PREF ACE: THE CAUSE OF SUFFERING


There is something about the image of a crossroads. The image inspires poems, legends, and oratory; even ancient prophets and prophecies make references to a crossroads. One example from our modern era is from the poet Robert Frost. In his poem, , Frost depicts himself as a traveler confronting the two divergent roads. The problem of the traveler, what Frost goes on to explain in poetic terms, is the epistemological problem it is the problem that every person faces when they stand at a crossroads. It is a problem of knowledge; whether the traveler should take one or the other road is not really clear because there is . The full weight of it all hits him when he stands where the two roads begin to divagate. As Frost tells us, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth . . . A reasonable and prudent thing to do, to look down as far as one can before taking that road but dicult at the

The Road Not Taken

limited information

same time as one can not see the end from the beginning. It is the one thing that gnaws away at a weary traveler `Is this really the right way?' Because at the outset, nothing seems to distinguish one path from the other they both seem to have the same wear at the beginning although after he has made his choice, he realizes at some point that the path he chose less traveled. How did he know this? Perhaps as he was traveling on his chosen road he noticed abrupt u-turns from the tracks left in the ground. But if you are noticing these sudden reversals of direction, why on earth would you want to stay on that path? I mean, there must be some reason why everyone is turning back. I believe this particular traveler stays on this path because he knows something this traveler has some inside knowledge. He chooses the path less traveled because what is implicit in this poem is that the traveler has a certain epistemological view of reality and it is this:

was

bers

Frost, or the traveler,

. To this traveler, if no one is going down his path, so

does not buy the argument from num-

much for the better. With a sigh, at the end of the poem, Frost tells us that his journey based on this criteria turned out Okay that his choice was a correct one. But this goes against the conventional wisdom of the world. When you see all those tracks of previous travelers going back, the natural inclination is to follow the majority. It is quite an audacious and strange move to keep going forward.Yet I feel this fact

exactly what gave him comfort and assurance that it was the best path
of everyone turning back, except for Frost the traveler, is in other words this traveler is surveying the path and making the gutsy assertion to himself, If the world is not going down this path, if it is unpopular, then it must 2

be the correct choice! A PICNIC WITH GRAVITY This book adheres to two tenets. First, dear reader, it is the contention of this book that almost all of your beliefs, whatever they are, are popular beliefs . . . Now, you may take issue with this but what you must understand is that we are not talking about issues in which there is clearly division such as political philosophies of right and left or global warming versus no global warming. What I am talking about is the  a primary belief. This is the core or root belief that is prior to and cause of many of our commonly held beliefs. This prior belief sort of lurks in the shadows and is not recognized especially whenever two seemingly opposing philosophies clash. In many cases this prior or primary belief is shared between the opposites in an argument so that the odd result is that those who think they disagree, really are in agreement. What

belief behind the belief

presuppositions

these primary beliefs are sometimes called in philosophy are . Again, as we will see, when you apply this presuppositional apparatus to a topic, for example, such as political dissension (right and left, marxist and capitalist etc.) surprisingly, you will see that there is a that both parties adhere to and

a popular belief. This will be found in many subjects where it is thought that there is disagreement in an issue. The second tenet and overarching principle of this book is that most of these primary beliefs or popular beliefs are unremittingly . How do I know this? Because there is suering in the world . . . A primary belief hovers over

agree

upon therefore, it is

primary belief

wrong

ing moment it is the shadow behind you, unnoticed and

and governs

our every wak-

overlooked. Yet no action can be taken by a human unless he has an assumption or belief that governs that act. Every person alive on the planet has primary foundational beliefs, or presuppositions, that govern their actions, even if they are not fully conscious of this. Now, what is important to

materialize, which
ally

grasp here is that these unseen, non-physical beliefs eventubecause a primary belief is the cradle human action emanates.

from

To demonstrate this let us use a simple example from

the realm of Science. A principle from Science that governs much of our actions and decisions is gravity. We have both been taught this and actually experienced it for ourselves and so we hold this principle as a primary belief. Therefore, this particular primary belief of ours has the power to govern our actions and decisions. Though we are not always consciously aware of it, we somehow manage to incorporate this primary belief into our subconsciousness this is the nature of a primary belief we don't consciously dwell on it

while inuencing our decisions

but it somehow lurks just beneath the level of consciousness . For instance, if we are picnicking by a cliside, on a

windy day, we stay comfortably away from the edge because we know what can happen if we venture too close. But as we are sitting there eating and drinking and making merry, we do not discuss or think about the concept of gravity, yet it governs our actions powerfully yet unobtrusively just below the level of consciousness. Interestingly, even though we The may not be scientically minded, we give heed to a principle that we may care less about studying intellectually. it looms behind our concept of gravity is not talked about at this gathering but at this gathering when we make

actions

sure that the children stay safely away from the cli. The belief, which is a nonphysical entity, really, has materialized in the physical world through our actions

beliefs stand over us, dictating our behavior. I think if we understand the above then we can readily see how a primary belief can cause suering. For instance, if the primary belief we hold is `bad', that is, incorrect then it follows that the eventual outcome or the action will be `bad' or incorrect. Let us again use as an example our cliside picnic. What if we have an incorrect conception of gravity at this picnic? We may suer pain . . . If a person carries on about how he can y and

fruit so to speak.

Whether for good or bad, the primary

 it has borne

that gravity does not have the same eect upon him as it does to the general population, by simply apping his arms, it is obvious he will undoubtedly experience pain at some point. What is not so obvious is that the suering he will eventually experience is not due to him jumping o a cli and testing his new found powers. It is due to a the pain in his body would not be there. So let us magnify this principle and apply it to a larger and more general context by asking the question: Could it be that the pain and the suering in the world is due to wrong beliefs? It is an old contention of ancient philoso. In . If he had the right conception about the the physical world,

believes

wrong belief

Seven Pillars suering in general may be a clue that our knowledge is distorted
phers and of the ancient literature of the world that this is in fact so. It is also the contention of . fact, It may not be so easy to see that pain can be caused by a wrong understanding of history or say, the wrong understanding of biology, but it is my conviction and 5

the goal of case.

But, likewise, to also show that when we have the

Seven Pillars

to show that this is in fact the

right beliefs the truth about history, science, economics and other such topics good things follow because they are immutable laws . . . like gravity. Again, how do I know that the seven areas of knowledge spoken of in this book are misguided and have incorrect foundational principles? Because there is suering in the world . . . WEB OF LIES But what must be understood is that these primary beliefs have children. These ospring are the secondary beliefs

cessity

or assumptions which ow out from the primal belief

. Take our primal belief in gravity. If we were to hear

by ne-

about someone falling o of a very tall building we would not have to be told about the outcome. Our knowledge of gravity has given us the conclusion (further knowledge) without us having to hear about it the individual surely is dead. But here is the problem if our primary beliefs are wrong every secondary assumption we make will also be inaccurate. This will create a web of beliefs which rest on a false foundation. The primal belief constrains us into following a certain course that we can not get out of because the web now has become so intricate and convoluted because these secondary beliefs give birth and attract further beliefs that must be in line with the foundation of primal

this web of beliefs then becomes an interpretive apparatus for all of reality.
and on for ever until we die. Now this construction or In other words, because of the continual accumulation of `facts' that align with the web, the web begins to act 6

beliefs even though the foundation is shaky. This goes on

as a tightly packed lter that only accumulates `facts' that are in alignment with the overall web. Any facts that are contrary to this `web' are simply dismissed as ludicrous or

view

fringe. Overall, this construct is what is known as a .

But the disturbing thing about all this is that be-

world

cause of the primal belief being incorrect the whole structure which is intricately designed . . . is wrong. This is a humbling thought that one could think they `have' knowledge when if fact they don't it is a false knowledge. It is anti-knowledge. As will be shown in this book, this anti-knowledge can not possibly breed freedom or prosperity. The ancient literature of the world bears testimony to anti-knowledge as being in direct relation to suering. IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS In Platonic thought, there is a direct relation between anti-knowledge and suering. Plato, through Socrates, tells us that a person who does wrong only does so because he is conceptually blinded as to what he is actually doing he doesn't what he is doing because if he did he wouldn't do it. The wrongdoer is ignorant there is missing knowledge in the wrongdoers mind, so to speak. But it is not a complete ignorance. It is just an ignorance of the truth correct knowledge. For example, as we will see, a thief does have knowledge but it is false knowledge. He believes that stealing from others is right but how do we know that this is false knowledge? Because it is self-stultifying or self-negating. The philosopher C.S Lewis has pointed this out throughout his writings (especially in Mere Christianity), that a wrongdoer does not like to suer wrong. Lewis would have put it like this: `Thieves do not like being stolen

know

from.' This implies that their philosophy is self-negating. In light of this we could say that the thief may gain the missing knowledge by having his possessions stolen he then suers pain. At this point he may come to the realization that this is what he is causing in others. Like gravity is brought home to us when we fall, so the primary belief of the thief changes when his goods are stolen from him by now understanding that those whom he steals from are subjects just like him and not objects that have no feelings. Before, he thought that he was the only subject, the only

the thief no doubt caused suering in the world because it was anti-knowledge. I have only gone to this length to show that the wrongdoer is not in complete ignorance he has knowledge but it is not the right kind. We could say that ignorance really implies knowledge of a sort but of the false or wrong kind anti-knowledge. In the 8th century B.C., Isaiah the prophet pointed out that the primary beliefs of his fellow Israelites were of a false nature and that their suering was directly related to this. The people of Israel were being threatened by invasion from the cruel Assyrian empire who planned to take them into captivity. But Isaiah says a strange thing to the people of Israel; he says that Assyria, the cause of their suering, is not their real problem. Instead he points to something else as being the cause of their suering and he says that the message is straight from the mouth of God: Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.(Is. 5:13) Around the same time period Hosea the

lief behind the belief

being with feelings this was his primary belief or the

. Because of this incorrect conception

be-

prophet warns Israel about the same thing: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you . . .(Hosea 4:6) The job of these prophets was to warn the Israelites that they were at a crossroads, that they were considering the popular path that all the nations around them had chosen but this popular path would end in suering Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure . and suering. . .(Is. 5:14) Isaiah is making the connection between ignorance But again, as with Plato, it is not a com-

wrong

plete ignorance. The Israelites do have knowledge but it is knowledge anti-knowledge. Isaiah blames the people for believing that this false knowledge is the truth and that they should instead confess that,  . . .we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.(Isaiah 28:15) There is suering in the world and it is because, regarding knowledge, mankind has followed the path well trodden. It is time to retrace our steps, if we can, and go down that other path so that possibly at some point in time we can say with the poet:  . . .

that has made all the dierence

. . .