When in 2013 Elder Uchtdorf encouraged us to doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith, that was a call to self-awareness. If I’m doubting a gospel principle or a narrative of our sacred history, then what do I personally bring to that equation? Let’s explore things that all of us bring: assumptions, worldview, epistemology, and bias.
Continue reading “How to Doubt Your Doubts”Tag: Cognition
Reverse CBT in the Church
This video points to a Triggernometry episode recounting a Gen Z woman’s experience with critical race theory and manufactured fragility:
The source video is from Tik Tok. The story is that a lesbian and her wife who use they/them pronouns walked into a gay bar and she melted down over being called a lady. So, the gay guys in the bar kicked her out. Notice that as she is whining and performing for the camera, she has an empathetic enabler reassuring her that the mean world has mistreated her.
Quotes on Cynicism
Cynicism is a powerful anesthetic we use to numb ourselves to pain, but which also, by its nature, numbs us to truth and joy. Grief is healthy. Even anger can be healthy. But numbing ourselves with cynicism in an effort to avoid feeling those things is not. When I write off all evangelicals as hateful and ignorant, I am numbing myself with cynicism. When I jeer at their foibles, I am numbing myself with cynicism.
When I roll my eyes and fold my arms and say, “Well, I know God can’t be present over there,” I am numbing myself with cynicism. And I am missing out. I am missing out on a God who surprises us by showing up where we don’t think God belongs. I am missing out on a God whose grace I need just as desperately, just as innately as the lady who dropped her child sponsorship in a protest against gay marriage.
Cynicism may help us create simpler storylines with good guys and bad guys, but it doesn’t make us any better at telling the truth, which is that most of us are a frightening mix of good and evil, sinner and saint.
– Rachel Held Evans, Searching for Sunday
Continue reading “Quotes on Cynicism”Follow the Prophet, Internal vs External Authority
Follow the Prophet is a beloved phrase and a primary song, until it isn’t. And it usually stops being beloved when church members begin to assert their own internal authority:
“I determine my faith commitments”
“The church doesn’t get to dictate to me what I believe”
“I follow Jesus over the church”
“There’s no middle-man between me and God”
“I’m the one who determines what my church participation should look like”
“We’re all cafeteria members, so my choices in the cafeteria are no less valid than someone else’s”
Healing vs. Destructive Empathy
Is empathy always a good thing?
Can it be used improperly?
What are some differences between empathy that leads to the well being of another person, versus empathy that facilitates their downward spiral?
These topics are covered in this presentation; slides below:
Continue reading “Healing vs. Destructive Empathy”Accusation: The Epistemology of Hell
What is accusation, and why do we see it in scripture about the War in Heaven?
What is the aim of accusation?
How does accusation impact our intuitions and our powers of reason?
How have we seen accusation employed in tyrannical movements?
Slides available for viewing and download:
Continue reading “Accusation: The Epistemology of Hell”Critical Thinking: a Primer for Latter-day Saints
Is critical thinking destructive to faith?
How can we fortify our own thinking skills and learn to spot errors in common criticisms of our faith?
This presentation offers a simple primer on critical thinking; slides are available for viewing and download here:
Continue reading “Critical Thinking: a Primer for Latter-day Saints”Latter-day Saint Epistemology
None of the following statements make something untrue.
“Cannot be confirmed to my satisfaction”
“Does not reflect my personal experience”
“Does not reflect the experience of people around me”
“Does not meet my personal standard for validity”
Continue reading “Latter-day Saint Epistemology”We’re all biased. Let’s explore how.
We all have biases of different kinds. Below is a collection of typical biases, many of which are useful in discussions of faith.
Adapted from a full list of cognitive biases at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
Anchoring or focalism The tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor”, on one trait or piece of information when making decisions (usually the first piece of information acquired on that subject).
Attribute substitution Occurs when a judgment has to be made (of a target attribute) that is computationally complex, and instead a more easily calculated heuristic attribute is substituted. This substitution is thought of as taking place in the automatic intuitive judgment system, rather than the more self-aware reflective system.
Continue reading “We’re all biased. Let’s explore how.”Positively Biased for Conference
If you are hitching your happiness to things being a certain way, it’s a setup for suffering.
-Tara Brach
As General Conference approaches, Latter-Day Saints are going to be hearing conflicting messages on social media, and they can generally be grouped into two themes:
- General Conference is coming, and we get to hear teachings from prophets. Hooray!
- General Conference is coming, so brace yourself. There will probably be things said that are harmful or insensitive. You need to steel yourself against the possibility of being hurt.
The first theme is one that views Conference as a time of rejoicing. It affirms that Conference speakers are good people and that their messages are inspired. Whatever they say, it will be for our good.
The second theme views Conference as threatening. It is neutral or negative about the motivations and/or divinely-ordained callings of the speakers, and it doubts the capacity of the hearer to process conference messages in a healthy way.
Both themes reflect bias, and bias is not a bad thing. Everyone brings their biases and worldviews to every part of life — including faith — and people who claim to be unbiased are just demonstrating another form of cognitive bias called the Bias Blind Spot. For a lengthy list of cognitive, emotional and other forms of bias, see here.
There is no such thing as an unbiased viewing of General Conference, but it is possible for us to be mindful of what we bring to the Conference experience and respond to our biases (and conference) in ways that lead to our growth.
Continue reading “Positively Biased for Conference”