What causes someone to believe

Most people are born into belief.  

You don't have to decide about a lot of things, you're just "given" those things and you assume that is how things are and how the world works.

As you grow and develop, you begin to run into and/or pick up different ideas and experiences. 

At some point, you have to begin defending what you already believe or begin considering the different ideas and experiences as possibly something to take into your world or belief system.

Safety, trust, the possibility of loss or benefit, and a whole host of unspoken but strongly felt thoughts and considerations begin unfolding inside a person IF and when they begin to take other things inside their heart and mind.

_______________

When I was a child, my family moved from the country and into a small town. One of my first memories of meeting other people around my age was after a church gathering on a Wednesday night.

I don't remember why we got on the topic, but me and another boy got into an argument about "Which is better, horses or motorcycles?". 

It was one of the stupidest arguments I remember being in.  It was an argument between two first graders, but still a pretty dumb argument.

I was adamant that horses were better, he was equally adamant that motorcycles were better. He would talk about how fast they were and I would talk about how horses could get around things and were also fast. 

I had never really been around motorcycles in real life.  I'd seen them on TV and occasionally on the highway, but had zero knowledge of them.  I'd been around a few horses and had seen a lot of them on TV on my favorite TV shows.

Looking back, I was likely defending my comfort zone and assuming that new information that made my comfort zone less comfortable was wrong, evil, or maybe threatening to how I saw and enjoyed life.

I didn't know what he was defending or what he knew about horses, just that he must be countered and horses must be defended.

Some time later, I watched a guy named Evel Knievel jump across a bunch of buses while riding a motorcycle and began having second thoughts.  He was cool.  He was exciting.  Maybe motorcycles aren't half bad.

It didn't take someone reasoning with me or arguing with me to convince me that motorcycles aren't half bad.  It took me seeing them for myself in a safe, relaxed, and interesting environment (an exciting TV show) and I decided on my own.

There are simple, smaller changes of belief and there are larger, more complex changes.  The horses vs. motorcycles was a pretty small change.  And it resulted in my thinking that horses and motorcycles could BOTH be a good thing.

_______________

If you've ever been around someone who "converted" to another belief system or changed political parties or just had a change of heart or thinking about something, that's a pretty amazing and cool thing to witness.

It's good to know that behind the scenes that conversion or change is possibly more complicated, nuanced, and fragile than you might imagine.  Sure, some are straightforward and done, but many are complex and tentative.

To make a change like that -- where you're ready to be somewhat open to the possibility of thinking, believing, and maybe acting differently -- a LOT of things are happening behind the scenes.

Some of it is intellectual, meaning that some ideas have been let go or reshuffled and new or different ideas have taken their place or been moved to the front.

Some of it is social.  Well, a lot of it is social actually.  Many people have to think through what a change will mean for who they associate with and how they will associate with them. 

Some of it emotional and personal, meaning that there's some pride shifting around - admitting that they were "wrong" before or didn't know better or just didn't know something they now know and believe.

Some of it is practical in that some changes of belief will mean different activities will be embraced and some activities will go away or diminish significantly.

_______________

When it comes to belief in God or other faith related things, belief can be a lot of different things to different people.  

Sometimes it's making a deal.  Sometimes it's begging for help.  

Sometimes it's a heart felt change of being that goes to a person's core and through their life.  

Sometimes it is a glimpse of something that plants a seed that grows later.  

Sometimes it is adding some new ideas that are in conflict with other ideas you believe and living with it.

Sometimes it is knowing you don't know a lot, but you know enough to keep going.

It's a possible range of things.

A lot of times, people keep what they believe to themselves because of what other people might think. 

Rarely does a change in belief occur from simply from someone learning an idea or truth.

Believing is usually strongly tied to acceptance or rejection from others.

Change in belief is usually a process that happens in a social context that sets you up to "do the math" and see whether or not it's worth the change.

There's a LOT more that can be said about belief.  

Or at least I believe there could be. 

What do you believe?