One unique attribute to being human is our ability to believe. To have trust, faith, and confidence in something offers solace, direction, and guideposts in our ever-changing world. Our beliefs create our filters, sorting and siphoning an endless and often overwhelming amount of data to find some sense of cohesion. Without beliefs, we feel rudderless, without a compass in a world of complexity. Our brains are wired for sensemaking. From the moment we make it topside, belief-making begins. And it doesn’t stop. What we see, hear, experience, and feel- all of it adds to the way we sort our world.
From an evolutionary and biological perspective, it makes sense. Brains are efficient machines. Having internal algorithms and templates allows us to quickly categorize and evaluate complex and sometimes conflicting data. Beliefs are shortcuts to interpretation, often using incomplete assumptions to find conclusions. What we build in efficiency, though, we often lose in accuracy. In other words, just because you believe it, even passionately, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily correct. Therein lies the rub. What happens when we dogmatically and intensely believe in something erroneous? History has offered some terrifying and horrific examples of this. Indeed, we could name some present-day examples as well.
You see, our brain doesn’t automatically think critically. That actually takes a certain amount of retraining and skill. Instead, we habitually look for beliefs that keep our world stable (cognitive bias). In other words, we tend to gravitate toward information that agrees with our beliefs, discounting any contrasting data. In fact, our thinking brains do mental gymnastics to try and assimilate any data that contradicts what we think we know. For example, maybe we know that eating a certain food isn’t good for us, but we really like it. What might we tell ourselves so we can have some of the food and alleviate our cognitive guilt? Maybe we tell ourselves it is just a little or avoid thinking about it entirely. Maybe we delegitimize contradictory information and seek information supporting “our side.” This phenomenon is called cognitive dissonance. And we all do it to some extent.
And a lot of the time, these cognitive comforts aren’t that big of a deal.
But sometimes they are.
The stakes rise when we contemplate beliefs that form psychology that defines our worth, esteem, safety, and security. How about beliefs that involve equality, freedom, innovation, and morality? When the stakes are higher, when there is a need to cooperate between belief systems, there is a need for more critical thinking, not less.
Saturn in Pisces squares this Full Moon offering this technical truth assessment, fact-checking our beliefs both internally and externally. As we enter this era of Pluto in Aquarius, I suspect truth will be challenged in significant ways, specifically the foggy and convenient merging of belief and “truth”. Thus, critical thinking, the ability to rethink and unlearn, will be a required muscle to find that vital distinction.
This means information, like life, is complex. It changes as we evolve. Think about those beliefs you carry from childhood. Likely, many of them aren’t accurate to the present moment. The same is true historically. As we evolved as humans, things we were sure of are no longer exact. The ability to think critically is to sit in the wonder and curiosity of this very uncertainty. In the words of Adam Grant, “A hallmark of wisdom is knowing when it’s time to abandon some of your most treasured tools-and some of the most cherished parts of parts of your identity.”
The Sabian Symbol for this Full Moon is “The Pyramids and the Sphinx,” exemplifying the potential of what beliefs can build. Ancient Egyptians had a rich and detailed belief in the afterlife, and these beliefs inspired great monuments.
This Full Moon reminds us our beliefs can create beautiful and amazing things. Yet, it also reminds us with power comes responsibility. That same power can also be equally devastating and destructive. Innovation like electricity becomes dangerous and erratic when not grounded in some practical humility. Let us have confidence not in our knowledge but in our ability to know what we don’t know. Because when our beliefs become closed systems and echo chambers, no light can get in. And nothing can grow there.
“Recognizing our shortcomings opens the door to doubt. As we question our current understanding, we become curious about what information we are missing. That search leads to new discoveries, which in turn maintain our humility by reinforcing how much we still have to learn. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom.”
~Adam Grant
~This Full Moon occurs at 13° Sagittarius.
~If you could use some help figuring out what that all means, Contact Me for a mini chart reading.
~Photo by Andreea Munteanu on Unsplash
If you find this information valuable please feel free to share it with appropriate credit. If you would like to show your personal appreciation, feel free to donate here.