What Do You Want to Believe

Wall of Ice surrounding the flat world. This so called Ice Wall is the subject of a love song written from the perspective of a conspiracy theorist in the Nightflower Orchestra’s song Icewall, due out this fall.

I had three kids in the backseat of the car. They were talking about God. One boy, the poet’s son, said there was no God. Since there was no way to scientifically prove that God exists, God does not exist. The proof is in the pudding, and there clearly was no pudding.

The second boy, the artist’s son, said if we believe that God exists, God exists. That is the nature of belief. You don’t have to prove it’s existence, you just need to believe. If I believe in the pudding, the pudding will manifest.

The third child was my daughter. I don’t remember her adding anything to this discussion, but I do remember her asking once if Santa existed. Or the Tooth Fairy. Or the Easter Bunny. I asked her what do you want to believe? I explained that if Santa or the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny did not exist, all the presents, candy, money would stop. They were the direct result of believing. If you don’t believe, there is no reason for them to exist. Then I asked her again, what do you want to believe?

She would explore the parsing of my offer of pudding. Is it a treat or is it a snack? If it was a treat, she left open the possibility of a later snack.

For about eleven years I worked for a company that sold fresh pressed oils. When I started they gave me fresh flax oil, just as it was pressed, brilliant green pistachio oil, and we did tastings of various oils and I believed they were the best oils ever made. I believed this because I had empirically tested other oils in comparison, and was able to taste the difference.

We also sold various herbal products, one of them was a potion made from various herbs, base on an old Ojibway recipe, but further discerned by a “medical intuitive”. Many people with cancers used this product, but we were very careful not to make any claims that the product would cure cancer. We were told to avoid the word cancer completely. The product was marketed as an herbal cleanse, helping rid the body of various toxins. It was later discerned that if applied to an insect bite, this potion would help in the healing and reduce or eliminate any symptoms of itching.

One day for a reason I forget, I went to use the product. I looked at the label for the directions on dosage or usage. It was then that I remembered that it was I who had written those instructions. One drop, two drops. I was looking for the definitive instructions, but realized I had written them. At that point, I lost my belief in the efficacy of this product. It did work, most if the time, with the issue of itching. But how did it work? Since this was primarily a folk herbal remedy, there were no double blind studies. It was a natural health product, not a drug. But that didn’t stop me from writing a brochure that explained how the herbal remedy was able to effectively neutralize the proteins of the insect bite, and once neutralized, your bodies reaction calmed down and the itch that resulted from the introduction of foreign proteins was also neutralized. Sounded possible. I used conditional words, like “may” help, and avoided definitive words like “will” help. In the end, it became a matter of belief. What do you want to believe?

Were we selling snake oil? Not exactly. No actual snakes were harmed. I rewrote and edited articles written by medical intuitive”, where he made further claims, and drew conclusions from the barest shreds of fact. I thought of this as creative non-fiction. It was marketing, which means to bring to market. Would you trade your cow for three magic beans?

My wife and I were shopping at Costco one day, and a woman was doing a demo for watermelon juice. She told us it was very healthy. She said it would cure cancer. She really did. She says drinking this watermelon juice would cure cancer. We laughed. We still laugh when we think of it.

In the end, it is always our decision. What do we want to believe. Does believing in immaculate birth make it true? It makes it true for the the person who believes. If you don’t believe, it is not true. Somewhere along the way, some guy invented the story, or embellished someone else’s story. They heard it from someone who seemed very credible. At some point, the story was translated, it was printed. And every step along the way, there was some guy writing creative non-fiction, finding a way to make it more believable.

It’s like listening to the news. First we need to define which news. Is the news credible? Is it paid for by any monied interests? Are the sources revealed? Is Putin the new Hitler? Is Zelensky funded by fascists? Is China being aggressive by promoting their Silk Road, investing in local projects all over the world? Are they buying influence? But when the US surrounds China with warships, is it China who is being aggressive here? The news is another belief system. It is marketed to us. Most people see the bias on Fox News, but do not see the same bias on CNN. How many of the talking heads or experts that they bring on CNN are ex-CIA? And I use the term “ex” very liberally here. Is the Liberal party really liberal? There are the promises given on a campaign trail, then there is the reality of governing. For years we have had the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Still, very few of the recommendations have been acted upon. Talk to the hand.

It all comes down to believing. What do you want to believe?

Please note the opinions shared on this post do not necessarily represent the views of the writer of this post. The writer is an unreliable narrator, whose primary function is to humour us.