Belief: Rules, Conviction, Ideology

By Harvin Kaur | Opinion | 2 Nov 2016 | Asia Samachar |

Neither seeing is believing nor listening is trusting but sheer belief is all about basic customs handed down by a generation to another that gives birth to a set of rules or thoughts which do not necessarily hold any scientific proof or concrete evidence to its believers but it is gradually adopted diligently by them without reasoning its credentials. Belief is a conviction that truth can stand against all odds, arguments and evidence. It is an ideology that holds a tight grip on its followers. Belief is a set of rules, a conviction and an ideology that does not necessarily need a justification or sound reasoning.

This may sound very objective but belief is all about trusting its own worthy cause blindly proofing its authentication on the society.  This set of rules may be wrong to some people who are outside of the society but it holds strong as an accurate way of life within the society that carries its dogmas fervently. Here, it doesn’t point to knowledge but redirects us to religion; a great example of the set rules of each particular faith that dictates behavioral and thinking patterns of an individual , society and the environment as a whole . In fact this is the perception that was started in the early days of recorded time inevitably known now as the old belief and which is now fighting against another new set of rules: a new belief; science and technology that is transitionally changing the behavioral pattern of the environment. This old belief might be ancient but this is what humans are controlled by orderly.

Some may view religion as a doctrine that surpasses logic and reasoning. Nevertheless, it has mass number of believers who will do anything and everything to keep their faith checked and balanced. The controversy of the Dasam Granth among the Sikhs has caught great attention in the last couple of years. Many have written and expressed their views on the authorship, authenticity and historicity of the Dasam Granth, yet very few have made a neither serious study nor an in-depth research that can rest all arguments. Those who want logical reasoning and authenticity of the Dasam Granth, continue in their efforts to challenge the role and significance of the Granth.

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Belief is a conviction that has no rooms for arguments or any kind of debate that would question its veracity. It stands corrected defying the power of reasoning and truth yet opens only to acceptance and obedience by its supporters. If one feels what he believes is correct, it would not be subjected to amendments. Like Gaskell mentions in North and South “What other people may think of the rightness or wrongness is nothing in comparison to my own deep knowledge, my innate conviction that it was wrong.” During the 14^th century, Nicolaus Copernicus a mathematician and astronomer placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.  At this point of history, it was the accepted belief that the sun goes around the earth and anyone that said otherwise was put to death as a heretic. Defying this conviction or belief is dealt harshly which resulted in deaths and thus proves that belief may need no reasoning or justification.

Belief can also be defined as an ideology which correlates to a set of theories that forms a foundation for politics and economics. The most appropriate ideology that can define belief would be Marxism. Ideologies are derived from thinkers and Karl Marx, a sociologist isn’t an exception, from an observation of the rise and triumph of capitalism to socialism. Although years have passed and times have changed, communism still has a solid control in the political era in today’s world mainly for countries like North Korea and China. The world which is now more apt for changes and is opened to diversification still has countries like these that would not budge their political and economic stance. Even while facing discrimination and endless burden, their belief remains the same bringing to an undisputed ideology.

Therefore, it is evident that basics and fundamental ideas create the norm of belief that can withstand itself regardless of the absence of facts or reasons. In other words, it is a set of rules, conviction and ideology which hardly needs any explanation.

Malaysian-born Harvin Kaur, who now lives in the US, likes to observe and write on issues concerning the Sikh community in general.

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