Bizarre Beliefs As I age, I seem to become more aware of some of the strange things people believe. When I say strange, I mean strange to me. Others might be quite comfortable with these beliefs. I think you would be able to find at least some people for every stated belief out there who would agree with it no matter how bizarre. One of the areas I have noticed this in is some of the strange beliefs about the universe, but it certainly is not the only area. To me, the idea the universe is a computer simulation is really strange. It would mean there was some being out there with some sort of super computer so powerful we couldn’t even imagine its functions using our puny human minds. People believe different things depending on where they are in the time line because of their level of technology. If we would translate this belief back to the middle ages it would probably be some magician or wizard created the universe or made us think there was a universe when there was only the earth and perhaps the moon. If this belief exists way in the future who knows what or who will get the credit for the universe not really being there. My point is there are scientists out there who think the universe is a hologram and not real, and yet there is really no scientific proof for this. When an irregularity is found instead of giving the credit to that supercomputer, they should look for the real cause. Let’s just say for the sake of argument the universe isn’t real. Remember I don’t believe this and it is only an exercise. Why couldn’t some other cause beside an alien computer be the answer? Perhaps aliens are using mind control to make all of us think the universe exists when it doesn’t. In the end probably a better case could be made for this after reading all the stories about those who claim they were abducted by aliens who were controlling their minds and stopping them from moving or resisting. Another fact might be our vision which is limited to a certain range may prevent us from seeing the real picture. I think sometimes people do not actually believe what they say, but say it to try and make others believe what they are saying for other reasons. Let’s take the example of the American southern border being closed. Those in power say it is closed every time they are asked the question and yet so many people are pouring over the border the number is greater than the population of some of our famous cities. The truth is while they want others to believe this, it is really just a coverup. I am not conducting a political examination, but rather just stating a fact. There was a belief the cure for cancer and other sicknesses was tobacco. The way it was to be administered was bizarre. There is a saying, excuse my language, “you’re just blowing smoke up my ass.” This comes from the fact in the 1700s doctors would administer tobacco smoke enemas. Why they thought anything to do with tobacco was a healing process is amazing to me. Even if you had drowned it was thought this procedure would warm your insides and help you to recover. Someone might have recovered from drowning while this procedure was going on and it made doctors think it was because of the tobacco smoke when they would have recovered anyway. I want to talk about a belief which some people have wasted entire lifetimes trying to prove and that is Atlantis existed. If we look at the evidence, we find there is really nothing. If a work of fiction mentions something does that mean it was real? That is a pretty weak thread to lead one to go all over the world and spend millions of dollars trying to prove, but that is exactly what people have been doing for hundreds of years, just because Plato wrote dialogs, and the characters mentioned Atlantis. In all this time no substantial proof has been found proving it did exist, although some will say that is because it exploded or sunk. It is possible someone can have a delusion and convince others to believe in it. Look at those religious suicide cults that spring up from time to time. You would think when people are asked to kill themselves, they might have a few questions, before committing the deed. Many times, it seems this is not the case. If we take a look at the Heaven’s Gate cult which was in California, most of us would believe the leader, Marshall Applewhite, was a victim of mental illness but somehow convinced his followers a UFO was following a comet and if they wanted to go to heaven that had to get onto the UFO and the way to do it was by killing themselves. When we hear this story, it is almost impossible for most of us to believe people could have believed this nonsense, and yet they did. Could it be the 38 or so followers of Applewhite also had mental illness, guess we will never know? Applewhite had been in a psychiatric hospital in 1972. Yes, he was a patient. While he was in the hospital, a nurse named Bonnie Nettles befriended him and helped him form the religion. This really makes no sense. Is it easier to convince some people than others of something? It certainly is. If we were to draw up a scale of how susceptible people are to suggestion, we would probably find people fit all along the scale. It makes me wonder, could it be some people are somehow being hypnotized and do not realize it? Some believe a person can be hypnotized by using words and changing tones. There might be people who are very susceptible to this and don’t realize it. Some have suspected that Adolph Hitler had this quality when he spoke. I have no way of knowing if this is true, but it could account for those who were always around Applewhite to do his bidding. Throughout time, some humans have believed things many of their peers thought was crazy. To determine how crazy their ideas were, we have to think about the times in which they lived. Some ideas which might sound completely off the wall today, might not have seemed so unreasonable when they were put forth. One such idea was the earth was flat. Hey it seems flat, but we know better today and yet we can understand thinking that at the time, thousands of years ago.
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