(put Meno)
So you can see why the ancients never asked us to believe in anything, except in human goodness (as arguably too many modern forms of religion, especially, do not), for our own good depends on it. By believing in the good within us, we are unlikely to be misguided by those who would lead us astray. Rather, we must listen inward so to be able to hear and follow our own true inner voice, which is more likely to hit the mark of true good because it has less reason to lie to us.
“we have the responsibility to use our intelligence.”(OI, Trudell, 321) Unfortunately, “We’ve not been encouraged to think. We’ve been programmed to believe.”(OI, Trudell, 322) And the truth is, “You cannot believe and think simultaneously.” In fact, “belief limits thinking.”(OI, Trudell, 322)
the belief that we cannot self-improve, let alone reach human excellence, in this or any single human life. …has too often proved to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Likewise, the belief that what we have been induced to want will make us happy too often turns out to have the opposite effect. So it’s important that we do not forget that, since wants and beliefs have real consequences in our lives, it’s best to understand and so want what’s truly good – not just for us, and for now, but for everyone and for all time.
(*connect values become actions, and beliefs function, like assumptions, to become actions.
For this reason, these essential wisdom traditions don’t ask us to believe anything, but only to understand, which requires we ask questions and act on these ancient principles (e.g. golden rule, golden mean, ‘first do no harm,’ etc.). Only then do we experience the click of comprehension and see the light that illuminates what had previously been obscured by the dark of ignorance. By contrast, if we discourage the dialectic question-and-answer process, as so many religions especially do, then learning stalls, understanding is thwarted, and human potential is corrupted. What we need to remedy this is what dialectic thinking engenders - the humility to admit how little we know and the empathy to see how much we have to learn from others. For only then will we put down the defenses that the will-to-win conditions, and open ourselves to the curiosity and discovery by which the mind grows, and in this way, earn the intrinsic goods and inner wealth that can never be won by the unworthy.
Indigenous scholars make clear that “we have the responsibility to use our intelligence.” Unfortunately, “We’ve not been encouraged to think. We’ve been programmed to believe.” And the truth is, “You cannot believe and think simultaneously.” In fact, “belief limits thinking.”(Trudell, 2008)
Socrates puts it this way: "True belief may be as good a guide as knowledge for the purpose of acting rightly," but beliefs "are not worth much until you tether them by working out the reason... Once they are tied down, then they are stable and become knowledge. That is why knowledge is something more valuable than even true belief. What distinguished one from the other is the tether" that connects our beliefs to the way things really are.(Plato’s Meno) Hence, the reason continuous learning is so good for us.
And the price for the hubris of blind belief is bound to be severe (as a glance at the daily news around the world makes clear). Even the best minds can become habituated to unnecessary conflict when they believe that finding one ‘true’ view renders all other false. For those who believe things are only one way are bound to be in constant conflict with those they perceive to be opponents. Whereas those humble enough to understand that things look different from different points of view will continually empathize with diverse perspectives and see how much they have to learn from others, so will be in continual communion with them as partners.
The dialogue by which this process of reasoned deliberation proceeds may be internal or interpersonal, and it may even be between us and our long-dead ancestors. It matters not. What does matter is that we use our minds for all they’re worth to make sense of the world and take understanding the whole of truth as our purpose. Okanagan Peoples call this dialogic way of life “a peace technology; it is a traditional form of conflict resolution”(Marlowe, 2008) that continually improves our lives and our communities.
For this reason, true wisdom traditions - though we may think of some of them as ‘religions’ – are NOT so in any sense that most modern religions are. They do not do our thinking for us, or ask us to follow any belief system or anyone – even the great souls they revere – blindly. They do rather ask us only to listen well, inward, to others, and to nature and the universe itself. And then to take all that makes sense to us with us as we go, like tools in our backpacks, for when we need them in our own hero’s journey.
As Deepak Chopra put it, “The great teachers who lived millennia ago offered something more radical than belief in a higher power.” They offered a faith in our “inner wisdom.” Which made it clear why we must “Be lamps onto ourselves,” as Buddha says. Or as Jesus put it, “Seek, and we shall find.”(Matthew 7:7)
As Socrates said, "nothing is an answer if we haven't asked the question." Which is why, “Children must devote themselves especially to the discipline which will make them masters of the technique of asking and answering questions...Dialectic study."(p. 255)
So you can see why the ancients never asked us to believe in anything, except in human goodness (as arguably too many modern forms of religion, especially, do not), for our own good depends on it. By believing in the good within us, we are unlikely to be misguided by those who would lead us astray. Rather, we must listen inward so to be able to hear and follow our own true inner voice, which is more likely to hit the mark of true good because it has less reason to lie to us.
“we have the responsibility to use our intelligence.”(OI, Trudell, 321) Unfortunately, “We’ve not been encouraged to think. We’ve been programmed to believe.”(OI, Trudell, 322) And the truth is, “You cannot believe and think simultaneously.” In fact, “belief limits thinking.”(OI, Trudell, 322)
the belief that we cannot self-improve, let alone reach human excellence, in this or any single human life. …has too often proved to be a self-fulfilling prophesy. Likewise, the belief that what we have been induced to want will make us happy too often turns out to have the opposite effect. So it’s important that we do not forget that, since wants and beliefs have real consequences in our lives, it’s best to understand and so want what’s truly good – not just for us, and for now, but for everyone and for all time.
(*connect values become actions, and beliefs function, like assumptions, to become actions.
For this reason, these essential wisdom traditions don’t ask us to believe anything, but only to understand, which requires we ask questions and act on these ancient principles (e.g. golden rule, golden mean, ‘first do no harm,’ etc.). Only then do we experience the click of comprehension and see the light that illuminates what had previously been obscured by the dark of ignorance. By contrast, if we discourage the dialectic question-and-answer process, as so many religions especially do, then learning stalls, understanding is thwarted, and human potential is corrupted. What we need to remedy this is what dialectic thinking engenders - the humility to admit how little we know and the empathy to see how much we have to learn from others. For only then will we put down the defenses that the will-to-win conditions, and open ourselves to the curiosity and discovery by which the mind grows, and in this way, earn the intrinsic goods and inner wealth that can never be won by the unworthy.
Indigenous scholars make clear that “we have the responsibility to use our intelligence.” Unfortunately, “We’ve not been encouraged to think. We’ve been programmed to believe.” And the truth is, “You cannot believe and think simultaneously.” In fact, “belief limits thinking.”(Trudell, 2008)
Socrates puts it this way: "True belief may be as good a guide as knowledge for the purpose of acting rightly," but beliefs "are not worth much until you tether them by working out the reason... Once they are tied down, then they are stable and become knowledge. That is why knowledge is something more valuable than even true belief. What distinguished one from the other is the tether" that connects our beliefs to the way things really are.(Plato’s Meno) Hence, the reason continuous learning is so good for us.
And the price for the hubris of blind belief is bound to be severe (as a glance at the daily news around the world makes clear). Even the best minds can become habituated to unnecessary conflict when they believe that finding one ‘true’ view renders all other false. For those who believe things are only one way are bound to be in constant conflict with those they perceive to be opponents. Whereas those humble enough to understand that things look different from different points of view will continually empathize with diverse perspectives and see how much they have to learn from others, so will be in continual communion with them as partners.
The dialogue by which this process of reasoned deliberation proceeds may be internal or interpersonal, and it may even be between us and our long-dead ancestors. It matters not. What does matter is that we use our minds for all they’re worth to make sense of the world and take understanding the whole of truth as our purpose. Okanagan Peoples call this dialogic way of life “a peace technology; it is a traditional form of conflict resolution”(Marlowe, 2008) that continually improves our lives and our communities.
For this reason, true wisdom traditions - though we may think of some of them as ‘religions’ – are NOT so in any sense that most modern religions are. They do not do our thinking for us, or ask us to follow any belief system or anyone – even the great souls they revere – blindly. They do rather ask us only to listen well, inward, to others, and to nature and the universe itself. And then to take all that makes sense to us with us as we go, like tools in our backpacks, for when we need them in our own hero’s journey.
As Deepak Chopra put it, “The great teachers who lived millennia ago offered something more radical than belief in a higher power.” They offered a faith in our “inner wisdom.” Which made it clear why we must “Be lamps onto ourselves,” as Buddha says. Or as Jesus put it, “Seek, and we shall find.”(Matthew 7:7)
As Socrates said, "nothing is an answer if we haven't asked the question." Which is why, “Children must devote themselves especially to the discipline which will make them masters of the technique of asking and answering questions...Dialectic study."(p. 255)