“We allege ourselves to be seekers of truth and knowledge, yet… we have strayed from the path of sound reasoning and openness to evidence, and we have led others astray.”
It may be the day after, but Yom Kippur is really an everyday event for the wise.
“We are naturally inclined – perhaps evolutionarily hard-wired – to jump to conclusions and rush to judgment, rather than pause and think critically or take the time to verify a claim.[1] Even when we do make the effort to reflect and analyze, a myriad of cognitive biases can cloud our judgment.[2] Furthermore, when our egos, social standing, and religious or political identities are linked to our opinions, it is difficult for us to change our minds even when the data point decidedly to such a change.[3]
The cognitive minefield is vast. Yet if we consider our pursuit of truth and knowledge to be a sacred undertaking, as implied in the phrase torat emet (“Torah of truth”),[4] we ought to treat critical thinking as a spiritual discipline. We need to be religious in our commitment to open-ended inquiry, self-critique, and be willing to transform our views in accordance with the evidence – even when it comes at a personal cost.[5]
While truth seekers of all stripes strive to live up to these standards, human bias inevitably seeps in.[6] We make mistakes. The challenge is not to hide from our errors but to recognize them and do teshuva, strive to be better.”
Amen! The freedom of an ethno-religion is the ability to choose how we wish to relate with our inherited cognitive imaginations. The art of spirituality is keeping the dual awarenesses of reality and myth in balance with each other, acknowledging both honestly!
https://www.thetorah.com/article/a-cognitive-confession-vidui-for-yom-kippur
Read our cognitive confession (Vidui) for Yom Kippur: An A-Z Acrostic
0 Comments