Beliefs hard to Change

Beliefs are there to support our ability to survive. For this reason, they are strongly resistant to change, even in the face of evidence.

Let's take a look at how we know about the world around us and beyond. We perceive the immediate physical world with our senses. If we see any danger, we have to take an action to survive.

But our senses are limited to a small part of the immediate world. Hence, in order to have better chances to survive, senses alone are not enough.

Survival is the primary purpose of our brain. The brain comes up with a mental construction to further support our survival: Belief! The ability of belief to extend out contact with the world beyond our senses certainly gives us better chances to survive.

The belief that "Jungle is dangerous" was constructed by a caveman's brain based on the sensory data: That is, meeting the wild animals, fighting and getting hurt! And it (belief) didn’t happen after just one encounter, it probably took a few generations as a caveman to install that belief. Belief --- knowing in advance; it helped the caveman to be prepared for any danger in the jungle.

Now, imagine what it would take to get rid of that belief, even if "the jungle" is not dangerous any longer! Yep, you guessed right -- a few generations!

We humans perceive the world with our senses right now, right here. If we didn’t have any beliefs (mental constructions) that describe the world around us and beyond, we’d be walking around like lunatics, better yet, like frightened animals. We have thousands of beliefs.

Beliefs are passed on to the next generation as accumulated knowledge of the past sensory data. Hence, a belief is ‘accumulated sensory data’. It is logical that the world as we know it changes constantly, so it’s appropriate to say that our beliefs - or ‘sensory data’ - might be outdated. It is not a “jungle” anymore! :-)