What is the point of believing?

Question

Do we need beliefe? Is belief just a range of understanding that changes over to knowlege? Does there need to be a point to believing? Should there be a point? If belief cannot be proven should it be used to guide oneself? Should others beliefs be a guide to others?

Answer 1

None whatsoever, but paradoxically it is impossible not to - it is inherent in the very structure of thought.

Belief is purely a personal matter, but most unfortunately very, very few people let it remain that way. What has to be remembered is that belief is not truth and if we are talking the ultimate belief (i.e God) here, it can never be proved or disproved, so it is a pointless exercise. It does no-one any good either. Even in practical terms, you can believe all you like that you are going to go up when you walk off the cliff, but I'm sorry, you ain't!

All opinion, faith, 'points of view', etc are just other names for belief and other than in trivial matters or in science, where belief (theory) can be tested empirically, it is a hindrance to inquiry, for as soon as you believe something, you have actually put the brakes on further questioning. It is the bane of the human race. Don't think I'm advocating scepticism here, because that is just belief as well in a different set of clothes. The Christian believes in God and the atheist believes there isn't a God. The important thing is belief itself and not the object, because ultimately everything in the world comes down to human psychology. You ARE the world - quite literally. By that I mean that your thoughts are the only thing of importance to your existence. When you stop thinking, 'YOU' cease to exist. The 'YOU' is thought itself. There is no thinker who thinks thoughts, as if they were separate entities. The thinker IS thought and without thought operating, the thinker does not exist. See it as you read my reply. You read the words and your brain immediately interprets according to it's own prior conditioning - which is nothing more than an accumulation of your unique set of life experiences. It cannot be still for an instant without some sort of evaluating going on. If the words I use 'fit' with your existing 'mindset' then you are at ease, but if I should say something that conflicts with your belief then your brain gets upset; angry. Don't go saying anything nasty about Allah to a person who calls himself a radical Muslim or suffer the consequences. This is a graphic example, but it can be seen what is meant. 'Allah' is not important in the slightest. It is the belief that IS important. If this same man suddenly and for whatever reason started fervently to believe in the Easter bunny, then insulting the Easter bunny would have the same effect on his psyche. Why? Because the man and the belief (the thinker and the thought) are one and the same. Insulting Allah and the Easter bunny does not harm them (if they existed that is!), it harms the feelings of the man who believes in them. It's all about the 'me', the 'you', the 'ego'. Seeing is 'understanding' and understanding is an important point, for seeing is different from believing. You do not believe when you see the truth of these statements. It is as real as the pain you feel when you put your hand in the fire. So please see how belief divides the world and causes misery. If you see it, you will have no part in continuing it. Therefore, you will never again call yourself by a religious, political or nationalistic label, except in an extremely superficial way.

Addendum:
As you can see from the other posters, belief is really a form of ignorance mixed with fear. Inherent in people is this fundamental need to 'explain everything' and things we can never understand totally like the meaning of life, death and the universe immediately cause a need for people to cling to a comforting idea. For the most part, that is what religion is all about... and more subtley, science too. We are afraid of our own mortality. All we have is 'the known', but death comes under the banner of 'the unknown' and as this is incomprehensible to the ever thinking mind, like children, we invent elaborate theories and philosophies to make us sleep at night. Belief really is born out of the mind's need to continue permanently and the presence of death is the thing that puts the wheels in motion for all this nonsense.

Answer 2

It is often thought that "belief" is a major step beyond the ordinary cognitive functions of everyday life. The data the we perceive as we go about our lives is considered to be somehow radically different than such "leaps" such as belief in God, in the immortality of the soul, etc.

Consider however, that "belief" (that is, adhering to a statement or proposition that is difficult or impossible for us to verify) is necessary for our most basic daily actions: we believe the weatherman when he says it will snow tomorrow, we believe there is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, although we have perhaps only seen a sign for it, we believe that someone loves us although they are far away... these are ordinary bits of "faith" without which living a good and happy life would be impossible.

Yet to believe these "ordinary" things, we must first believe that there is a reasonable order to all things, to human actions, to nature, etc. It's what makes us believe in Milwaukee or the forecast or mom's love even though we might not see these things. Since we believe in a reasonable order to things, and that this order can be known (and its existence does not depend on us), we believe authority figures whose charge it is to explain some part of the overall order. Therefore we believe the weatherman and the mapmaker, the philospher and the priest. We believe scientists even if we cannot ourselves produce nuclear reactions. We believe interpreters even if we cannot speak the language. We believe what others believe because we first believe that these things are knowable by human minds.

So getting back to your question, we do need belief. Belief in the so-called "leap of faith" propositions (God, morality, the soul, the end of human life) is really not a leap at all- it's rather a further continuation of the common, everyday "faith" that we have in the reasonable order of things. Spiritual and Philosophical studies have their authorities as well, and one does well to listen and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge out there.

In summary, a belief in a knowable order to existence is the first belief anyone must have. Without that "first faith" any other beliefs are, at best, not well founded. That "first faith" is learned from the time we are babies, through thousands of experiences and situations, causes and effects, places and people, etc. I hope this helps with your questions.

Answer 3

We dont have to believe. Believing, when used as a verb, is trusting. Would you not want to trust something? What your professor says, what you see with your very own eyes, what your spouse says. I suppose you can live your life as a true skeptic... but I think you will find yourself at great un-rest. Do we have to? No. I think we could live without it. But... i couldnt say for sure if belief is a natural instinct or not. We dont always have to accept what we see. But I would think that it is quite hard to do so.

Answer 4

Multiple answers to this question.
If you believe that nudity is natural why do you not walk naked through the towns.
Belief is the necessary regulator of order.

Answer 5

It is in human nature to believe something. Our brains are wired that way. Religious people believe in their religion, and Atheists have to have faith to believe in no God. But everybody has the inherent need to believe something. No one is exempt.

Answer 6

Believing is creating,shaping into the physical world,so obviously believing is important, probably is the most important thing in your life.

Answer 7

If you mean belief in something divine, it's simply culture.

Answer 8

Believing is what keeps me going. If I didn't believe I would have given up long ago and end it.

Answer 9

there are moments in your life when you need to believe in something, in someone more powerful. when you, like a simple human been, can't do anything else, you hope that someone bigger sees you and helps.

Answer 10

Blessed are those who believe. Their life is much easier.
For the rest that have doubts... well...