Sunday, January 18, 2015

Conviction is stranger than fiction

Conviction is defined by Merriam Webster as "a strong persuasion or belief."  We all have convictions, about a plethora of things.  To the bearer, a conviction is absolute and irrefutable fact. All opposing view points are thus inherently flawed.  In fact I would argue that conviction is really just a by-product of closing one's mind.

While our dictionaries are open, a couple of more pertinent terms:
Fact is "something that truly exists or happens : something that has actual existence".
Faith is "firm belief in something for which there is no proof".

The strange thing about conviction is its source. While conviction may sometimes apply to fact, it is rather unnecessary, since fact is fairly irrefutable. For example, if you read this blog at all, you likely already know that I am neither religious, nor am I atheist. I am firmly in the category of "I don't know", and I'm very OK with that.  However, I can willfully acknowledge that true belief in any god, is conviction, and is derived from faith.  However, a similarly strong conviction can equally be acquired from a lack of faith.

However, the true oddity, the reason I say it is stranger than fiction, is the extent to which we take it. We as humans seem largely unable to accept conviction as opinion, and treat it as fact. We are unable to see it as less than absolute. We zero in on trying to prove our convictions, and focus on ensuring that we are right, rather than accepting the possibility that we could be wrong.

When our convictions are challenged, it wounds us, and our natural response is to double down on those beliefs.   This is true in a variety of aspects of life.   For example, how many research studies are slanted by the convictions of the researcher?  How many political battles have been waged based on the convictions of a politician, or a political base?  How many people have died based on the convictions of world leaders or religious zealots?

Some of the greatest works of fiction could never compare to the stories from throughout history where people were driven to extreme actions based on their strongly held beliefs. Atrocities and inhuman accomplishments both share this spotlight.





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