Letters to the Editor
-
Doubt is a very uncomfortable feeling for most people.
For an interesting fictional character study of someone who fears doubt in his life - at least outwardly - I would suggest the fascinating novel The Conformist by Alberto Moravia (also made into a fine film by Bertolucci), about Marcello Clerici, who lives an unoriginal life according to the dictates of his repressive surroundings. He becomes a fanatical Fascist in Mussolini's Italy. He doesn't even realise how deeply that Fascist state of mind penetrates into his soul, which leads to some tragic consequences.
Yes, feeling doubt is uncomfortable, and thus we have religion (opiate of the masses, as someone once said), and the extreme expressions of belief in the certainty of something or someone as the True and the Best - be it a creed, or a person placed on a pedestal who we think will do everything right, no matter how impossible it seems, and without needing much effort on our part, with little rationality going into the adoption of such thinking. Also explains why people become very, very upset when their basic beliefs are questioned rationally by others - seems that the very reason for their own existence feels threatened when this happens.
Personally, I tend to use the word 'believe' than 'know' when presenting opinions, and also realise that doing this sounds like a weaker argument to many. Which probably explains why a lot of people insist on the certainty of their knowledge (witness the current wars in the election primaries). But I also know (ahem, believe?) that no one on this good earth is infallible. Not even the Pope!