What causes rigid ideology?
- Thread starter Satya
- Start date
Why would you want that? These questions are kinda of like "leaving the light on." Contemplating them brings a sense of being home.
That pattern is taught to us from a very young age. We are continually asked "Can you tell which thing is not like the others..." For some who haven't ever taken the time to get comfortable as an outcast, the notion of being identified as someone who doesn't belong is terrifying. One way to combat this horrible fear is to conceptualize rules by which to compare oneself. If they have a yardstick which always leaves them in a favorable light, why would they want to abandon it. The need for validation will continually prompt the use of the yard stick. And soon, voila! You have a pattern not so easily broken. A person rigid in their beliefs, is born.
Most rigid views arise from one of two convictions:
1. That one is able to grasp significant truths objectively.
2. That one is not able to grasp significant truths objectively.
1. That one is able to grasp significant truths objectively.
2. That one is not able to grasp significant truths objectively.
In regards to the OP, I have also seen rigid thinking arise from a somewhat limited grasp of "how things are" and then a rejection of other perspectives mainly based on their egos, usually bostered by data references consistent with their more limited grasp. I suppose this can happen in religion (for or against), but I see it just as much other venue types.
By the same token, some of the most fluid, holistic thinkers I have ever known tended to have their perspectives broadened by experience....learning, yes, but also an embracing of the real-life and the practical, with all the nuances and paradoxes contained therein. I think the people of this type that impressed me most were in the area of religion (probably due to the scope of the subject) where this flexible, informed, pastoral perspective actually yielded a great deal of good for those around them....ennobling, liberating, and empowering. There was something very authentic, down-to-earth, connected, and truly human about these folks....while at the same time being grounded a diverse, substantial knowledge base. From what I can tell, this kind of thing surely applies to other venues/disciplines as well.
Rather than simply deploring the rigidity (which is surely there), I suggest that it is more worthy of our time to focus on the good we see and move deliberately towards that more functional model.
By the same token, some of the most fluid, holistic thinkers I have ever known tended to have their perspectives broadened by experience....learning, yes, but also an embracing of the real-life and the practical, with all the nuances and paradoxes contained therein. I think the people of this type that impressed me most were in the area of religion (probably due to the scope of the subject) where this flexible, informed, pastoral perspective actually yielded a great deal of good for those around them....ennobling, liberating, and empowering. There was something very authentic, down-to-earth, connected, and truly human about these folks....while at the same time being grounded a diverse, substantial knowledge base. From what I can tell, this kind of thing surely applies to other venues/disciplines as well.
Rather than simply deploring the rigidity (which is surely there), I suggest that it is more worthy of our time to focus on the good we see and move deliberately towards that more functional model.
Oddly, the topic was generated from the recent political divide in Congress rather than a religious discussion, but I suppose I only have myself to blame that you are so primed to automatically see that as my motive for the discussion.
No, I understand that this topic itself is not on that. But seriously, every day yelling about how the religious right is horrible etc. etc. etc. You're almost as bad as Jet, no offence. *
* I say no offence not because I expect you to not take offence, you probably will. But that I don't find anything wrong with your views per se, but the constant shutting down of other beliefs is what truly irks me. And even if you may not specifically be shutting them down, your actions spark implications that may cause them to be shut down.
It is absolutely entirely subjective. As the maxim goes: each judges as he is disposed.