Expert: Alex Wilding - 8/19/2008

Question
Hello Alex:

I want to follow up on your last response to "Consciousness Quesion. " I have been advised that I have to start new question to do this because there are too many follow ups on the same question.  I feel this is important so I hope you don't mind.

My Response to your last answer  from "Consciouss Question" is:

I don’t think it is ok.  If one believes in something that is false no matter how good the reason is it is still a delusion, whether it is a Buddhist belief or a non Buddhist belief.  Delusion is one of the 3 roots of suffering.  Acceptance without truth would just lead to more delusion and ignorance.  I would rather reserve my belief until I know what the truth is.      

The Buddha said most emphatically that we should not accept anything he said because he said it. Instead we should investigate and determine if it is true or helpful. This is what I am trying to do.   Although this is what Buddha taught I have found that many Buddhists (not all) do not follow this teaching.  When their beliefs are questioned much ill-will, delusion and ignorance arise and surrounds this subject.  They are not even aware of what they are doing.  I have personally experienced this.          
AL

Answer
Hi AL,
You say "I don’t think it is ok. If one believes in something that is false..."
If I remember correctly, what I wanted to say was not that it's ok to believe a wrong thing, but that it's ok not to know. We can't know everything. We can push back the limit of our knowledge, but we *don't have to know*, and we don't have to pretend that we know. Do we?