# How we are certain of things

Dealing with the [unknown](unknown.md) is vastly difficult, so we tend to find [meaning](meaning.md) in declaring things to be certain.

[We must constantly trust](mind-trust.md) everything around us, but we make [decisions](mind-decisions.md) to prioritize trusting one thing over another.

We "believe" when we consider something to be [reality](reality.md), even without direct evidence.

- We all believe (i.e., implicitly trust) we'll have enough food for our next meal.
- If you have a job, you believe you'll have it tomorrow.
- You believe you will wake up tomorrow morning.

Beliefs are how we establish things when we can't really know but have to make some type of [decision](mind-decisions.md) based on that information, which is almost every time we have no [direct control](results.md) over something.

We start to believe when we [value](mind-decisions.md) one thing as [true](reality.md) over another thing.

APPLICATION: The only way we can prepare our minds for maximum [understanding](mind-understanding.md) is by opening it up to *all* possibilities. While it's uncomfortable, all we have to do is convert every inner statement into a question to create an [inner conflict](people-conflicts-inner.md) about it.

As children, we start with 100% certainty about various things, but our beliefs become a spectrum as we gain [understanding](mind-understanding.md):

1. A [deterrence](safety.md)-based [fear](mind-feelings-fear.md) of worse alternatives.
2. A broad belief that we [understand](mind-understanding.md) something far enough that it's very likely.
3. Believing the thing enough to [rely on](mind-decisions.md).
4. Concluding the thing is [indisputable](people-conflicts-inner.md).
5. [Identifying](people-identity.md) close enough with the thing to act boldly and publicly about it, even to the point of [confrontation](people-conflicts-why.md).

A giant portion of what we believe in comes through the [authority](mind-trust.md) we hold our beliefs on:

- If an authority is physically present, we can only trust it as far as [reality](reality.md) and [consequences](results.md) hold up.
- Holding to the authority of the ideas themselves is a strictly [philosophical](philosophy.md) justification.
- We end up believing ideas based on other ideas, which usually goes back to one of our [impressions](people-image-why.md) or [cultural teaching](people-culture.md).

There are various reasons we may have disbelief in something, which usually arise because we have experienced some form of isolation from the source of our belief. Many times, that isolation will give us the opportunity to see the truth for what it really is.

We can only know a small set of facts without needing *any* belief:

1. By [thinking](mind-understanding.md) at all, you prove that you are a thinking thing.
2. [Pain](mind-feelings-fear.md), in whatever form it takes, is real.
3. [Feelings](mind-feelings.md) exist, in whatever form they express as.

Everything else, from the idea of a [perfect circle](math.md) to what we understand behind others' [language](language.md), has degrees of uncertainty that we gloss over with [habitual](habits.md) [expectations](mind-imagination.md).

Both fools *and* wise people become more certain as they gain [understanding](mind-understanding.md). The major difference is the scope of where they claim that certainty. Wise people claim certainty on specific things and expand outward, while fools start with a broad claim that applies to many more things than it should.

We make [commitments](purpose.md) and [predictions](mind-imagination.md) about what we are certain of. Those commitments and predictions (and how well we [follow through with them](results.md)) demonstrate our true beliefs, [contrary to what we claim we believe](people-image-why.md).

- You expect a noise when you turn the key in your car.
- The screen on your phone responds when you touch it.
- People say something back when you say, "hello".

## Bad information

Belief is a product of a functioning mind, but many things can betray our trust. We're often [deceived](people-image-distortion.md) or under-informed, people betray us, and we [miscalculate](mind-bias.md).

While we misjudge all the time, we tend to fix misunderstandings immediately, and the self-correcting nature of our minds generally tends to fix those misunderstandings without our knowledge.

Occasionally, we'll place our trust in a bad idea. When that happens, we'll often get "stuck" on believing it against all sensible approaches, and will substantiate it with various hard-to-disprove reasons:

- [Conceit or hubris](morality-evil.md) about [reputation](people-image-why.md) or [knowledge](mind-understanding.md).
- Believing a group's [promises](people-contracts.md) that they can solve our [issues](purpose.md).
- [Addictions](addiction.md) that ravage our ability to [think rationally](logic.md) from [over-identifying](people-identity.md) with it.
- Trusting in the unverifiable unknown, such as in many [cults and religions](religion.md).
- Belief in [statistics](math.md) or, on the other end, statistical *unlikelihood* (i.e., luck).
- [Shame](mind-feelings-shame.md) over the consequences of changing a thought or action, or of publicly informing people of a change.

We can lock ourselves into wrong beliefs with any repetitive action that reaffirms a subconscious thought (hypnosis). By repeating something over and over (e.g., a mantra), we start believing things as if we [understood](mind-understanding.md) them, even when we don't. The more specific, the more we can [feel](mind-feelings.md) it, and the more powerful it becomes.

Generally, it takes more work to maintain an [understanding](mind-understanding.md) that something is uncertain.

## Decisions and trust

In [decisions](mind-decisions.md), we can only trust things we see as the same or better than the alternatives. Since we [understand ourselves](mind-awareness.md) more than anyone else, we tend to use our self-perception as the starting point for practically everything else.

Over our lives, we start creating a [purpose](purpose.md)-based hierarchy of what we can trust:

- A person may trust their spouse more than anyone else, but will still trust themselves over their spouse on [trade-specific knowledge](jobs-specialization.md).
- A lawyer is trustworthy to manage a legal situation, but not necessarily on [moral](morality.md) matters.
- Typically, the domain of strangers' knowledge is more vast than friends', though their intentions aren't as clear.

We decide with a conviction proportional to the clarity of our [understanding](mind-understanding.md). To [actually create results](results.md), we must stop thinking about the matter at some point to avoid constantly second-guessing ourselves.

APPLICATION: We *must* believe things when we're not fully certain. The volatile nature of life means [leaders](groups-small.md) and [artists](mind-creativity.md) venture into less certain places than the rest of society. So, [influence](power-influence.md) loosely correlates with the ability to trust.

We don't always remember what we learned and its context, so we trust much of what we do from experience:

- If a chair breaks, it's an unlikely event, so we find another chair.
- A mother sometimes fails a child's expectations, but the child still trusts their mother because of other things that were good.
- If someone loses a job, they'll look for another one because they've perceived other people who had jobs that fulfilled their [purposes](purpose.md).

## Crisis of faith

Occasionally, we make bad decisions we think are good. We'll invest a *ton* of [resources](power.md) toward them, but won't get the [results](results.md) we were expecting. This is *completely* irrespective of how well we've [reasoned](logic.md), and comes mostly from [applying experience](mind-understanding.md).

When this happens, we suffer a type of cognitive dissonance where we trust two incompatible things at once. A crisis of faith is when we become aware of that conflict because an [expectation](mind-imagination.md) failed with the one that we trusted more.

APPLICATION: To find someone's actual opinion, ask for their advice for [resolving a problem](https://adequate.life/fix/), or what they think everyone else believes.

We tend to have an [inner conflict](people-conflicts-inner.md), but many people with [trauma](hardship-ptsd.md) will [mix their trauma into what they believe about others' lives](people-boundaries-why.md). Some [political systems](politics-leftism.md) and [institutions](mgmt-badsystems.md) take advantage of this.

Eventually, a person must decide: accept the new information they perceive, or believe something is "testing" their faith. Either way, they're rebuilding their [story](stories-why.md), either by changing the [logical](logic.md) conclusion (aka "changing their mind") or adding/removing premises.

APPLICATION: Hypnosis is all around us (especially through our [past trauma](hardship-ptsd.md), [public media](creations.md), and [politics](politics-leftism.md)), but we can use it for our [purposes](purpose.md). By repeating something specific, we can channel our subconscious (e.g., "I will find a new job by the end of March."). It's [the secret to most success](success-2_attitude.md).

APPLICATION: Everyone, even [leaders](groups-small.md), are subject to changing their views. This can create large-scale consequences for everyone, especially if it's changing a [core view](philosophy.md).

When our faith is tested, but we still hold on, we call that "hope". There's a fine line between [sensible](logic.md) hope and blind hope.

APPLICATION: Conviction requires focus, so smarter people (who can often [see complexities](mind-understanding.md)) are often lousy at sticking to convictions, which often makes them terrible leaders.

If that person starts denying reality to "prove" something, they're removing premises. Once this becomes [habitual](habits.md), they will resort to magical thinking, which is interpreting the world to be what they [imagine](mind-imagination.md) instead of [what it is](reality.md). Magical thinkers tend to share a few traits:

- They trust their preconceived beliefs and their [affiliated groups](groups-member.md) more than the perceptions.
- They believe reality is dictated more by [saying](language.md) and [doing](mind-decisions.md) specific things than from [cause-and-effect](results.md).
- If something is outside their [understanding](mind-understanding.md), it doesn't exist or must be purged.
- In their [conflicts with others](people-conflicts-why.md), they presume they're 100% correct, and will often shift their thoughts if they've been [logically](logic.md) convinced.

APPLICATION: Magical thinking exists proportionally to how self-trusting someone is, which frequently comes with intelligence. Thus, there are *tons* of magical thinkers in fields with intelligent people like [politics](politics-systems.md), [academia](mind-understanding.md), and [computer programming](computers-programming.md) who won't acknowledge additional elements of [reality](reality.md) that they can't [know](mind-understanding.md):

- Many doctors believe the body's healing processes to be strictly mechanical and often neglect the psychosomatic [power](power.md) we possess through our [happiness](mind-feelings-happiness.md) and beliefs.
- Most scientists are religiously [atheist](religion.md), but claim to be non-religious.
- When large groups have a [procedure or policy](results.md) they deem necessary, they'll become [corrupted](mgmt-badsystems.md) while trying to maintain it.

APPLICATION: [MLM](marketing-mlm.md), gambling, and lotteries [appear](people-image-why.md) to be ubiquitous because people are deceived into expecting tremendous wealth. In reality, they engage in those things because they *hope* for tremendous wealth from those things, and find [meaning](meaning.md) in a journey that's rarely fulfilled.

If we choose to listen to the [feeling](mind-feelings.md) of distrust, we'll disbelieve what we were [trained](mind-understanding.md). We'll enter a type of "agnosis", where we'll live in disbelief about a broad range of related concepts. It can sometimes incorporate a subject, but other times can possess everything we've *ever* known.

APPLICATION: While extremists are typically the most outspoken people of a [group](groups-member.md), they often don't [understand](mind-understanding.md) the thing they're [promoting](marketing.md). They're typically acting off [trauma](hardship-ptsd.md) and magical thinking, but devout believers in a thing don't really *need* to convince others to [feel](mind-feelings.md) the thing is [true](reality.md). Disagree with them and closely observe [what they disagree over](people-boundaries-why.md).

APPLICATION: Hope is based around a [purpose](purpose.md), so if someone feels hopeless, they're failing to see how a thing can accomplish a purpose. Understanding that purpose is key to understanding if something *is* hopeless.

Since we trust our [habits of thought and action](habits.md), the only way to prevent a crisis of faith from even starting is to continually [revisit old habits](https://adequate.life/habits/) and [beliefs](mind-awareness.md).

APPLICATION: It's extremely difficult to change a person's opinions. The only way to do this is to [influence](power-influence.md) them with a compelling [story](stories-why.md) about an alternative opinion, then wait.