On believing

If we take beliefs as contructs determined by the multiple levels of contexts, then the substance of a set of beliefs lies not so much as the content of the ideas but the reasons behind holding on to such ideas. Why do people believe in a powerful deity? Why do others believe in a vulnerable one? Why are some people's more rational than the others? If we are to tell anyone that they believe wrongly, it is somewhat of a hubris to expect others to think as we do. If we tell someone that their ideas are not useful, perhaps we misdiagnose the situation. What is more real is the real life reasons that make the beliefs attractive, or for other reasons appealing to oneself.

So in a way, our myths and ideas provide a very powerful tool to understand self, or to perceive the ways communities are, or possibly to reflect on the human condition.

All these are true if we hold the assumption that each person, or community is free to hold its own idea (there is of course tension between what a person believe in and that which her community subscribe to); but we know this is not the case because there are powers that be that want to make one set of beliefs more viable, or more true than others. Then there is the genetic disposition that determines the ideas to which one is inclined towards.