STATUS // operational
Westenberg. | v1.0 | 2026
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.joanwestenberg.com/we-desperately-need-a-reality-literacy
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.joanwestenberg.com/we-desperately-need-a-reality-literacy
1 Like
(Note to admin: when trying to create a comment on this topic in Discourse, the “Show Full Post…” button does nothing but disappear when I click it.)
Joan writes:
People don’t primarily form beliefs by evaluating evidence in isolation. They form beliefs the way humans have always formed beliefs: by asking what the people they trust and identify with believe, and then finding the evidence that supports that.
A good starting point! But then comes the hard part — choosing whether to adopt those beliefs simply because my tribe does, or living by them provisionally as I continue to weigh all the evidence, pro and con, trying to decide if these beliefs are actually working for me rather than being round holes I’m trying to hammer square pegs into.
A skeptical attitude which is hard to come by and harder to maintain. Joan writes:
This capacity asks for something formal education has never been particularly good at building: the tolerance for holding beliefs at different confidence levels simultaneously, and the willingness to update them when the evidence shifts.
I think this is “negative capability”:
Perhaps the most important belief I had to give up in walking down this path is that authority can be trusted. As Ronald Reagan said: trust, but verify. Which is misleadingly brief. I take it to mean: trust provisionally when I have good reason, but always be on the lookout for evidence to the contrary.