Friday, March 9, 2007
Emotional Truth
I saw "The Passion of the Christ" with two friends, the pastor and a deacon from a fundamentalist Evangelical Church. Leaving the theater, the pastor asked me what I thought. I responded that I was surprised at the extent to which the movie was not just ahistorical, but ignored the Biblical account. They looked at me incredulously and insisted that the movie was Biblically accurate. A few weeks later, after he had seen the movie again, the pastor approached me and told me that I was right, the movie deviated to a large extent from the Biblical account. I asked him if, on first viewing, the personal emotional truth of the movie overwhelmed the actual particulars, so that the movie "felt" Biblically accurate even though it was far from it. He agreed with that explanation.
When examining a subject that has little emotional content, decisions can be made based on the weight of evidence. Buying a digital camera for the first time, I examined the features and prices, the pros and cons rather objectively and made a selection. Advertising seeks to add an emotional component to the buying decision so that the buying process becomes less objective. When I bought a second digital camera, the emotional aspect was further enhanced by my desire to justify my first buying decision, causing me to favor buying the same brand.
If one of my children was accused of committing a serious crime, you can bet that I would not be weighing the evidence to arrive at a probability of guilt. Any reasonable doubt would serve as justification for denying that my child could be guilty.
When speaking with people who are emotionally invested in a particular belief, the weight of evidence about that belief is skewed to the extent that most people cannot accept overwhelming evidence that their belief is wrong, at least not in the short term. This has been demonstrated time and again in Apocolyptic cults. Despite the fact that these cults were centered on the world ending on a particular date, those who were emotionally invested, who gave away their possessions in anticipation of the end, did not lose their belief even when the central tenent of that belief was negated. Some work-around or adjustment of the belief may occur as a small fig leaf. The Seventh Day Adventists for instance represent one adjustment to the "Great Disappointment" of 1844. The belief that the world would end in 1844 was adjusted to the idea that the end of the world necessitated a process which indeed began in 1844 when Jesus began tallying up sins for the final accounting.
Because I have spent a career wherein my ability to do objective analysis was the key to my success, I fancy that I am more able than most to step back from my personal prejudices and weigh the evidence. Readers should feel free to question my assumptions and conclusions.
Of course since we all live in glass houses we should be careful about casting stones at others. Each of us has beliefs that we resent others challenging. When personal beliefs enter the public arena however, it is entirely appropriate to examine them. I address one group that has entered into public debate on personal beliefs, Evangelical Christians, on another blog, "Answering Evangelicals".
When examining a subject that has little emotional content, decisions can be made based on the weight of evidence. Buying a digital camera for the first time, I examined the features and prices, the pros and cons rather objectively and made a selection. Advertising seeks to add an emotional component to the buying decision so that the buying process becomes less objective. When I bought a second digital camera, the emotional aspect was further enhanced by my desire to justify my first buying decision, causing me to favor buying the same brand.
If one of my children was accused of committing a serious crime, you can bet that I would not be weighing the evidence to arrive at a probability of guilt. Any reasonable doubt would serve as justification for denying that my child could be guilty.
When speaking with people who are emotionally invested in a particular belief, the weight of evidence about that belief is skewed to the extent that most people cannot accept overwhelming evidence that their belief is wrong, at least not in the short term. This has been demonstrated time and again in Apocolyptic cults. Despite the fact that these cults were centered on the world ending on a particular date, those who were emotionally invested, who gave away their possessions in anticipation of the end, did not lose their belief even when the central tenent of that belief was negated. Some work-around or adjustment of the belief may occur as a small fig leaf. The Seventh Day Adventists for instance represent one adjustment to the "Great Disappointment" of 1844. The belief that the world would end in 1844 was adjusted to the idea that the end of the world necessitated a process which indeed began in 1844 when Jesus began tallying up sins for the final accounting.
Because I have spent a career wherein my ability to do objective analysis was the key to my success, I fancy that I am more able than most to step back from my personal prejudices and weigh the evidence. Readers should feel free to question my assumptions and conclusions.
Of course since we all live in glass houses we should be careful about casting stones at others. Each of us has beliefs that we resent others challenging. When personal beliefs enter the public arena however, it is entirely appropriate to examine them. I address one group that has entered into public debate on personal beliefs, Evangelical Christians, on another blog, "Answering Evangelicals".
Introduction
Hello, just set up log - will start posting in the next few days.
Winding up all the goings on throughout the world and throughout human history into basic concepts is the goal for this blog.
Winding up all the goings on throughout the world and throughout human history into basic concepts is the goal for this blog.
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