The other day a friend told me a peculiar phenomenon: take your birthyear (e.g., 1955=55) and add it to your age (you will be this year, eg. 56); they will always add up to 111. My friends tried it and it was true. I knew the math behind it was simple, but my friend's interpretation was on a very different plane: "See how we are all interconnected -- we are all 111." She's a very spiritual and beautiful person -- fun-loving, an artist and world traveler, completely compassionate and giving in life. If everyone shared her passion for life and kindness the world would be a kinder place. On the other hand, she's not that grounded in science and sometimes takes "rational facts" as magical or spiritual.
I sent her the explanation for the 111 later in the day by e-mail. It's pretty simple, as my son pointed out: your birth year is the number of years one lived in last century, and birth age is the number of one's years since then; sum is always 100, plus whatever year we are in this century -- 2011 or 111; next year it will be 112, etc. Part of my wanting to dispel her belief was to protect her from the cynics of the world who would discount all she said because of this sort of interpretation.
But then I started to think about her interpretation versus mine, and the role of magical or mythical thinking versus science. As a scientist, I've always thought science is best, but is it always the case? Her enthusiasm and interpretation over "111" or other magical and mythical thinking was extremely positive: Look at our similarities and interconnectedness. A ripple effect of that understanding would yield greater tolerance, equality and compassion among us. It became clearer to me that how we relate to our "beliefs" may be more important than the belief or knowledge itself.
Joseph Campbell wrote at great length about the power of mythology. I was beginning to see how our beliefs -- our mythologies -- provide us with a means of understanding the unknown (in my friend's case, this odd phenomenon of 111). If what we believe generates compassion, love, and helpful actions, perhaps those beliefs are beneficial to oneself and humanity at large. If our beliefs generate intolerance, inequality and hatred, perhaps those are ones you may want to jettison. But we need to examine how we relate to our beliefs, maybe more than dispelling of them as fact or fiction.
What if we each investigate our "beliefs" -- whether they be scientific in origin or not -- to see which generate positive actions of love, compassion and helpful acts, and which generate unhelpful actions of intolerance, inequality and hatred? Through such study we might then learn to let go of the latter and allow the former to flourish, even if they are not grounded in science.
We need not all accept the "same reality" for the world, but lets work toward finding ones that generate worlds of peace, equality, love and compassion.
This approach to understanding your relationship to beliefs is summed up in the idiom, "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," or, as Benjamin Franklin (1741) said it, "Beauty, like supreme dominion, is but supported by opinion," or, as David Hume said it, "Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them" (1742). What is your relationship to your beliefs? Beauty or Not?
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If we only focus on the outcome then really any belief regardless of it's basis in reality can be rationalized to be a positive one.
I would agree that the mathematic solution best describes the observed phenomena, but does that mean that her friend's hypothesis is less correct? I think in some situations the answer is "no", both answers could be correct. However, in many cases, one answer takes the space of the other: both cannot be true at the same time, in the same physical space.
Interesting.
"A ripple effect of that understanding would yield greater tolerance, equality and compassion among us. It became clearer to me that how we relate to our "beliefs" may be more important than the belief or knowledge itself."
I believe in peace and kindness. That one day love will help the whole.
quote " but lets work toward finding ones that generate worlds of peace, equality, love and compassion."
As you said if we could all accept each other. Kindly. The world would be so much better off.
My belief is one day we will all reach that. Most ppl laugh at me on that one.
I choose beauty of soul and mind.
We are social animals--herding animals actually. We were nomads who sought survival in the safety and security of the tribe and the clan. Most of our laws come from a need to make sacred what is the social order.
Banishment from the group could mean a very different outcome for cave man then it does for one needing to find a new tennis club. But nonetheless, banishment has severe consequences. Our deliberate guiding principle is our capacity for thought and thought about mysteries is as charming today as it was in the garden of eden.
Your true experience of reality involved accepting both your belief and your friend's belief as valid, even though they don't match. They are each true to you, and that doesn't have to make anyone wrong. In that true experience, there's union, peace, and effortless harmony.
Thank you for this beautiful post. Your inner peace helps me to feel that one day there might be world peace.
For example, when I see the word "beliefs," I often think of religious\spiritual beliefs.
And yet, one can easily discuss beliefs about just about anything, such as a belief that "the sun is too bright, damaging to the skin, and dangerous to the eyes," versus "the sun is warm, life giving, and has lovely light." Both of these interpretations can be true, and yet spoken by themselves, they suggest a more positive belief by the speaker about the sun versus a more negative interpretation.
Some might say that someone who always expresses these negative beliefs are venturing over into negative person territory, where someone who always expresses positive beliefs are more positive.
I remember working with a guy who seemed like the former. I stopped talking with him, as much as I could, after the first month working with him. Just being around him made me feel more negative. When I put in my notice I was leaving, all of a sudden it was almost like he became a different person. He was understanding, compassionate, and grateful to have worked with me. It made me wonder if his negativity was a wall of sorts?
It's interesting you noted how your friend is artistic, and expresses magical beliefs. I have a degree in science and art. I often don't find artistic expressions of scientific things such a stretch, but magical I do. LOL
The scientific perspective relies too heavily on the belief of an objective reality -which does not exist by the way.- We share what can best be termed as a "consensual reality." That is, we agree together on a great many facets of what we experience, but we literally do not experience the same reality.
That is the part that catches people off guard because they assume this to mean "we do not experience reality in the same way." No. We actually experience different realities and while we share a lot in common, there are differences from person to person.
This is important to understand in areas like psychiatry because there are real and very significant differences between hallucinations and psychic experiences. (i.e. Hallucinations are generally described as third person, psychic experiences as first person events.) Treating a psychic experience as a hallucination is just insulting. (I have a blog where I discuss this with other psychic people.)
We actually experience different realities and while we share a lot in common, there are differenceÂs from person to person.
Reality is reality for every person, it's not subjective. We all live in the same reality. we just experience it differently, but Gravity works the same for everybody, the sun rises for everybody, the earth rotates the same for everybody.
How would one know if a physic experience is not a hallucination?
There are people who have had both psychic experiences and hallucinations. They report that the two experiences are significantly different.