe now that you are in Mexico. Of course, you'll say that's impossible because you can prove to yourself by looking at your familiar surroundings that you're actually in Virginia (or wherever you really are).

A different, less concrete case: Do you believe that man landed on the moon? I do, but I don't remember choosing to. If you believe it too, try to believe it didn't happen. Any luck? me neither. You may think this is pretty cut and dried as well, but I know at least two people who don't Neil Armstrong ever touched a moonrock. Why don't they believe it? good question. What I want to know is, what caused them to seriously disbelieve it when they saw the same evidence as the rest of us? Furthermore, I don't think their disbelief is just an obstinate choice - I think it is complete and heartfelt.

Maybe its similar to the concept of understanding. As an example, I offer my Calculus studies from long ago. More than once, we covered an idea or technique that I just didn't understand. I could listen to the teacher, read and re-read the text, but it didn't matter -- it just didn't click. I wanted to understand, I was trying to understand, but I could not just choose to understand and thereby force myself to comprehend.

Do you agree or disagree?

and anyway, so what? Does any of this matter? well, Carl asked how that affects our ideas of Christian believers and unbelievers. I've got a few thoughts on that as well, which I plan to make the subject of my next post.

Here we are now, entertain us

For the bored among us, here's a little respite:

Humor

• WHAMMO! big problems
  
  
• Blondestar - It's always on, 'cause you're always blonde
  
  
• Here's to you, Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer - ok, this one and the really, really, really bad dancer one hit kinda close to home.
  
  
• The Fruitcake Lady WARNING: this one outlived her filter.
  

More Timewasters

• kinda freaky game - you win by playing the longest... :)
  
  
  
• the Haggis Hurl - no offense, Jacque!