On Credulity
Ignorance is bliss, as they say. But, it seems that just about anybody can be fooled - at least, by someone. Ignorance can be played up perhaps because the audience has never experienced some far away place. It can be played up through an undeveloped grasp of history. It can be played up through many condescendingly daunting scientific words. Or, maybe, it can be played up through the audience simply being unaware of themselves.
Imagine living in a time with no airplanes and you were perhaps some peasant who had not quite the means to travel to any exotic locations. And, you developed your life in one location - never having explored the Great Beyond! All of a sudden, literally out of the blue, I hail from the distant seas. You don’t know me from Adam. But, I come to you with many stories of the Great Unknown. I tell you about people who I swear I saw with giant fish fins. I call them mermaids. I tell you about the most magnanimous sea creature with many tentacles (you don’t know what tentacles are, okay?) which very nearly brought my splendidly magnificently fortified and ornate ship down to the depths of Davy Jones’ locker. I call it a Kraken. But, of course, what would be my point in telling you all this unless perhaps I had some motive?
Perhaps, I’m selling an adventure of a lifetime! My tales of mermaids might compel your young who are past the age of puberty and are itching to “see the world” to come along with me on my next voyage. You believe my story because I said it happened and thus you deduce that I clearly survived that dreadful Kraken and thus those youths’ seeking to prove their mettle might be more inclined to join me. But, why? Is there some plundering I need help with? Then, I’ll tell you it’s a quest. Am I trying to establish a colony? What’s my motive? What’s the thing behind the thing?
This ignorance of place can be geographical or metaphysical - somewhere on the globe or somewhere out of this world. Either way, if you don’t know about it and I can present myself in such a way as to appear credible in your eyes, and if you are interested, I can entice you with all I purport to know. But, we’ll leave it there for a moment and move on with this “ignorance” line of thought.
Now, let’s switch gears and consider that after I had enticed you to come along with me, we established a settlement somewhere. It becomes quite developed, generations go by, and I’m old as dirt. After battles, feuds, and the many vicissitudes of life, generations pass on and now I, still the leader, am one of the few who knows about how this settlement came to be. The new generation has no inkling of the waters traversed. The new generation knows nothing of any battles lost or won. While I may have documented well my own travels, I want to induce group cohesion. Thus, I don’t want you to know all the details of how you made it here on this land - eh, that would probably bore you, anyhow. Indeed, I want you to believe that this land was made for you and me. That way, if any stranger appears, you hold your ground and know your place.
Now, I go on to tell you about who you are. I explain that your forefathers hail from the depths of the treacherous Ocean. These long forgotten forefathers become like gods and thus you are children of gods! Thank them for your existence! Revere them! I have gathered together my most deeply devoted elders. Those who were disloyal? Well, we won’t speak of them. Your elders and I create festivals around the seasons in order that you remember these gods and that you are their descendants but I never make it known that you came from across the waters.
When you don’t know the truth of your history or I withhold it from you and/or withhold pertinent information, this “truth” I imbue into your psyche becomes a great deal a part of your purpose in life. The farther I push into the unknown past the “knowledge” of your “forefathers”, the more opportunity I have for you to find one to emulate.
Now, I have seen many of my people die or get sick, and while I may be no scientist, I’ve learned ways to preserve myself and imagine that sense you are human like I am, what works for me must work for you. Now, I’ve found some grand herb from far far away that helps you relax and the leaves of which perhaps I can apply to your wounds. I don’t know much about sanitation, gangrene, infections, placebos, or anything of that sort, but lucky for me neither do you. But, you trust me. All we both know is that I can make you feel better. And, you trust me. Prevent you from dying, though? Eh? Why be afraid of that? Since I can’t fix everything, I might as well tell you about the faraway afterlife. Aren’t you happy now?
Now, you don’t know your whole history. You find your purpose in the stories I’ve told you of your forefathers - those mighty badass gods! I’ve taken care of your ailments and given you peace of mind about death. Do you really know who you are - what you are? All you know is the person I and my loyal elders told you you were. Sure, we gave you some leeway to develop your skills. But, what matters is that those skills are purposeful for the group.
And, while I don’t want to weigh myself down with having to deal with potential disgruntled or disobedient people, it’s far easier to make a play off of my stories of your forefathers and the afterlife. If you cooperate in this society, love your neighbor (in this society), and keep the faith of the community, you’ll make it to the same paradise your forefathers went to for holding fast and keeping the faith.
There are now some strange aliens quite a way out developing their own encampment and so I make sure to warn you that they are enemies - nothing like you - and they don’t get the same divine privileges you do. They are of the devil, I tell you. They only mean to harm you. Perhaps they really do mean to raid our land that is your land and my land; however, one thing I know for sure is that I don’t want you to defect. So, they are the enemy and aside from any concepts of morality, in my eyes, you would be an approbate, a child of perdition, and it would be the greatest sin of all if you went with them!
Aside from losing the protection of the community, what are the consequences of you ever leaving? Suppose you realized that my palliatives weren’t all that great or some mighty and believable stranger with the most remarkable hair came into the colony with stories of mermaids. Perhaps your curiosity leads you to even risk the fear of the Hell I created. Leaving would still be a struggle given that the community you grew up with could reject you if you cross the point of no return. No fear of hell could ever compare to the fear of rejection.
These boundaries I’ve set up keep you from even knowing yourself. And this is where I ask the question: how much is a person ready to believe something though their instincts might tell them otherwise? I may tell you not to trust your instincts - to follow the “spirit” of the community instead. Do you really have the strength to go to the ends of the Earth to find out what you are?
The greatest control one has over someone is through appeals to desire and fear. I’d argue that the ultimate desire of anybody is the desire to be accepted in the group and the ultimate fear is to be abandoned. By suppressing a person’s realization of themselves and their potential, a leader better solidifies their own position.
It is only until somebody has the nerve and ability to challenge the leader when the proverbial ground beneath their feet begins to quake. Is it any wonder why rulers of old had menageries of lions, bears, or other wild beasts or at least told tales of killing them with their bare hands? One becomes what one defeats. You become master. And, that is the most deeply hidden truth of all time.
So - returning to our little illustration - other than your readiness to believe me and my desire to be believed there are a few other tools I need than your ignorance. I must be believable but I must also be charismatic or, at least, assertive. If I’m hesitant in my pitch, bore you with statistics, or leave any bit of room for doubt, my spell will not be cast so well. If I talk about a woman or man at sea, it won’t mean that much to you. But, if I talk about mermaids, you’ll probably lend an ear. If I talk about a building yea high, you’ll probably yawn but if I speak of a tower that reaches to the sky your eyes might dilate. Further, if I speak of a flood, you probably have experienced something of the sort so you can relate. Yet, if I speak of a flood that filled the whole earth, I’ve probably got your attention.
I need not be honest. All I need to do is appeal to your fears, desires, and even your sense of wonder or adventure. Wonder or a desire of adventure stem from the natural born curiosity that is innate in every single being. Look at a cat, a bird, a dolphin, and I bet you’ll find curiosity there. Curiosity is necessary in a world full of unknowns. In the manner of ruminating over something akin to Socrates’ famous dictum, “I know that I know nothing”, you return to innocence and allow yourself to explore what you thought you knew but were never really that confident to analyze further. Exploration leads to novelty. Exploration leads to innovation. Exploration leads to Self.
So, the next time someone passes your way with something they are trying to sell you or entice you to, lend them your ear, perhaps, but listen to homunculus of an inner skeptic lurking between your ears and tell yourself just what Louis XIV was notorious for saying: “I shall see”. Dare to cross the point of no return. How can you challenge anyone if you haven’t dared to challenge yourself? The most impressive paradox of destroying the master to become the master lies in the truth of Self. The destruction of self leads to the mastery of Self.
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