Why can't we all get along?

We love taking sides. It seems hardwired in us. Find a side, fight for that side. Politics, religions, opinions. I don't live in America, but it makes for entertaining viewing watching people fight for their sides - to Trump or not to Trump. It isn't much different here in South Africa. It is a sobering thought to think that if you were on fire, it would be up to the person you are fighting with to put you out, that politician you so vehemently defend probably wouldn't rush to your aide.

One of the biggest (at least it seems so to me) current polarizing debates is the flat earth discussion. It gets pretty heated with people on both sides questioning the other side's parentage. Look, I got drawn in, the evidence for what I was standing for seems pretty incontrovertible. I also used to be a fundamental religious person, condemning people who didn't share my beliefs to a fiery eternity.

My path has taken me into the wonderful and whacky world of quantum physics. In a very big nutshell it proposes (some would say proves) that the world is exactly what you expect it to be. When I say expect, I am taking about a knowing so deeply buried in your unconscious mind that you don't even know it is there. In other words, the world is not what you consciously expect it to be (goodness knows I have had my share of dashed expectations), but what is written in the dark and unknowable recesses of your unconscious mind. Well, not totally unknowable, you know what's there because your world is a reflection of it. What am I saying? Well I propose that we neither live on a globe or a flat plane, we live on the world you expect to be living on. Reality, in other words, is nothing more than energy arranging itself to match your beliefs.

It should really help us to get along, you can no more help what you currently believe than a baby can help filling its nappy. Why get so pissed off at what someone else believes? Beliefs are not set in stone, with enough evidence to the contrary that belief will change. You may not be able to do much about your current beliefs, but keep an open mind and resist the urge to die for them, and you will notice that they will evolve over time. There are a plethora of techniques and self help gurus that claim to be able to help you change your beliefs, and maybe some of them do work. I think one of the best ways is to treat what someone else believes with interest and curiosity. Truth be told, if you walked in their shoes, you would believe what they believed. You don't have to like what the other person believes, but just like you want your beliefs respected, do the other person the same courtesy. So he believes the earth is flat? That doesn't make him an idiot, it just means he has encountered enough evidence to shift his personal world view. Believe me, with enough evidence, you would shift yours too.

Why do people believe what they believe? Why do YOU believe what YOU believe? Always remember, what they believe, what YOU believe, is subject to change.