Choose your belief

Belief is the core of us, it helps us navigate and understand the world around us. A belief in X helps you rationalize why C happened to you, and why D is the correct response to it. A belief in stoicism makes you look at a recent setback not as something to be sad about but to use it as an opportunity to grow. Beliefs could be religious, scientific, philosophical, and atheistic, among others. Essentially beliefs are the framework within which we think about life. So naturally, by changing the framework you can change the way you think about systems and occurrences.
Belief & Background Values

Beliefs usually suffer from dependence on background values. You will most likely either grow up as an aggregate of the beliefs around you, or be heavily influenced by the beliefs of those around you. One of the challenges of growing up is to first unlearn such dogmatic belief systems, while at the same time hold on to a self-discovered one. I would argue that even if you’re surrounded by people with ‘good beliefs’ (and I will characterize them later), it is important to unlearn even those values because in the process of unlearning you will question and probe them. Unlearning must take place irrespective of the value of such beliefs. So if A grows up around a bunch of stoics, it is important for A to unlearn stoicism so that in the process he asks why stoics believe in certain things, extrapolate those principles for himself, probe a bit more into it and then decide whether to retain or to discard. However this scenario is the easy one, since A doesn’t have to go on a quest to find a new belief system to replace the old one with. Even though the latter is more turbulent in the short term, it is also more rewarding in the long term. The perspective you will gain by adopting various belief systems and then testing each one on the touchstone of life is incredibly valuable.

Adopting and discarding these systems is turbulent in the short run. Firstly because beliefs are a proxy for meaning in Life. I think there is meaning in writing this piece because I believe that sharing this with others serves to both my and the reader’s intellectual appetite. Unless I believe in the later, I cannot expound meaning in this exercise. Secondly because humans desire a robust meaning (read: belief system) that can withstand the test of time. So picking up new ways to look at the world around you and trying to rationalize it, while also discarding it quickly to only pick a new one is mentally and intellectually exhausting. A very common cause of why people cannot change their systems even if they realize that it may not be ideal. Crisis in life is a crisis of meaning, not feelings. We often think we are feeling low because we feel a certain way, while in reality we feel a certain way because we believe a certain way. Feelings are mere conduits to you base beliefs, if you can change belief systems, you can change the way you feel.

This background is necessary to infer two things which will make the bedrock of my argument. First is that beliefs are changeable, and flexible. Second, is that beliefs are mental models for extrapolating not the correct meaning, but the operative meaning. The first inference is easy to comprehend, it is the second statement that requires qualification(s).
Belief & Meaning

What is meaning, and why do we need it in our lives? Understood simply, meaning means the inherent logic inbuilt in something – it could be action, thought, statement, behavior etc. When we ask for the meaning of something, we are asking to go from more complex truths to more fundamental truths, we are asking to be explained in something simpler, more fundamental. To find meaning is an exercise in first principles (I realize that that I need to write a piece on first principles soon). But why first principles? Why something simpler? Because as Feynman said, “Nature only uses the longest threads to weave her tapestry”, which is to say there are very few, basic ideas that can scale up and down in life. The idea is that you only need a few basic frames to look at the world, rationalize and navigate through it, and because these are the simplest tools, they can be used in almost all situations. For example if I’m religious – I can impart meaning to various kinds of things, from the death of a loved one, to the lottery I won. The first principle of religion is complete faith in god. The reason why a lot of people turn to religion even after being atheists for some time (and also why we invented religion in the first place) is because nothing scales like dogma. Which is to say that the religious reasoning assumes complete faith in a non-falsifiable reasoning which is a hack for you to stop thinking analytically. The meaning is brilliantly simple, X happened because God wanted it for you. The end.

Regardless, the larger point I am trying to make is that we need a fundamental and simple belief system to help us go through life and its various challenges. That belief cannot be brittle and case specific, because then we’ll need to have a million of them and then it’s a compromise, not a belief. We need a simple belief system that we can use to operationalize out life. The idea of operative meaning is that when applied, such meaning offers some clarity and gives impetus for you to work ahead on that specific obstacle in life. The simple idea is that an operative belief will facilitate an individual to try again, try better, approach other alternatives, work ahead and not give in to the tyranny of destiny. Beliefs can be the most oppressive tools if you let them be. My argument is that we must not choose that belief which appears to be most correct, but that belief which is the most operational even if it is not entirely true. The core of the idea is that as humans we would rather espouse belief A which is a lesser truth than belief B simply because belief A helps us gather our energy and gives us hope to tackle the challenges of life. Whereas belief B may be of a higher degree of truth than belief A but believing in B would cripple you in the complexities of life and offer no solution, or even a path. Therefore long story short, choose those beliefs that propel you forward, that try to offer a solution, that try to function in simple ways.
The Belief Binary

The main belief binary that lead me to write this issue is the dilemma between either taking full and absolute responsibility for whatever happens to you, or attributing your circumstances to the myriad external factors and processes. In the latter what happens is that if D doesn’t get something he worked for, he will blame X Y Z in his life for why he couldn’t get it, and these could be related to his social, economic, intellectual status among others. But more often than not the way such external attribution method works is that it plagues you from even trying, because the argument that people like D use is “Even if I try I will not be able to do this because of X Y Z”, and even before trying they’ve lost the game. The other fatal aspect of this belief is that it blinds you to the mistakes that you make, for if you’ve convinced yourself that the locus of the problem lies outside of you, then you will not look inside at all. Usually the problems are distributed equally between inner self and external circumstances and as Stoics have been saying since centuries, an integral part of wisdom is to know the difference between what you can control and what you cannot. We can only work on what we have control over for worrying about which we cannot control is a futile exercise. This is where the former belief in the binary comes in i.e. everything that happens to me is my own responsibility and I have the capability to overcome those issues. This is the operative belief among the two because once you believe that you indeed have the capability to do better and work on your shortcoming will you even begin self-introspection and draw the line between what is in your control and what is not. This will give you the impetus to move forward and tackle the issue. If for the same issue you were to believe that the reason you weren’t able to do it was because of X Y Z external factors, you will not only never look inward but will also grow more resentful in life, externalizing blame onto others.

Now here is the catch – we know that most social paradigms are heavily affected and shaped by million other external factors, and not a linear outcome of your preparation. What happens to you in rarely just because of you, or your actions and largely because of myriad other factors – so in that sense attributing what happens to you to external factors is more correct than believing that all that happens to you in your responsibility. But believing that leads to inaction, growing resentful and giving up even before one starts. That is indeed the price for truth. And as you read more and more philosophy, you’ll realize that the actual price for knowledge is your mental peace. Existentialism, nihilism, absurdism might appear as the Truth to you with capital T but would you live a life in which your beliefs hold you cripple or a life where irrespective of whatever happens, you believe in the ideal that you can shape your circumstances and influence change? This is where the title of this piece comes in i.e. choose your belief. Even though believing exclusively in the fact that only you’re responsible may not be the whole truth but it will facilitate a richer life. A life in which you constantly work on yourself, and never give up to the tyranny of destiny.

Choose not that belief which appears to be most correct, but that belief which is the most operational.


Jack of All Knowledge -
The Book(s) I’m currently reading:

Right now I’m reading Dissent on Aadhar, the book that possibly ignited my interested in the intersection of law and technology. I first chanced upon this brilliant book in my college library last year and couldn’t finish it entirely. Ever since then this book has been on my reading list. Also, I’ve been trying to chase Reetika Khera, the author of this book to come on my podcast as a guest, but in vain!
The Music I’m currently listening:

Since I live under a rock, I just got to know that one of my favorite artists Bryson Tiller had released a new album after five years in 2020 titled Anniversary. I think that is because even after all these years I’m still not over his debut studio album Trapsoul. Trapsoul is easily the top 5 albums for me. Bryson for the win.
The podcast I’m currently listening:

I’ve been listening Naval’s podcast appearances on loop for some weeks now. His best appearances are here, here, here and here.



Please reach out to me with your reaction, thoughts, suggestions, criticism - anything! I’ll be really happy to receive your feedback. I’m on twitter.

That’s it for this edition folks! Hope you liked it.

See you again, soon.