What is Belief?
Belief is an acceptance of a statement, explanation, a word that is true or that something exists. Belief is a frame of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in someone or something. It is the conviction in a person’s mind that a statement is true or that something exists.
The belief system is an organized set of beliefs. It is the framework of ideas and principles according to which someone lives and works.
There are two points on beliefs that I want to tackle briefly: The First Point about Belief is the complex consciousness problem. The second point about belief is the burden of proof.
Point 1: The Hard Problem Of Consciousness
The human mind has two parts: thinking and feeling, or “heart” and “mind.” In other words: meaning and value. This area of our brain is called the affective system. Unlike computers, minds have a hard time identifying what consciousness is doing. Why? Because we can’t see or measure it directly.
The evidence for non-physical states of consciousness (e.g., dreams, hallucinations, spiritual experiences) conflicts with materialism and naturalism at the most fundamental level. These experiences are not physical, so they cannot be explained by biological mechanisms such as DNA or neurons. In other words, these experiences are non-physical.
Point 2: The Burden of Proof
Beliefs are true and false. Believing a false statement is believing something that isn’t true. For example, if you believe in ghosts and are wrong about that belief, you have just accepted something that isn’t true. That’s called holding a false belief. This is vital because if you hold a false belief, it will influence the way you behave, but it will also affect how other people think about your behavior. Very few people will assume they’re wrong about something if they believe it’s true.
Aspects of Belief
A belief is a combination of what a person thinks, understands, feels, and does. It has three aspects: (1) subjective, (2) objective (3) effectual.
1. Subjective belief: A subjective belief is a personal commitment that individuals can only hold. There are specific things in the world that every individual believes in. For example, a majority of people around the globe believe in their personal religious beliefs.
2. Objective belief, which groups of individuals can hold. Objective beliefs are usually taken for granted, like the scientific community’s belief about evolution.
3. Effectual belief, which involves the consequences of holding a personal or an objective belief. Thus, one’s actions on that belief are what makes it effectual or not.
Five Processes of a Belief
1. Cognition is the process of knowing and understanding. Belief is knowing that something is true or real.
2. Acceptance, on the other hand, refers to recognizing and accepting that a belief is true.
3. Commitment means making one’s belief meaningful by acting upon it. So, in this case, commitment refers to what one does or does not believe in instead of simply believing.
4. Identification refers to identifying oneself with a particular belief to determine one’s beliefs with someone else.
5. Action follows the identification of one’s belief and then proceeds to take action, which shows that a belief has been made effectual.
Three modes of belief go hand-in-hand and are the foundations for understanding the five points on a belief.
They are as follows:
1. The mode of thought. (Modes of thought are not knowledge, just as modes of bias and modes of insight are not knowledge.) It alludes to how an individual thinks about a particular issue. For example, if a person believes that he is always in his bed at night, it would be through the thought mode that he comes to think about whether or not he is in his bed.
2. The mode of acceptance. It refers to a person’s attitude towards what they believe in. Acceptance-based belief, on the other hand, goes beyond that; it is concerned with whether a person accepts that something is valid as a matter of fact. For example, if you were to ask if you believe that the earth is flat, you would probably be skeptical if not wondering what I was talking about. You may even think to yourself. I am crazy since that is so far-fetched and impossible. In this scenario, it would be possible for you to accept that belief but wouldn’t believe in it.
3. The mode of commitment-based belief, and as opposed to the first two modes of belief, deals with actions on one’s beliefs. So if you asked the question about the flat earth in the scenario above, you would most likely decide to do something about it. Like research and find out whether or not it is true. If you did believe it was true, then you would act on that belief.
In Summary
Both the five points and the three modes of belief are a crucial part of understanding belief. They have value, and we should utilize them in matters that involve our beliefs. Just understanding these two essential aspects will benefit us.
It is essential to understand beliefs because it impacts every aspect of how we live our life. Every day we make decisions according to our beliefs. When we understand what belief is and what makes up a belief, we can effect change or progress. You can enforce the changes you want to be made and improve your current situation.
