RE: Any strong belief is a chain.

Billy Brown (bbrown@conemsco.com)
Tue, 22 Dec 1998 08:02:09 -0600

Joe E. Dees wrote:
> Isn't
> there a self-contradiction lurking somewhere when one presents as
> an article of belief that one should believe nothing (whether you
> append 'except this' or 'including this')? It appears rather
> Zen/Tao/guruish to me... Joe

No, its the exact opposite. What it boils down to is this:

  1. There is an objective reality.
  2. Believing something doesn't make it true.
  3. If your belief disagrees with reality, reality wins.

If you agree with these statements, it should be obvious that the ideal survival strategy is to make sure that your opinions are always in agreement with your information about reality. Believing something despite contrary evidence is a bad habit - it is a device for hiding from the world, rather than coping with it.

Billy Brown, MCSE+I
bbrown@conemsco.com