In America, we are obsessed with
truth. We idealize it to the point where it is nearly the most important aspect
of our lives. We have Mythbusters, Snopes ‘fair’ news, polygraphs, Jerry
Springer, science. We are on a mad
quest for enlightenment. We see blatant
ignorance as weakness. As Dr. Breed says, “The more truth we have to work with,
the richer we become.” Those with the least knowledge are fools.
Yet at the same time, we often believe
in the unprovable. Bokononism shares a basic principle with many religions:
faith, “a belief not based on proof” (Dictionary.com). The idea is that you can
gain peace of mind by suspending your disbelief and betting your soul upon
something that cannot be revealed by truth. The afterlife could be seen as a foma,
“a harmless untruth” (Vonnegut, vii);
a belief that makes people “brave and kind and healthy and happy” (Vonnegut,
vii).
So how
do faith and truth work together? Is it even possible? When I started writing
this post, I was going to say that Americans are so addicted to truth that we
would choose it over the peace of mind that comes with being ignorant. However,
during the writing process, I realized that even though we choose not to admit
it, we believe in a subjective truth. We pursue only the facts that don’t cause
us pain. A life of selective ignorance
is much easier and less painful than one where we actively seek to destroy our
own foundations.
We already practice Bokononism in a
way, even though the religion itself it may sound ridiculous in the context of Cat’s Cradle. Don’t we avoid the truth when it makes us uncomfortable?
Usually the truth is a weapon we use to defend ourselves: in court, in an
argument, or in a thesis. We avoid the truths that shake our own footing. Who
wants to find out that all the things they believe are false? The madman always
fancies himself sane; the prisoner is always innocent; the racist is always
justified.
I think we simply create a
comfortable cloak of truths and hide ourselves from the remainder of reality. We
rest on half-truths not so different from the lies of Bokononists.
Works Cited
"Faith." Def. 2. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2012. Web. 12 Sept. 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/faith?s=t>.
Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. New York, NY: Delta Trade Paperbacks, 1998. Print.
I think you are spot on with this post. Truth versus faith does bring up alot of debate. I feel that humans will always search for truth because knowledge is so valuable but at the same time I feel that people will always have faith because it helps them to feel safe. When certain things cannot be proven by science many people turn to God and I think faith is just a part of our humanness. Even something as small as having faith in your fellow man to not run a red light when you go through an intersection. The truth is scary even in my example that the truth is there could be a driver that drives right by that red light but you can't live life fearing the truth.
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