First, let’s get two terms out of the way. Belief and Heuristic.
Belief
A quick Google search said that belief is “an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof”. There are things that I believe in. I believe that I am here. That I exist. I believe that the elements of the periodic table exist. I believe that I love my wife. I believe that my dog exists. I believe that strawberries are red, and that bananas are yellow.
What do you believe? I believe that I cannot tell what you are believing. When I say, “Martin believes the weather is going to be bad tomorrow”, I am flippantly using believe there. I do not really… like really believe, that with all his soul, Martin thinks the weather is going to be bad tomorrow. Martin probably looked at the weather forecast and rain and cold was forecast so Martin said casually “yeah bad weather tomorrow”. That is different to I asked Martin if he knew someone who could write up a good contract for my new business. Here Martin might say “Use this company – they have written up many bullet proof contracts and some have stood up in court.” This is a different belief. This is deep trust in this solicitor. However, another level of belief, or type of belief is if Martin was in a car crash and looking at his wounds and the fact that the crash was in the middle of nowhere and off the road. Martin might now believe that he was about to die. The realisation might wash over him. This is it. Now Martin might turn to God. Maybe for the first time ever, maybe for the tenth time this week. Maybe Martin realises in this dire moment that there is no God and when he closes his eyes that he will never wake up. And that is the end of Martin, no afterlife, nothing else just dust to dust.
There are many types of belief. What about Heuristics. Let’s look at this word.
Heuristic
A heuristic process or method. A heuristic is “enabling someone to discover or learn something for themselves” or “proceeding to a solution by trial and error or by rules that are only loosely defined”. Thanks again Google for these definitions. So, my understanding of a heuristic is having come to a conclusion, but not necessarily the same way that someone else might come to this conclusion. I’m meeting Martin in town, which is several miles away with various routes to get there. I take my usual route only to realise that there was a car crash on the way, so I choose another road and get to my destination. Marting however used his maps app and the app knew there was a crash and directed him around the crash. We both got to the destination, but we took different routes. Different methods.
In computers the second definition is more relevant, “proceeding to a solution by trial and error or by rules that are only loosely defined”. So, when Martin used the app to find the route to the destination the app checked various routes and choose the fastest one to come to the meeting point. There are other routes he could have gone to get to his destination, but this was the one he chooses. I like this definition.
The belief heuristic
Let put these two terms together. I do not think that there is necessarily one common belief. Everyone has their own heuristic method for coming to some conclusion. Why does she believe that God exists? Well after years of caring for people she saw people’s faith in an afterlife and she herself has seen miracles occur.
Why do they believe that God does not exist – they are scientists maybe and a belief in an all-powerful God does not fit logically their belief system.
So like the app that gives a route and you can choose to take it or not take it to get to your destination, or like the drunk that attempts to give up drinking twenty times before they finally his rock bottom, or like a struggling teenager that wanders aimlessly through their teens before emerging confidently into their twenties knowing who they are and what they want from life they have all reached their destinations. Reaching your destination is knowing what you believe. This is what this website is for, helping you come to a place where you understand what you believe. I know what I believe, do you know what you believe?