Logic of Beliefs

Every belief has its inherent logic, possessing of potentials that affectuate whether or not they are consciously

articulated or believed. This is true for both religious and secular ideologies, and the history of major beliefs show

exactly what these potentials are.

If one believes, as does Islam, that Quran is the inerrant word of God, and that all people must live by it, then one would do exactly what Muslims have done: Invade, slaughter, enslave and destroy every way and every culture they can, portray all that would not bow down to them as the Great Satan, and direct their activities toward destruction and subjugation of the same.

If one believes, as did Nazis, that Germans are the superior race, that Jews are evil, and that other races are inferior,

then one would do exactly what Nazis have done: Gas the Jews and invade and enslave everyone whom they could conquer.

If one believes, as did the Soviet Communists, that the only thing that matters is collective benefit, that individual life

does not matter, and that individual purposes are against the collective benefit, then one would do exactly what the Soviet

Communists did: Impose a central-command system, kill millions of people, and impose totalitarianism on those who lived.

If one believes, as does Christianity, that the world is evil, that nature both physical and human is of the Satan, that all are evil unless redeemed by Christ, that everything that does not come from Christ comes from Satan, that women are the reason for the world's suffering, and that all who do not accept Christ will go to hell, then one would do exactly what Christians have done: Plunder the planet, massacre and enslave entire continents, break down everything and everyone that is not Christian, maliciously oppress women, and subject everyone and everything to horrendous abuses with an intent to destroy their lives and force them into Christian fold. These are not, as many in Church claim, the case of man misusing God, and the people who have done this are not, as some claim, hypocrites. This is the direct, logical, result of the beliefs that are at the core of Christianity, and such will be the character of Christianity for as long as such things are believed.

If one believes, as did many in New Age, that everyone makes their reality, then one will fail to compute how one

person affects another, or a number of people the rest of the world. Thus, when Person A rapes and disembowels Person B, one will say that Person B made that reality; and when one group of people slaughters another, one would say that those who got slaughtered brought it upon themselves by "negativity" in their consciousness; and when Country A poisons the rest of the world for everyone, one will say that it is the rest of the world's fault; and when oneself ruins another, one would say that the other person has caused it through negativity or low self-esteem. This is an ideology that allows for infinite evil, and its exponents will always claim that anyone whom they injure has brought it upon themselves. And even if those who were behind this idea did not consciously intend this effect, this is a logical and inevitable aspect of the underlying conviction.

If one believes, as do the Buddhists, that desire is the root of all suffering, that the mind is evil, that ego is something

to be overcome and that the physical world is illusory, then one will destroy everything in the world that is desirable or

appealing to ego; one will suppress the mind and fail to reap its benefits such as science, innovation, technology and

economics; and one will direct the society's activities toward trying to leave the world, while doing nothing for it.

With libertarian capitalism, we also see logic that by its inherent nature affectuates the presently seen outcomes. Property is seen as nature converted to productive use; but no value is seen for nature. There is no value seen for what in nature is destroyed in the production process, nor for what in nature is affected by its emissions, nor any for health and well-being of people as it is impacted through both processes. So that when one burns down rich, beautiful, pristine environments such as the Amazon - environments possessive of countless treasures and life forms that one cannot conceivably recreate - in order to ranch there for two years, at the conclusion of which two years the land becomes unusable and one has to burn down more rainforest - the value of the rainforest destroyed is not computed; only the meat raised on the ranch is. And when one leeches gold out of a mountain with mercury and destroys the village and fields downstream, the effects of one's actions upon the village and fields are not computed; only the gold that one takes out of the mountain is. And when one poisons the whole city and makes everyone sick because there is no financial incentive to put a smokestack filter on one's factory, the impact on people's health and lifespan is not computed; only one's product is. Meanwhile the health costs become addition to GDP, which at macroeconomic level incentivizes practices that ruin people's health - practices such as the preceding, along with such practices as selling unhealthy chemically treated food that causes obesity, diabetes, and heart disease; making people breathe gasoline for three hour a day commutes because the car lobby has defeated the plan for a modern public transport system; and claiming that the person who exercises is "a narcissist" or "a sociopath" or "thinks she's better than everyone else." And when one, by burning down rainforests and raising carbon emissions, makes glaciers to melt, coastal areas to flood, ocean water to become acidic and kill all the fish, and disastrous weather events to take place everywhere, none of this goes into the economic equations. And the current state of affairs is precisely the result of the underlying beliefs according to the inherent logic of this error contained within the otherwise plausible logic of capitalism.

It is only when this error is corrected - when nature is valued, its blind and stupid destruction made costly, and effect of economic activity on the planet and its inhabitants made part of the economic equations - that capitalism can actually work in public good, as economic theory stipulates it would. Correcting this error will not undermine capitalism; it will improve it, incentivizing the actions that actually are beneficial - actions such as intelligence, ingenuity, innovation, and prudence and thrift in dealings with nature - and disincentivizing environmentally and demographically irresponsible practices such as blind destruction of nature, poisoning of inhabitants, selling products that destroy people's health, coercing people into unhealthy lifestyles, and clinging to destructive and outdated coal and oil technologies at the expense of progress in creation of high-intelligence high-technology high-job-creation clean-energy solutions.

With representative democracy, there is one lingering problem. While official organs of power are seen for their capacity for

tyranny and corruption and are therefore checked and balanced, the unofficial organs of power such as towns, communities, families, societies and religions are not seen for this capacity and are not checked and balanced, resulting in them having endless potential for tyrannical and corrupt practices of which many eagerly avail. So that while much energy is spent on making the government follow honorable and nonobtrusive practices, none is spent on directing the same attention to towns, communities, families, societies and religions. These entities, for that reason, perpetrate far greater amounts of tyranny and corruption than does the federal government. The logic of representative democracy can only be complete when unofficial entities are seen for this potential and checked and balanced accordingly. And it is only when this is done that life and liberty can actually be a reality for American people as was the Constitution's intent.

There is much talk about tolerance for other ways of thinking besides one's own. But far more effective than tolerance is

seeing the logic of the beliefs and tracing them to their logical conclusion. All the wrongs that have come from the

aforementioned beliefs are a logical consummation of these beliefs. And it is only by correcting the errors within these

beliefs that these and other disastrous outcomes can be avoided.

There are some beliefs - such as ones of Quran - that see themselves to be above reason and do not lend themselves to

correction. These can only be overcome by seeing the errors within the creed and making them unescapable. There are

others - such as capitalism and democracy - that are rational and can be corrected for the better by supplying the logic

that was missing from the original interpretation. Doing so does not negate these things; it completes them. And then their

logic can actually have its original intended effect - in case of capitalism, of creating real prosperity; and in case of

democracy, of creating real freedom.