Sunday, January 6, 2013

Contradictions Are Necessary For Life

According to the theory of Cognitive Dissonance developed by Leon Festinger in 1957, people modify something about their beliefs if their beliefs appear to be contradictory because they desire their own minds to be consistent.  A few years back I ran into similar issues, and I in fact, did modify my beliefs.  I learned to accept contradictions as potential truths.  I rarely see someone else who is willing to do so.  So if science is contradictory, I have no problem with it.  If religion is contradictory, I have no problem with it.  I am no longer bothered by cognitive dissonance.  Is there any consistency in my own life as a result?  Probably so, but the consistency is just random.  I'd like to develop a theory where contradictions are the norm and any consistency that arises out of life does so simply by chance.  Because the world is a very strange place indeed.  I see things that don't make sense every day.  Maybe life could not exist without contradiction, since so much of the world don't make sense.

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