Recognising the monster
Published: Fri, 03/30/18
Cognitive Dissonance or CD (I don’t like typing long words too often), is the state we find ourselves in when what we currently believe is challenged by new experience, evidence and information. There is going to be a period of time when we know what we believe, but we cannot deny or unsee or just forget an experience we have had. At that point CD can be resolved by choosing to modify our belief. Or we can choose not to resolve the CD and somehow continue with our original belief and put the effort into managing our CD. Which is the healthier and more rational response? I will let you decide but just asking that question may prompt you to reconsider your own unresolved CD, sorry for any distress caused.
So what is the major symptom of unresolved, or even intentionally created CD in individuals and the wider population? My answer is religion. Do I mean religion as an organised belief in a God? Well it could be but that would mean that secular societies and atheist believers would have resolved the issue. If only it were that simple. Religion creeps into everything. A religion can last thousands of years, it may be created for a few weeks or even a few days or hours until it has served its purpose. Religion can be used intentionally to create a means of social control and used to move society in a desired direction. Religion can be the unconscious response of individuals and groups who use it to manage and soothe the pain of unresolved CD rather than change their belief systems.
Religion is easy to recognise if you know what to look for. It has three very obvious features, belief, observance and blasphemy. To expand on that slightly we are talking about belief that must not be questioned within your group. Observance that must be made to show that you are going along with the belief. Blasphemy and heresy are two sides of the same coin. Outsiders who criticize a belief are accused of blasphemy and threatened with punishment for ‘offence’ or ‘denying’ the true whatever it is. Insiders who question the belief are heretics who are initially ‘corrected’ in their false belief and may eventually be expelled if they can’t be silenced. Being nailed to a cross or burned at a stake is a possibility too.
A historical example was the collectivization of agriculture in Stalin’s Russia. The belief was that all economic activity must be fully controlled by the state. The observance required was that all farmers had to give up their individual farms and work on collective farms instead. This process was enforced with killing when there was resistance to this policy. Collectivized agriculture was very inefficient and the result was widespread famine and hunger and Soviet Russia had to import food to feed its people. Anyone who pointed out this inconvenient fact was lucky if they just took an involuntary trip to Siberia and did not end up dead.
Religions often start off with a noble ideal, whether it is getting souls into heaven or creating a fair and just society. Then the flaws in the belief show up and the power involved gets abused. The CD between the aim and the outcome actually becomes rather obvious so the power of religion is used to keep the project on track whatever the cost by suppressing any dissent.
Of course it isn’t just Soviet Russia that used such methods decades ago. The process is being used both intentionally and unconsciously all the time. We may not have gulags or concentration camps in which to put blasphemers and heretics. However many countries have laws relating to denial and hate which are enforced by prison sentences. Events and news cycles are also managed with the emphasis on getting a consensuses of belief and therefore action. There have been several examples in the last month alone. No, I am not going to discuss them here, you can either see them for yourself or you can’t.
How do we deal with with CD in our lives and today’s world? Learn to listen and watch carefully what is said and done, both in one to one relationships and in the wider world. Train yourself to recognize the three indicators of a religion. Religions are dangerous creatures, but they are a lot less dangerous once identified. Learn to ask questions to find out the beliefs that others hold and probe those beliefs if it seems that there is a willingness to respond to CD rather than deny it. If denial is preferred then just let it go for the time being.
Your experience of cognitive dissonance is your process of waking up and developing a higher level of awareness. When enough people really wake up we will be living in a much more peaceful and happier world. Everyone has the potential to wake up but it seems that people need to do it in their own time.
I have been pretty dismissive of religion today, yet some of you know that I am a member of the Methodist Church and a local Preacher (took my first service in Beverley last week) so what is my story? More on that soon.
regards
Graham
PS I have been dealing with some CD of my own. Last year I started planning a three day camp for June 2018 to be held in North Norfolk with three other really good instructors and a fantastic site for the event. However this event will only make sense if enough people support it. The bookings have not come in so I have to face the fact that the original plan is not likely to work.
My belief was, 20 people are going to sign up, the reality, 1 person has actually paid so far. So, I am going for plan B. Move the event to our place in Beverley, reduce maximum numbers of students to 12, make it just the Saturday and the Sunday and see what happens. Maybe you were interested but three days camping in darkest Norfolk was more than you could face? Maybe you could handle two days in Beverley, updated website here http://www.hdc.stavcamp.co.uk