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How do you choose to believe something else? Belief doesn't seem like a conscious choice to me. I can choose to seek out things which might challenge my belief
by goatlover 5y ago
How do you choose to believe something else? Belief doesn't seem like a conscious choice to me. I can choose to seek out things which might challenge my belief in X, and ultimately this may lead to a belief in Y instead, but I can't go from X to Y from merely willing to do so.
- blix 5y agoChoosing to seek out changing your belief by seeking contrary evidence is a form of choosing to change it. You can also do it while skipping that step, though it takes some practice. If you say something to yourself enough times, eventually you will believe it is true. Ultimately many beliefs are just selective readings of available evidence. Once upon a time, there was a viral meme featureing a striped dress that was either white and gold or blue and black depending on who you asked. People became very attached to their interpretation of the illusion and I saw a lot of very fierce argument. With a bit of practice, however, it isn't actually that hard to hold both interpretations simultaneously and choose between them at will.