Addicted to Certainty

[deacon blues]

I may have posted on this before, but I don't remember when. It has to to do with why many people believe weird things. This is from a Psychology Today article (Sept. 22, 2021) called "The Epidemic of Certainty:" "Certainty is an emotional state, not an intellectual one. To feel certain, the brain must filter out more information than it processes."

I would add that the brain filters out more information than it processes, period. We get more information than we can process, especially in modern times, and it's often mentally and emotionally painful. For many, the cure for this mental pain is to create, or buy into certainty. That certainty can be anything from Young Earth Creationism to belief that your favorite world view is correct, and everyone else is deceived, or lying intentionally.

Religious people, especially extremists and fundamentalists (Islamic, Christian, or others), and Mormons are susceptible to this. It's a BIG challenge to deal with this.

Other people's addiction to certainty often will push us into craving our own certainty. But I think that it's ultimately counterproductive.

The other option, keeping an open mind, can be very frustrating. I try to keep an open mind, which is why I sometimes include "I may be wrong" in my posts, just to remind everyone, myself included, and to be open to learning from others.

Political certainty, Nazism for example, is as addictive as religious certainty, but I prefer religious certainty, at least until they want to kill me if I disagree.

This Youtube video also speaks to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTARAarSZlQ