In retrospect, I was certainly leaving christianity the day I decided that if god existed, he could not possibly object to me honestly trying to determine The Truth. Doubts stopped feeling like sins.
I think your something-to-protect must be the accuracy of your map, not anything on the map. (at least for a moment)
If someone says you need to fire a revolver at your something-to-protect, you will raise objection based on strongly held beliefs about the effects of revolvers. It’s so hard to risk those beliefs because, with your current belief set, someone who lacked those beliefs would lose their something-to-protect. You can’t stop believing as long as you believe the cost for disbelieving is any kind of hell.
I was about to say I was lucky to have such a god, but no: I constructed a god just nice enough to let me relieve that cognitive tension.
It’s relatively easy to invent and defend very contrarian ideas when you start off joking. This could be a technique if you’re confident you can later break a good idea out of the silly-idea prison.
In retrospect, I was certainly leaving christianity the day I decided that if god existed, he could not possibly object to me honestly trying to determine The Truth. Doubts stopped feeling like sins.
I think your something-to-protect must be the accuracy of your map, not anything on the map. (at least for a moment)
If someone says you need to fire a revolver at your something-to-protect, you will raise objection based on strongly held beliefs about the effects of revolvers. It’s so hard to risk those beliefs because, with your current belief set, someone who lacked those beliefs would lose their something-to-protect. You can’t stop believing as long as you believe the cost for disbelieving is any kind of hell.
I was about to say I was lucky to have such a god, but no: I constructed a god just nice enough to let me relieve that cognitive tension.
It’s relatively easy to invent and defend very contrarian ideas when you start off joking. This could be a technique if you’re confident you can later break a good idea out of the silly-idea prison.