BLOG: Is Santa Real? And Other Beliefs

Back in December, I got the requisite question from a Christmas-celebrating child of a certain age:

 

Is Santa real?

 

 

 

Like most questions of import, I deflected: What do you think? 

 

Part of the reason I didn't answer her question directly was because I like to see the way her brain works. But more so, I wanted her to be able to hold on to the fiction, if that's where she was going, because it lends itself to mystery and wonder - two of the greats in this life.

 

Ugh. MOM! I want to KNOW! What do the scientists say?

 

It was a moment. While I adore the thrill of mystery and wonder, as a seeker of Truth, I equally rely on the grounding of science as it seeks to understand what is REAL and TRUE in the world. 

 

But I deflected once again.

   

Well. I responded. I do not believe scientists have weighed in on this particular question.

 

Because this is not a question of fact, but of belief, of how we know whether our beliefs are the "right" beliefs. 

  

But beliefs are really just those things we either consciously or unconsciouslyassume to be true. Challenge the assumption, and we may come up with a very different belief.

 

As kids begin separating fact from fiction, they do this frequently.

 

But somewhere along the way, we quit challenging our beliefs. And when we do they solidify into what we assume are immutable Truths.

 

The practice is to continue challenging your beliefs and to begin choosing them. 

 

So my question to you is this: What is the number one belief you want to challenge? Who does it lead you to be? What will you choose to put in its place?

 

Postscriptum 

Ultimately, I asked my girl what she wanted to believe. You can imagine the eye rolling that elicited, but she asked for the truth, and I gave it to her. It's a choice. 

 

As for me, I choose Santa. I choose Happiness with a side of suffering. Because from that standpoint I maintain, among other things, hope, wonder, and gratitude - three of life's greats.

 

Geeked-out-fun reading: 

1. http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-physics-what-is-really-real-1.17585

2. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/the-illusion-of-reality/479559/?mbid=social_fb

3. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/jun/30/psychology.neuroscience

4. http://www.pewforum.org/2008/05/05/how-our-brains-are-wired-for-belief/