Before I go on, I want to define Knowledge specifically for this context. Knowledge is an idea, truth, or consequence that you KNOW to be true, justified or not, by prior experience.
Cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, logical fallacies... we all know the topics well. That is what makes us skeptics. Overcoming those three things is what got me to quit being a JW. Maybe it got you out of your church.
We think that knowledge is what helped us, but the truth is, knowledge is what created the need for cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, and logical fallacies. Humans only know how to understand and connect with other humans be relating everything back to themselves. So when I KNEW that I was in the true religion, and that it meant my literal life, I was eager to find all the justifications I could to believe it. It was not surprising to me when I left, my sister kept saying to me, "but don't you want to see mom again?" It was like she thought that if I just wished hard enough, it would all be true.
Now for me, it cost me a lot, but not that much in the grand scheme of things. I didn't go to college, I didn't have sex with multiple partners, and I never got to celebrate Christmas! Ok, I'm grateful for that last one because I save a lot of money every year. Just think of every evil act in the world though. It always is rooted in some kind of sick idea of what is true. Sure, you could say that these people are also mentally deranged, but that doesn't change the fact that some kind of spark led them on the path of destruction and killing. It doesn't matter if they flew a plane into the World Trade Centers, shot up a school full of elementary grade students, or decided to run for president. Those deranged people all started with something that they KNEW was true.
The pursuit of knowledge is a beautiful thing. But thinking that you have attained an absolute knowledge is when you start pursuing the opposite of knowledge, make believe.
Let me know what you think, thanks
Cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, logical fallacies... we all know the topics well. That is what makes us skeptics. Overcoming those three things is what got me to quit being a JW. Maybe it got you out of your church.
We think that knowledge is what helped us, but the truth is, knowledge is what created the need for cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, and logical fallacies. Humans only know how to understand and connect with other humans be relating everything back to themselves. So when I KNEW that I was in the true religion, and that it meant my literal life, I was eager to find all the justifications I could to believe it. It was not surprising to me when I left, my sister kept saying to me, "but don't you want to see mom again?" It was like she thought that if I just wished hard enough, it would all be true.
Now for me, it cost me a lot, but not that much in the grand scheme of things. I didn't go to college, I didn't have sex with multiple partners, and I never got to celebrate Christmas! Ok, I'm grateful for that last one because I save a lot of money every year. Just think of every evil act in the world though. It always is rooted in some kind of sick idea of what is true. Sure, you could say that these people are also mentally deranged, but that doesn't change the fact that some kind of spark led them on the path of destruction and killing. It doesn't matter if they flew a plane into the World Trade Centers, shot up a school full of elementary grade students, or decided to run for president. Those deranged people all started with something that they KNEW was true.
The pursuit of knowledge is a beautiful thing. But thinking that you have attained an absolute knowledge is when you start pursuing the opposite of knowledge, make believe.
Let me know what you think, thanks
