Dogma

If I already know… 

I can no longer learn.

"A man with a conviction 
is a hard man to change.
Tell him you disagree 
and he turns away.
Show him facts or figures 
and he questions your sources.
Appeal to logic 
and he fails to see your point."— Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger

“How thoughtful of God to arrange matters so that, wherever you happen to be born, the local religion always turns out to be the true one.” -Richard Dawkins

“The very desire to be certain, to be secure, is the beginning of bondage. It's only when the mind is not caught in the net of certainty, and is not seeking certainty, that it is in a state of discovery.” (Krishnamurti)

"Can we not look at the truth without creating ideas? It is almost instinctive with most of us when something true is put before us to create immediately an idea about it. And I think if we can understand why we do this so instinctively, almost unconsciously, then perhaps we shall understand if it is possible to be free from effort."
- Krishnamurti, On Truth

In response to a "conversation" thread on social media, I responded to a bunch of empty religious responses with this: "I understand where you are coming from because for 50 years I thought I knew everything too."

Recognizing and removing dogma is
“just a way of clearing the space for better conversations.” (Sam Harris)

What is Dogma --
a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.

Origin of Dogma -- 
Mid 16th century via late Latin from Greek dogma ‘opinion’, from dokein ‘seem good, think’.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/dogma

"A settled opinion, a principle held as being firmly established," c. 1600 (in plural dogmata), from Latin dogma "philosophical tenet," from Greek dogma (genitive dogmatos) "opinion, tenet," literally "that which one thinks is true," from dokein "to seem good, think" (from PIE root *dek- "to take, accept").
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dogma

“People wish to be settled.

Only as far as they are unsettled

is there any hope for them.” (Emerson)

For me, simply looking at the definition and origins of the word "dogma" sends red flags up my spine and flying into the air. Here are some trigger words:

Authority: The source of dogma is never inner authority. It is always an external authority; which means that it is a part of cultural conditioning that we are expected to download and accept; whereas mature adults learn to discern everything. Are we second-hand people? Inner authority comes only through discernment, inquiry, and contemplation of the dogma that we are being bombarded with. So beware. I see this including any sort of creed or statement of belief that we might be asked to sign off on. Political propaganda is also part of what we might call dogma. Cultural dogma is presented everyday throughout the day through social and commercial media telling us what is important and meaningful, beautiful and valuable, what should define us and give us self-worth. And we all know that this is full of lies from a consumer society. What dogma is demanding that we do is to stop thinking and accept what we are told.

Incontrovertibly true: According to who? According to nothing but the source of that dogma. It is like questioning our parents about something they say and being told, “Because I said so.” That’s no answer. That is circular reasoning which is nothing but a thinking error. That is a way of someone standing on a pedestal and proclaiming incontrovertible truth. Don’t question, don’t doubt, don’t discern for yourself, don’t think; just believe because I AM the pastor, preacher, priest, pope, prophet, or president; i.e. I am God. We all know that this life has no certainty and therefore truth is never incontrovertible. And yet we keep trying to “be right” and thereby “making wrong” anyone that disagrees or dissents.

Absolutely Necessary:

“When a given principle is regarded as universally valid, it means that it is taken as absolutely necessary. In other words, things cannot be otherwise, under any circumstances whatsoever. Absolute necessity means ‘never to yield.’ To have something in the generative order that can never give way, no matter what happens, is to put an absolute restriction of free play of mind, and thus, to introduce a corresponding block to creativity that is very difficult to move.”

“Over a limited period of time, certain values, assumptions, and principles may usefully be regarded as necessary. They are relatively constant, although they should always be open to change when evidence for the necessity of the latter is perceived. The major problem arises, however, when it is assumed, usually tacitly and without awareness and attention, that these values, assumptions, and principles have to be absolutely fixed, because they are taken as necessary for the survival and health of the society and for all that its members hold to be dear.” (David Bohm and David Peat, “Science, Order, and Creativity,” pp. 238-239)

No matter how many times someone may say something, it doesn't make it true. And yet we keep on spewing our opinions with the conviction that someday they will become true by repetition. This is perhaps the most degrading view of other human beings that I can think of; expecting others to defer to what I say is true.

It is the hypothetical source of / evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit daśasyati "shows honor, is gracious," dacati "makes offerings, bestows;" Greek dokein "to appear, seem, think," dekhesthai "to accept;" Latin decere "to be fitting or suitable," docere "to teach," decus "grace, ornament."

[T]he dogmatic man insists strenuously upon the correctness of his own opinions, and, being unable to see how others can fail to believe with him, dictatorially presses upon them his opinions as true without argument, while he tends also to blame and overbear those who venture to express dissent. [Century Dictionary] https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dogma

This sounds a lot like bullying to me. or preaching. or bad teachers that dominate. or militant parents.

Education and teaching can be based on dogma or on inquiry. Too often a teacher “bestows” upon a student the “truth” (the teacher’s truth, that is). They are then expected to memorize this “truth” and regurgitate it for a test in order to pass. The student learns to memorize facts long enough to regurgitate and then forgets everything they were “taught.” And that’s because they were never taught. They were objectified as if they were a bank that coins of truth can fill up rather than a human being that must process facts and discern how or if they will use them for their own lives. The process of inquiry is the only path to true teaching. Otherwise, education becomes a form of violence where a self-proclaimed expert bestows knowledge from on high as if the student cannot not be part of the process through dialogue. In true education, the teacher teaches the student in such a way that they become the teacher. And then the teacher becomes the student as the dialogical exchange occurs. The teacher facilitates the empowerment of the student, thereby facilitating education by participation. The process of education must also be a process of equality and empowerment through dialogue. Otherwise we are perpetuating the cycle of domination and oppression; which is nothing more than a form of violence, where students become objects that justify the existence of the teacher.

Dogma can never be part of a thriving, democratic society. Rather it is the foundation of a fascist, authoritarian society that is rooted in the violence of domination and oppression; the plans of a self deceived strong man to bolster his lack of self esteem piled on the backs of the people.

Dogma versus Dialogue must be the intentional choice that is made in every society and throughout every aspect of every society. Below shows a very clear example of Dogma versus Dialogue in the education system. But are there other aspects of society where education takes place? What is the process (or pedagogy or philosophy) behind education that takes place in all families, in all workplaces, in all neighborhoods, and in all religious institutions? Dogma versus Dialogue must become the foundation for all of society in order to be truly democratic, transformational, and progressive rather than authoritarian, stagnant, and destructive of the very essence of being human.

The Banking System of Education

Compliance or Freedom and Transformation?

Conformity or Empowerment, Purpose, and Meaning?

Present day education uses a “banking” system of deposits in the form of communiques bestowed from the teacher on high. The student’s responsibility is to compliantly receive, file, and store those deposits and be ready to give an account when required. The content of the teaching is reduced to numbers without value or meaning or any practical use in the world. (according to Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed)

“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”

“Education thus becomes the art of depositing in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the banking concept of education in which the scope of the action allowed to the students extends to receiving, filing, and storing the deposits… In the last analysis, it is the people themselves that are filed away through the lack of creativity, transformation, and knowledge, in this (at best) misguided system.” (pp. 71-72)

“For apart from inquiry, apart from praxis, individuals cannot be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.

“In the banking system of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by these who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. Projecting an absolute ignorance onto others, a characteristic of the ideology of oppression, negates education and knowledge as processes of inquiry. The teacher presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence. The students, alienated like the slave in the Hegelian dialectic, accept their ignorance as justifying the teacher’s existence — but, unlike the slave, THEY NEVER DISCOVER THAT THEY EDUCATE THE TEACHER.” (p.72)
― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“Any situation in which some men prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence;… to alienate humans from their own decision making is to change them into objects.”
― Paulo Freire

According to Freire, true education is based on inquiry, dialogue, and praxis which results in freedom; from oppression and freedom to live a self determined life in order that we may bring transformation to ourselves and to the world we live in.

“The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.”
― Paulo Freire, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change

For more on true education, click here:   https://ronirvine.wordpress.com/education/

For more on dogma, click here: When Christians Themselves Don't Know Why They Believe

How thoughtful of God to arrange matters so that, 
wherever you happen to be born, 
the local religion always turns out to be the true one. 
— Richard Dawkins

Your Religion is a Reflection of Your Culture

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. (Voltaire)