This is a very interesting passage written by a former follower of Sathya Sai Baba, about belief & doubt.
- Once a certain threshold of belief in a person, doctrine or faith is passed, or some plunge is taken (as in the Kirkegaardian ‘existential leap of faith’), a psychological process of belief-reinforcement usually begins. Having decided to leave radical doubts behind, a kind of euphoria of security ensues, that of having entered a structure of very promising developments and fufilments. The processwill normally involve interesting and challenging shifts in perception and conception where thought is stimulated by the novelty and moving forward free of any brakes or cross-checks that may have been applied before adopting one’s certainty in the new faith. The positivity generated by ‘having found the answer’ makes for a self-fulfilling strengthening process…. until, that is, the novelty wears off, hindrances are met, contradictions arise and reality exerts its usual resistance against what is too unworldly.
This reminds me a lot of cognitive dissonance theory, and how the mind naturally seeks to restore itself to a state of balance.
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