A man, having lost his axe, suspected his neighbor's son of having taken it. Certain peculiarities in his gait, his countenance and his speech, marked him out as the thief. In his actions, his movements, and in fact his whole demeanor, it was plainly written that he and no other had stolen the axe. By and by, however, while digging in a dell, the owner came across the missing implement. The next day, when he saw his neighbor's son again, he found no trace of guilt in his movements, his actions, or his general demeanor.
'The man in whose mind suspicion is at work will let himself be carried away by utterly distorted fancies, until at last he sees white as black, and detects squareness in a circle.'
~ Book of Lieh-Tzü, from Book VII ~
We each are guilty of prejudice and allowing preconceived notions to take on a life of their own. We get an idea about something and no amount of contrary observation or evidence will sway us from our original idea.
While this is true for people from all walks of life, it's especially true of fundamentalist zealots in every religion. They interpret their beliefs within very narrow confines and every type of thought or phenomena is forced to fit into this tiny worldview -- even if they have to shove it in violently.
A few years ago I had an email exchange with two fundamentalist Christians who both believe that the Holy Bible was the inerrant word of God (which, by the way, I find to be laughable). As we discussed this one topic, I kept citing obvious contradictions in the text (e.g., two different books of the Gospel report a different lineage for Jesus).
One of the fellows, a pastor of a very conservative Christian Church, went through all sorts of histrionics to try to resolve the contradictions. In some instances, he would say one passage was literal while the other was symbolic or both were symbolic. From a rational viewpoint, the man was all over the map and, not surprisingly, the other fellow didn't always agree with him as to what was literal and what was allegorical -- so they would argue with each other independent of me.
In my mind's eye, the pastor had invested too much of his life in this particular belief system and so, come hell or high water, he was going to defend it, even when such a defense defied credulity!
'The man in whose mind suspicion is at work will let himself be carried away by utterly distorted fancies, until at last he sees white as black, and detects squareness in a circle.'
~ Book of Lieh-Tzü, from Book VII ~
We each are guilty of prejudice and allowing preconceived notions to take on a life of their own. We get an idea about something and no amount of contrary observation or evidence will sway us from our original idea.
While this is true for people from all walks of life, it's especially true of fundamentalist zealots in every religion. They interpret their beliefs within very narrow confines and every type of thought or phenomena is forced to fit into this tiny worldview -- even if they have to shove it in violently.
A few years ago I had an email exchange with two fundamentalist Christians who both believe that the Holy Bible was the inerrant word of God (which, by the way, I find to be laughable). As we discussed this one topic, I kept citing obvious contradictions in the text (e.g., two different books of the Gospel report a different lineage for Jesus).
One of the fellows, a pastor of a very conservative Christian Church, went through all sorts of histrionics to try to resolve the contradictions. In some instances, he would say one passage was literal while the other was symbolic or both were symbolic. From a rational viewpoint, the man was all over the map and, not surprisingly, the other fellow didn't always agree with him as to what was literal and what was allegorical -- so they would argue with each other independent of me.
In my mind's eye, the pastor had invested too much of his life in this particular belief system and so, come hell or high water, he was going to defend it, even when such a defense defied credulity!
Oh, the selves we cling to.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of George Orwell's 1984. 'blackwhite' was a newspeak word meaning the ability to believe black is white. All citizens were supposed to be able to do this in order to swallow everything Big Brother told them.
ReplyDelete