There is a well known wisdom about belief and proof.
It says that ‘For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible’.
That is quite true. Belief and its resulting proof is a personal thing. What one person sees as clear and obvious proof, another can’t recognise or accept at all. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but proof is in the mind of the believer.
A little example to reflect this.
In my years of writing I have read countless books, blogs, social media posts etc and have come across the concept of CANI a number of times. CANI is short for Constant And Neverending Improvement. The ideology behind it is that we can and should always be looking to improve, get better, evolve key areas of our life and self through slight but ongoing measurable steps in advancement. In short, never stop working, trying, pushing to upgrade.
But also on my radar over the years was another concept – IKIGAI. This is a Japanese term which means ‘reason for living’. Its basis is to find a personal passion, often simple in nature, that delivers purpose and joy. It teaches about going within to find the core fundamentals of yourself.
CANI – keep developing and seeking improvement.
IKIGAI – discover what makes you feel alive and just enjoy it.
Two belief systems advocating different directives for living.
Who is right, who is wrong?
Both of the above have fans and devotees. Both could cite, quite rightly, proof that their system by which to live is the way for us all to live. This would be held up by the sheer number of others who agree with the principles and show that they happily/successfully live by them (likes/shares/follows/comments).
Now this is not hard in our modern world. With a 24 hours, 365 days per year, permanent internet available around the globe with social media pages and groups on almost any subject, it’s never difficult to connect with enough others interested in the same subject as you.
I undertook a very brief experiment while writing this blog post – in the space of 10 minutes I came across groups and communities who believed that Elvis Presley is still alive. there is a Loch Ness Monster, the best dogs are Dachshunds, starvation diets are good for health, that NASA are working with aliens, and all manner of religious denominations and conspiracy theories, all with thousands of fans and more. All who could equally argue that this ‘proves’ their belief is correct.
So, who is right and who is wrong?
Well if there is one truth it’s the paradox that there isn’t one truth. There are many. And the ones we each individually believe and live by are personal to us even if a few other humans on the planet get that too. They aren’t right anymore than you are wrong if you believe otherwise.
The real right and wrong would be to believe that finding examples of what you believe anywhere means the proof is out there. It’s right as a human to feel you are not alone in believing what you do. It’s wrong (in my view) to search for so called proof to make yourself feel better about it, or to prove others wrong.
What you believe, you believe, and that’s it. And I believe it’s everyone right to be able to think that way too.
But, you don’t have to believe me, do you???