Most people are open minded to mystery and miracles in the abstract, but in reality, it’s a trait often perceived as a sign of weakness, foolishness or naiveté.
Bell’s book explores the bible literately, not literally. Which is the best way to approach any ancient scripture. In one particular chapter, he explores the dangerous emotional responses some people have to mystery.
When you reject all miraculous elements of all stories because you have made up your mind ahead of time that such things simply aren’t possible, you run the risk of shrinking the world down to what you can comprehend.
And so, we have to ask ourselves the question, do we believe or not believe something happened based on whether we believe things like that happen or not?
Psychologists would call this premature cognitive commitment. Leaping to a conclusion before having enough data to make a truly informed choice, and then closing our minds to any future change in perspective.
This not only applies to mythology, by also to modern life. Because each of us makes this mistake daily. We create these little filters for our reality. Before we even meet people, we already decide what we think they need. We make up our minds what the right answer is, and then do whatever it takes to prove it.
Simple. All we have to do is block out what the actual, known universe is telling us is happening.
Why do we do this? Because it gives our ego a false sense of security. It insulates us against having to abandon some of our outdated beliefs. It protects us from losing the entire world as we understood it to be.
Which might be cozy and warm, but it also makes it hard for ourselves to look at the world in any other way.
Jung was right when he said that any attempts to unravel the labyrinthian dynamics of art’s propulsion according to the categories of the reasoning mind will never replace the mystery with an explanation.
Perhaps it’s time to liberate ourselves from the need to explain everything.
LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Do you believe what you believe because you were taught it or because you believe it?
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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.
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