You Were Born and It's All Your Fault

Existence is a predicate without a basis.

The self does not see.  Instead, there is a sense of self.  That is the seen.  It is seen so it cannot be the seer. 

The distinction with finite is not infinite.  It is unknown.

The seeing.

Perceive:  discern, recognize, become aware of.  Typical belief is that the organism perceives, that perception is biological sentience. If it is biological sentience, whatinhell is sentience?

Like existence, sentience is a predicate without a basis. It is universally thought of as consciousness.

The sense of self evolved in human community.  Tribes into villages into towns into countries, the sense furthered survival of individuals within community by fostering moral behavior.

Moral behavior and responsibility means nothing if a person is alone on a desert island.

The belief in free will and personal responsibility is contingent on the belief in moral behavior and life within communities.

Communities tend to cull out those lacking behavior necessary for their continuance. The culling results in prisons.

Communites depend on belief.  It's called convention. Conventions depend on belief.

On the sometimes value and sometimes uselessness of belief:

A. There’s an elephant in your basement.

B. I see no elephant.

A. That’s because it’s invisible. 

B. But I see no droppings.

A. His droppings are invisible.

B. Does he ever do anything visible?

A. No, not for thousands of years.

B. So then this beast that never does anything might as well not exist. And do tell what makes you think there are invisible elephants?

As B implies, A does not have useful belief, which is found in religion. A would say the holy book told him so.

Other social beliefs can be useful and still remain beliefs.

An explanation. 

Kathleen Vohs' and Jonathan Schooler had some students read passages from Francis Crick's The Astonishing Hypothesis.  It posits universal determinism.  We have no free will. The students read that their behavior was "no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons.”

They had another group read inspirational books. You know, the kind that assert we make our own decisions and forge our own paths in life

Each group separately played a video game with arithemetic problems and knew they could cheat if they wanted. The  answer appeared because of a computer glitch. The students were told that no one would know when the space bar was pushed to give the right answer.

Both groups were asked not to cheat.

Guess which group cheated the most?

The group that read Crick's words.

The "inspirational" group demonstrates that we hold ourselves responsible when we think we choose our actions.

The flip side of belief:

Due to a technical glitch during your presentation at work, your information is not well-received.  You feel embarassed and apologize though it was not your fault. 

Yet your embarrassment is deeply rooted in the belief that it was your fault.  You are responsible to the community, which necessarily maintains this convention.

The flip side.  All your fault. Here is the biggest social belief of all:

Capitalist societies need this belief for their continuance. As if you didn't know.