Hindu vs Christain

[John 6IX Breezy]

Why, if your one or the other, don't you believe in one or the other? 

The first reason is probably lack of exposure. Ideas and information aren't always free flowing, they cluster into pockets and populations. You can't switch to a belief system you're not sufficiently in contact with.

The second reason can be loosely adapted from Quine's "Web of Belief" metaphor. I think we construct our reality from the moment we're born. Meaning that as we encounter ideas and observations, we connect them in our brains in such a way as to produce a stable structure (a web) that represents reality.

What happens by the time we're adults is that this structure is heavily interconnected. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to overhaul the entire structure. Instead we can make changes to the exterior of the web without tampering with the core too much.

This is in part why I believe the best way to change someone's mind or perspective, isn't to present them with data and information, it's to construct a custom chunk of web that can integrate into and reshape theirs.

This is why narrative is so powerful and persuasive. We're expert sense making machines. We can detect when a piece of data doesn't make sense within our structure. We couldn't survive if we didn't filter out the noise. But the focus of narrative isn't the raw facts, it's how those facts make sense within the web that the story is weaving. And we can incorporate that narrative into our web much easier.