☆ 令人「恐懼」(或/和)「舒服」的「信念」,
並非這個「信念」存在的證據。
能夠「解決」人類對某些事物「恐懼」的「信念」,
並不能夠證明該「信念」的存在。
同理,一個「信念」令人感覺上舒服,令人覺得安慰,
亦並不能夠證明這個「信念」所相信的事物或概念存在。
當我們相信或者不相信某些東西的時候,
我們一定要問自己「為甚麼?」
究竟是因為個人的喜好、意願和偏見,
還是因為有充分的理由或證據去支持。
The trouble with most people is that
they think with their hopes or fears or wishes
rather than with their minds.
( Will Durant )
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs
not on the basis of proof
but on the basis of what they find attractive.
( Blaise Pascal )
「信仰」必須要有良好的理由支持,
所以一定不怕懷疑,歡迎批判,不會怕任何挑戰。
科學之所以能夠成為一種「信仰」,是因為科學:
1. 相信自然界有真理存在。
2. 願意艱苦思考的人有能力慢慢迫近真理。
3. 只接納有理性、擁抱懷疑和批判精神的參與者。
4. 要求參與者服膺實驗作為終極的裁判。
There is something feeble and a little contemptible
about a man who cannot face the perils of life
without the help of comfortable myths.
Almost inevitably some part of him is aware
that they are myths and that he believes them
only because they are comforting.
But he dare not face this thought!
Moreover, since he is aware, however dimly,
that his opinions are not rational,
he becomes furious when they are disputed.
( Bertrand Russell, Human Society in Ethics and Politics )
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic
is no more to the point than the fact that
a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
The happiness of credulity
is a cheap and dangerous quality of happiness,
and by no means a necessity of life.
( George Bernard Shaw, 1912 )
令人覺得「恐懼」的概念,莫如佛教、道教的「十八層地獄」。
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0%E7%8D%84
《十八層地獄詳細圖解 》
https://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2010-11/15/c_12776587.htm
而令人覺得「舒服」的概念,莫如基督教的「天堂」。
It is perhaps not surprising that men come to
regard the happiness which a religious belief affords
as a proof of its truth. If a creed makes a man
feel happy, he almost inevitably adopts it.
Such a belief ought to be true; therefore it is true.
( William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902 )
「地獄」和「天堂」這兩個概念,最好也只不過是「信念」,
因為人類還未找到證實的方法,
所以任何強調無法證實的「信念」的宗教,
任何抗拒懷疑和批判精神的宗教,
永遠不可能成為可靠的「信仰」。
反而宗教精神中的「愛/慈悲心」及「智慧/菩提心」,
由於可以實踐,才有資格成為修行者的「信仰」,
因為一旦明白「愛和智慧必須手牽手」,
就可以從實踐之中不斷印證。
然而一旦我們不再好奇,不再懷疑,放棄批判,
接受不知如何產生的傳統概念,人類何來「信仰」?
We purchase freedom at the cost of security…and
critical awareness at the cost of our peace of mind.
( Bryan Magee )
☆ 未曾接受過嚴謹思考訓練的人,無論在某方面如何成功,
都會傾向於用直覺、預設、觀感和情緒來判斷事情,
掛出理性和邏輯的羊頭,賣觀感和情緒的狗肉,
即使事實擺在眼前,依然堅持自己的想法,拒絕改變。
You have a flaw──
you think the truth will make men free.
But it only makes them angry.
They believe what suits them,
they do what they want to do.
( Charles McCarry, The Tears of Autumn )
A man with a conviction is a hard man to change,
Tell him you disagree and he turns away.
Show him facts or figures and he questions
your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails
to see your point…Suppose that he is presented
with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence,
that his belief is wrong: what will happen?
The individual will frequently emerge,
not only unshaken, but even more convinced of
the truth of his beliefs than ever before.
(Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schacter,
When Prophecy Fails, 1957)
如果說自由和尊重是普遍接受的價值,
讓自己能夠安心地活下去是最高的道德,
如果說去蕪存菁是令人討厭的歧視行為,
而在多元價值並存的社會,當然是人各有志,
即使為虎作倀亦只不過是顯示出人各有各的價值,
所以人與人之間應該互相包容,互相尊重。
那麼擁抱愚昧和無知,的確是個人的自由;
選擇自己喜歡相信的資訊,是個人的自由;
罔顧事實、罔顧真理、訴諸感性和情緒,
扭曲對事件的解讀或者以偏概全,是個人的自由;
堅持將個人的意識形態置諸理性之上,是個人的自由;
自我合理化 self-justification,也是個人的自由;
所以任何人拒絕批判,拒絕邏輯推理,討厭懷疑的精神,
隱藏預設,尊重蕭規曹隨,跟隨群眾的想法和腳步,
保護自己的面子、立場和利益,純粹是個人的自由。
It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone
to believe anything on insufficient evidence.
( William Kingdon Clifford, The Ethics of Belief )
虛偽固然可怕,因為虛偽是雅俗共賞的普世價值,
但自以為善良的愚蠢人更加可怕,
因為他們認為愛不需要智慧,愛你變成害你只是你的不幸,
他們不應該承擔自己行為的後果。
任何善良的人或者團體,一旦堅持他們的「信念」,
抗拒懷疑和批判的精神,這個人或者團體內的每一位成員,
就成為了可怕的善良愚蠢人,
成為了 Eric Hoffer 口中的 the true believer!
I’ve learned a lot about good and evil.
They are not always what they appear to be.
( Charles Van Doren )
任何拒絕懷疑和批判的精神的「信念」,和洗腦沒有分別,
輕者浪費了很多人的大半生,甚至一生,
重者甚至令人犧牲了生命,卻誤以為是正義的行為!
雖然很少人思考過甚麼是「大愛」,
但對這些善良的愚蠢人,我們應該用「大愛」包容嗎?
是否至少應該保持「必要的沉默」?
Our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about things that matter.
( Martin Luther King, Jr. )