Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

We believe our doubts and we doubt our beliefs

While looking for articles on doubt in animals, I stumbled upon this “famous saying of ‘we believe our doubts and we doubt our beliefs’ in the corporate world” (source). It was new to me. Some argue the opposite: “Doubt Your Doubts and Believe Your Beliefs” (source-1, source-2). I doubt (sic!) that both are valid.

I believe in this quote by Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988), an American theoretical physicist:

“We absolutely must leave room for doubt or there is no progress and there is no learning. There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt. People search for certainty. But there is no certainty. People are terrified — how can you live and not know? It is not odd at all. You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know.” (Good Reads)

Neither do I believe my doubts, nor do I doubt my beliefs. Doubting your doubts seems like an utter waste of time. Believing your beliefs seems like a pleonasm and (thus) feels redundant. Having (no) faith in your beliefs is something different. See my blogs on Faith, Beliefs & Willpower.

Whenever I feel doubt, I use it to my advantage by delaying an action or a decision. In my view, doubt is an inconsistency that is already known to your subconscious, but not yet known to your conscious. Postponing or procrastination should remove the time lag between subconscious and conscious.

Example: I’ve waited until its deadline to file a tax objection. During that waiting time, several newspapers articles appeared about this topic. By listening to my doubt (ie, do not yet file), I have used that additional information to my advantage. The Dutch Supreme Court will soon rule.

In my view, there is no need for believing in your doubt; listening to it and accepting doubt is enough. Doubt may equal an early warning system but not every early warning becomes a threat.

In my view, our beliefs are a consequence of our doubt rather than vice versa. Doubt represents missing information and/or lacking certainty; also see Richard Feynman quote above. Our beliefs and our assumptions fill those gaps.

Several months ago, I prepared a diagram (see left), which I’ve never used until now. It was “sitting” and “waiting” on my desktop. Each morning, I wondered what to do about it.

At times, I started doubting my belief in my diagram because it failed finding its purpose.

I never lost my belief in this diagram. It just felt irrelevant at the time and it was – with hindsight.

More and more, I believe that doubt is essential in human consciousness (eg, JSTOR-1984, Medium-2018).

To be continued.

It’s My Life (2003) a cover version of Talk Talk by No Doubt
artists, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2

Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.

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