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Survival is so important that we react even to mistakes; (just to be sure we're safe).
Just as bomb threats are taken seriously even when there are no bombs. (better to be safe than sorry).
If 'believing' is innate, we are doomed to make mistakes. *
If 'believing" is learned/conditioned, then we can override 'believing' when the thoughts are false.
* example; when a deer hears a noise from behind a bush, it runs without checking if there's a predator behind the bush, (those few seconds of checking could make the difference between life or death.) The deer is wired to do that no matter how many times there's no predator.
Our own thoughts are 'like' the noise from behind the bush, we believe them before we know whether they are true or not.
Yes, see how automatic the flight/flight response is ? What if the noise from inside is made by friends who want to surprise you?
You use a different example than I did about how involuntary our survival instinct is. So we agree.
"Before you open the door"; you have time to think; "Yes, my fight/flight response is in good working order. But in case it's wrong this time, I got my baseball bat or gun handy in case it is right and the noise is made by intruders who can hurt me."
quote;" your heart jumps out of your chest,,, you gasp for air... you are really scared",
That's your involuntary response to the THOUGHT you BELIEVE; you have not opened the door yet, so you don't know what the facts inside are.
The title of this thread; "Is it true?" Why do we 'believe' BEFORE we know?"
We act like the deer, just as automatically, we ASSUME, to be on the safe side; that way we survive not matter what the facts are. (behind the bush or in the house).
sak,,,,, you are getting hung up on the word "know" and "believe"
perception is reality and we all have different perceptions
this is an intangeable.
belief can be a hunch...it can be very strong reality,,,its not black and white
assumptions can be our own yield signs of potential danger...
and if you are going to get literal,,i guess it is based on past experience/reference points
Survival is so important that we react even to mistakes; (just to be sure we're safe).
Just as bomb threats are taken seriously even when there are no bombs. (better to be safe than sorry).
If 'believing' is innate, we are doomed to make mistakes. *
If 'believing" is learned/conditioned, then we can override 'believing' when the thoughts are false.
* example; when a deer hears a noise from behind a bush, it runs without checking if there's a predator behind the bush, (those few seconds of checking could make the difference between life or death.) The deer is wired to do that no matter how many times there's no predator.
Our own thoughts are 'like' the noise from behind the bush, we believe them before we know whether they are true or not.
I've gotten hung up on this before, and, for that matter, how do you really KNOW? Science has proven to us that we KNOW before we can perceive that we KNOW. Now, that is peculiar. That means, perhaps that, to our brains, BELIEVING is KNOWING! Is that perhaps the reason children do not question their parents if they tell them about Santa Claus or the Buggy Man? The children have not learned the difference between KNOWING and BELIEVING, so their brains count all information as true until proven otherwise? Do our adult brains work the same way and perhaps we've simply learned to override it? If so, we must KNOW quite a bit of false information. Do you agree?
I'm wondering as to the purpose of the thread (I ask kindly of course)
I'm convinced that we pack our fears and beliefs into our very DNA, just as a caterpillar who had seen what his terrain looks like goes into his chrysalis with his imagination and when he comes out from it becomes a moth that resembles his terrain.
We inject our fears into our not-even-born-yet children so they would later emerge neurotic even when the world had long since changed. Just as our flippered ancestors made us afraid of crawling arthropod predators, our furry ancestors made us afraid of the snake.
[quote=kmb501;"..... we must KNOW quite a bit of false information. Do you agree?[/QUOTE]
Yes, I agree. We defend what we believe, even when what we believe 'ain't so'. Like isis, willing to die for believing false thoughts.
I have a hunch your 'on-to-something' your not letting us know, yet.
I started this thread with two questions; then I presented/shared a few of my beliefs. You, (two) presented/shared some of your beliefs.
This thread is not about who's beliefs trumps the other beliefs .
Last night I started to make a list of what to reply to you two, (there was only two at that time), it got late, so I didn't reply. The above quote is a 'game changer'.
I wrote; "If 'believing' is innate, we are doomed to make mistakes". The quote above supports that.
We react to the thoughts we believe; (whether they fit/match facts or not.)
Recognizing what we KNOW 'that ain't so', is part of some spiritual paths.
Consider what we 'know' that ain't so, like clouds that block out the sun light. The sun is there even when we don't see the light.
Another metaphor is those 'Magic Eye', stereograms, picture in two dimensions that suddenly are 'seen' in 3D. The 3D was there all along, but not seen. ( I suggest that our 'natural/true SELF is like that). What we call 'ego' is like the two dimensional photo or the clouds blocking the sun light.
'Spiritual search' is a misnomer, looking for what you already are is futile.
Wannbeliber: "I wonder as to the purpose of this thread", and ;"afraid of the snake". You've seen snake handlers? are they afraid of snakes? or have they stopped being afraid of them?
Most of us have stopped being afraid of the 'bogyman' thought-image. We still have the image in memory, but no longer afraid of our own thought. We 'can' live optimal lives, etc.
Really, KNOW, in my opinion, only has academic and social implications. It's BELIEVE that we base our deeper selves on. If you KNOW what other people do, you are simply keeping up with the crowd. If you BELEIVE what they do, though, you aren't just in a crowd of people; you are one with those people. Unfortunately, the worlds that we BELEIVE in aren't the worlds that others BELEIVE in. Wouldn't it be great if we could use what we KNOW to get control of what we BELIEVE? Unfortunately, though, it works the other way around.
[quote=kmb501;. Wouldn't it be great if we could use what we KNOW to get control of what we BELIEVE? Unfortunately, though, it works the other way around.[/QUOTE]
Please clarify.
I think it's great when we get control of 'believing'.
"believing" is a verb, "belief" is a noun. thoughts are 'what' is believed. Thoughts are as inert/harmless as sugar pills used as placebos, untill believed otherwise.
Our own thoughts are 'like' the noise from behind the bush,
we believe them before we know whether they are true or not.
Maybe YOU do, honey...hahaha.
A thought can NOT be trusted or believed...not mine.
But, deep instincts, that small Voice of intuition or an angle guide...
that's different...ala, "The Gift a Fear", those we don't trust ENOUGH!...
a must read...esp
for naive young people going off to college.
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