Reply #238: I Believe

[Patsy Stone]

That this is only the beginning of our fight:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050117/ap_on_re_us/mlk_day_kerry

I believe that you have to believe even if you don't know why you believe.

I was doing some surfing and I came across this interesting site: http://www.edge.org/questioncenter.html As you can see, the question for 2005 is: "What do you believe is true, even though you cannot prove it?" There are some fascinating theories, but I liked this one (I've snipped, but you can go read the whole thing yourself, if you so desire.):

RANDOLPH NESSE, M.D.
Psychiatrist, University of Michigan; Coauthor, Why We Get Sick

"I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure that people gain a selective advantage from believing in things they can't prove. I am dead serious about this. People who are sometimes consumed by false beliefs do better than those who insist on evidence before they believe and act. People who are sometimes swept away by emotions do better in life than those who calculate every move. These advantages have, I believe, shaped mental capacities for intense emotion and passionate beliefs because they give a selective advantage in certain situations."

"It is harder to explain the disadvantages suffered by people who lack a capacity for faith, but consider the outcomes for those who wait for proof before acting, compared to the those who act on confident conviction. The great things in life are done by people who go ahead when it seems senseless to others. Usually they fail, but sometimes they succeed."

I Believe. :hi: