I am reading The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck, and in the chapter I’m currently reading, she speaks of questioning our beliefs or “seeking disconfirmation.”
Without realizing it, I have been practicing this for a long time by often asking myself – “What if that weren’t true?” Asking this question has opened up a lot for me. Sometimes it confirms what I am thinking and other times it rips out the cultural and societal conditioning and shows me another version of truth.
Martha Beck’s version of “What if that weren’t true” is a more simple – “Are you sure?”
A gentle question to question everything.
What if this thing that we are so dead set on being a fact isn’t actually true? Are we sure?
Confirmation bias is a real thing. So it behooves us to question all of our beliefs.
I feel seeking disconfirmation creates a lot of disarray as our versions of truth crumble and we are then constantly re-footing ourselves into new truths.
Having our individual beliefs and feeling firm on them is a fantastic scenario to work towards. And I think a doable one as long as we are well-resourced emotionally and psychologically.
But what happens to the collective? If some individuals are re-footing themselves while others are digging into where they have always been, can we have a peaceful world?
Maybe that’s why the world feels so scattered.
The choice of not having individual beliefs almost feels better for the collective, at least temporarily, while being firm in our own beliefs is better for us as individuals.
Will the world ever come together into one set of ideals and beliefs or will we always be divided? Can we achieve peace and collaboration if we are divided?
When such big questions present themselves, I go back to what I do have control over and that is me. Peace cannot come to the world if there is none within myself first and foremost. If the world is to be in disarray for a while, each of us must find our sure footing first.
