That is the question. Well, that’s not really the question. At least it certainly wasn’t Shakespeare’s question. He was more “be” and a little less “lieve,” more skull and a little less . . . well, you get the point.
I had a discussion with someone recently on the topic of believing, yet we found ourselves on rather different sides of a very precarious fence: Neighbor 1 says you decide to believe that your yard is the best in the world, having complete faith that you’re right. Neighbor 2 says believing your yard is the best just kind of happens, there’s no conscious choice in the matter.
Sounds good to me. It’s not like there’s a theological demilitarized zone the size of Texas in between the two with explosive mines in the shape of crosses and menorahs, right?
Now the point of this discussion isn’t to argue what you should believe, or even whether you should or shouldn’t believe. I’m not trying to pull off Pascal’s Wager here (no thank you). No, no, you are welcome to believe that some omnipresent, all-powerful force (such as Obama, for example) controls everything or you can just believe that mice run the world. Please, be my guest. As far as this discussion is concerned, that dilemma is tomato-tamato, potato-42. Rather, I’m more concerned about how one goes about “believing.”
Maybe “To Decide or Not to Decide” would have been a more apt title for this piece. Because that’s really what this philosophical debate boils down to, deciding to believe, or not.
A belief is pretty simple: It’s an assumption that has no empirical proof. But the action of accepting a belief — believing — well it’s a bit more complicated.
The importance is in our ability to control what we believe. For me it was clear: I Believe in a Thing Called Love. All right so maybe you’re more of an R. Kelly-Michael Jordan fan. Fine, that’s your choice. Ah ha! You’re “choice.” Dictionaries throw around definitions that rely on “accept,” “hold” and “trust.” But you have to decide to accept something, choose to hold a belief, or agree in your mind to trust someone. In the end, we hear a bunch of arguments and decide which one sounds most convincing.
Yet, the other side of the coin looks at “believing” as more congruent with an emotional response. Emotions, unfortunately, are that pesky part of human nature that we just can’t seem to control. No matter how hard we try, we get embarrassed when we don’t want to, we fall in love when we’re not looking and we get hurt by stupid little, inconsequential things (like the dining hall running out of chocolate milk). Actors do an incredible job of convincing us they’re feeling real emotions — how many people don’t feel connected to the casts of “Friends,” “How I Met Your Mother” or “WWE Raw”? — but in the end, they don’t actually feel it, it’s still only acting. When someone truly believes something, they can’t pretend. Maybe, to believe really is just an emotional response to all the unknowns the universe throws our way. And while some people watch Forrest Gump and feel sad or offended, other people laugh out loud.
A lot of this comes down to whether you believe in a deterministic universe: Where everything works like the gears of a clock, and everything happens because once the clock started, that’s the only way it could have happened. Or you can accept a free-will universe, where individuals can carve out their own fate, decide their future and nothing is set in stone. Did you hear that? It’s the sounds of a chicken that just laid an egg that’s hatching a chicken that’s laying an egg in an endless cycle that gets no closer to my skillet or my stomach.
But maybe we’re just not true Beliebers. Surely the Biebster must know — he’s got a whole album named “Believe”:
“Hey Jus-jus Bieblemore, what do you feel “believe” really means?”
“If I was your boyfriend, I’d never let you go.”
“No … uh Justin we’re just looking for an answer on “believe” not a . . .”
“I’d like to be, everything you want. Hey girl — ”
“Alright JB, that’s enough, you can stop now. No really just . . . oh, so that’s how you want it to be? Come at me Bieber-bro! I will …”
Sorry folks, our interview with the Biebanator was cut short due to, uh, technical difficulties.
Whether you believe that or not, or if you even believe that was the real Justin Bieber, it seems like we’ve come no closer to figuring out this whole “that is the question” thing. So, as you traverse this universe of philosophical unknowns, I leave you with this piece of advice: “Don’t Panic,” and just make sure you know where your towel is. Believe me, you’re going to need it.
David Fontana is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a weekly columnist for the Daily Free Press. He can be reached at fontad5@bu.edu.
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