The Danger of False Certainty
on Apr 26 in Politics, Religion by adminAs soon as you read these words you have already begun to not only interpret their meaning but to evaluate their truthfulness. What I am saying, and whether or not it is accurate, is being determined by millions of sub-conscious and conscious mental activities. The words you interpret according to the internal dictionary of the English language you have compiled throughout the course of your life, but how do you measure their truth? Even more importantly, how can you be certain your measurements are correct?
Each and every one of us has an internal system, called a schema, which we use to guide our actions, interpret the things we sense, and to measure the degree of error or accuracy of all ideas (Nairne). Most of us don’t even know what a schema is, and even fewer pause to think about how it was instilled and whether or not it is correct. This is a fact that must change however, because it is our schema – our system of values and beliefs – which we use to determine right from wrong.
If our schemas are incorrect – if we are certain of truths that are lies – then we will misunderstand the world, ourselves, and others. Such misunderstandings at first appear trivial. However, in our modern world where political and religious tensions run high, misunderstandings can have drastic and bloody repercussions. Thus, we need to question our innermost truths, learn how they affect our actions, and keep them open to correction so we do not harm in the name of healing or spread errors in the guise of truth.
Almost everyone will agree intellectually with what I have said above, however in practice we seem to not only do the opposite but encourage that the opposite be done. Generally speaking humanity values comfort more than truth. The majority does not want to know the ultimate facts about reality. Instead, they want the facts they already believe to be the ultimate truths.
We want the power and the assurance that certainty brings, but we do not want to endure the trials and tribulations necessary to make sure our certainty is genuine. This is ignorance in the highest degree, and all systems encouraging the creation and retention of false certainty are blights – beasts that leave pain and death in their wake.
At first the above statement sounds like an exaggeration, but as one reviews history – both ancient and modern – the blood stains of those who have fallen victim to tyrannical stands of false certainty cover its pages.
Take for example the Spanish conquest of the America’s. Small bands of Spaniards in search of gold and other precious materials followed Christopher Columbus into the New World. They brought with them steel weaponry, muskets, germs, and horses with which they easily decimated the indigenous people.
One of the bloodiest of these massacres occurred at a place called Cajamaraca. There a Spanish governor, named Pizzarro, and 168 Spanish soldiers conducted a surprise attack against the Inca emperor Atahuallpa. When the dust settled Atahuallpa and seven-thousand of his men lay dead at the feet of Pizzarro’s small force, who had not suffered a single loss (Diamond).
How does a man find the resolve to hack down thousands of fellow humans? I am sure that fear of losing one’s own life and the promise of reward played a huge role, but I would venture to say that beneath these lies an even deeper reason; the indoctrination of the individual by their culture.
The Spaniards who slew the Inca were born in Spain, taught in Spain, fed by Spain, and instilled with all of the Spanish values present in their day. They were certain of their superiority as a nation, certain of their religion’s preeminence, and everything around them attested to the truth of these illusions. When they crossed the sea these Spaniards did not only bring food, clothes, and weapons, they also carried with them these illusions of grandeur. As they stepped off of the boat onto the soil of the New World, they did not see the land as the native’s home nor did they see the natives as equals. Blinded by their beliefs, they saw a New Canaan rich for the taking populated by unfit satanic savages.
This may seem like a harsh indictment, but it says nothing more than they themselves have said. Writings jotted down by Spaniards then present read as follows, “The prudence, fortitude, military discipline, labors, perilous navigations, and battles of the Spaniards – vassals of the most invincible Emperor of the Roman Catholic Empire, our natural King and Lord – will cause joy to the faithful and terror to the infidels. For this reason, and for the glory of God our Lord and for the service of the Catholic Imperial Majesty, it has seemed good to me to write this narrative, and to send it to Your Majesty, that all may have knowledge of what is here related. It will be to the glory of God, because they have conquered and brought to our holy Catholic Faith so vast a number of heathens, aided by His holy guidance. It will be to the honor of our Emperor because, by reason of his great power and good fortune, such events happened in his time. It will give joy to the faithful that such battles have been won, such provinces discovered and conquered, such riches brought home for the King and for themselves; and that such terror has been spread among the infidels, such admiration excited in all mankind (Diamond).”
Even though this is enough to convict them of being ethnocentric pawns of their culture, I want to present one final piece of evidence; the exchange between a Friar and Emperor Atahuallpa. Pizzaro had sent a Friar, named Vicente de Valverde, to require the emperor in the name of God to submit to Christian doctrine and Spanish rule. The Friar advanced and gave his homily to the emperor, after which Athauallpa threw the book five or six paces from him. This enraged the Friar who rushed back to Pizzaro shouting, “Come out! Come out, Christians! Come at these enemy dogs who reject the things of God. That tyrant has thrown my book of holy law to the ground! Did you not see what happened? Why remain polite and servile toward this over-proud dog when the plains are full of Indians? March out against him, for I absolve you! (Diamond).”
What non-sense! What a product of personal illusion and misguided zeal! It makes my spirit wretch to read such things as this, such products of false certainty. Do you think the soldiers believed the Friar could indeed absolve them of the murder of thousands? Do you think the Friar really believed that he was displaying divine power and glory to the Inca? Do you think the Spanish truly equated the massacre and subjugation of an entire nation with their admittance into the Catholic faith? I would say the Spanish indeed thought these things to be true; however in retrospect it is obvious to any serious scholar that these things were merely hollow religious justifications. Those involved were deceived by their culture, deceived by their greed, or simply didn’t care about the sufferings of ‘lesser’ forms of life.
If this event stood alone in the pages of history, it would of itself bear witness to the terrible effect of false certainties when they are combined with politics, religion, and personal gain. However, events such as the one described are the rule rather than the exception. Countless wars – reaping human lives like harvesters reap a field – have been fought over ideologies, each side ‘certain’ they were the best, the brightest, the most favored by God.
Interactions between nations are not the only area of human life where false certainty creates oceans of human sorrow, it can also be found in the interactions between individuals and communities on a smaller – but no less destructive – scale. To establish this point all that is needed is for us to turn our attention to the exploitation, bewilderment, and desolation of the human spirit by cults.
The human condition is riddled with perplexity and sorrow. At some point in their lives everyone begins to ask the big questions regarding their existence: Where did I come from? Why do we die? Is there life beyond death? Usually, these questions are posed when an individual is in a hard place – there is something about the nature of pain that prompts us to become reflective. More often than not individuals will turn to systems of meaning present in their culture to solve these mind numbing quandaries, or if their experience with philosophies native to their culture has been sour they will venture out into the sacred traditions of other societies. Sometimes however, the individual finds themselves in the wrong place at the right time, and are taken into the subversive and harmful communities we call cults.
There is an ocean of information on cults, but a production revealing their destructive potentials in a comprehensive and concise way was made by the History channel called, “Cults: Dangerous Devotion.” By reviewing the lives and activities of infamous cult leaders like Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and David Koresh the power of cults to control and harm is revealed.
In 1969 a charismatic and self-proclaimed messiah called Charles Manson induced his followers to kill well-to-do families, honestly believing it would usher in a race war that would lead to the Apocalypse. In 1978, at a place called Jonestown, thousands of people died when Jim Jones led them to ingest large doses of cyanide through physical force and mental manipulation. Then, in 1993 David Koresh – who by this time was claiming to be the Lamb of God – led his followers into a dispute with federal agents resulting in the fiery destruction of their compound and lives (Cults).
Here again we must ask the question if those involved in these closed communities really believed the words of their leaders? The answer is a resounding yes. The followers of these men had left everything they had to follow these corrupt shepherds. Those precious people, whose bones now occupy a six-foot deep rectangle, were certain they had discovered the truth, and their misguided sincerity caused them to pay the ultimate price.
These are just two examples, but they give us a window into the long life of crimes people have committed against people in the name of truth – in the name of certainty. Nazi Germany, the witch trials of Salem, the horrors of Dark Age Papal Rome, the exploits of Stalin and Moa, and the phenomena of kamikaze pilots and suicide bombers provide example after example of the need each of us have to analyze the actions we take toward others and the nature of our own certainties.
Merely because we invoke the name of God in our service does not mean our certainty is inspired by Heaven; was not Jonestown established by a preacher and did not Spanish Friar’s promise freedom from guilt for the most heinous crimes against humanity? Merely because everyone we love and see hold the same truths to be certain does not mean our nation is on the path of truth; was not Hitler wildly successful and did not many in Spain rejoice at the conquests of their chosen?
True certainty is as rare a moon-bow and more valuable than all the riches in the world. At the same time however, in order to attain to it one must study relentlessly, amend themselves daily, and constantly monitor the manner in which their certainty affects them and those they contact. If you have met one guru, read one book, and have had your ideas validated by your inner feelings and external peers, you are just as likely to have been taken by a mass delusion as you are to have discovered some noble truth.
Certainty is by nature a very difficult thing to obtain, so much so in fact that few things can truly rise to its towering criteria. Nevertheless, there is a two-sided principle which can prevent even our false-certainty from doing harm if we are willing to let it constrain our lives. On one side it reads: “Act toward your fellow humans as you would have them act toward you.” While on the other it says, “Take no action toward your fellow humans which you would not want them to take toward you.” Through the application of this duel-percept we can be sure that we are not generating any undo harm while we make the endless trek toward Total Truth and genuine certainty.
Works Cited
Diamond, Jared M. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1998. Print.
In its opening chapters this book gives an account of the brutal actions taken by the Spanish against the indigenous tribes of the Americas. Though a series of excerpts taken from the writings of Spaniards present at the massacres, it reveals the power of human desire and how destructive it can be when underpinned by the belief that God has chosen you to bring light to the infidels.
Nairne, James. Psychology. 5th ed. California: Wadsworth, 2011. Print.
A text book used to instruct people in the science of Psychology, this work reveals how personal identity is created, how the human senses work, the limits of those senses, and the role of genetic and environmental factors on how we think about, and relate to, the world and all that’s in it.
Cults: Dangerous Devotion. Dir. History Channel. A&E Home Video, 2009. Dvd.
An in-depth look at some of the century’s most devastating cults, their leaders, and the horrors they left behind in their wake. Interviews with specialists and survivors, combined with archival footage, immerse the viewer into the world of the cult initiate. This documentary demonstrates in a profound and irrefutable way the need for all of us to analyze and amend our deepest truths daily.
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