Conviction

We know too much and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion and so is our religion

T.S. Eliot

Lately I have been thinking about how my beliefs translate into life from day to day. I am convinced that our ability and desire to cultivate convictions is slipping away. In some strange way, it may have something to do with how much we think we know. Sometimes the more we know the more uncertainty we introduce in our lives and the less likely we are to refine our convictions. As a result, life gets a little fuzzy. I believe Eliot was bemoaning the loss of congruency between religion and conviction. It's not surprising. Nothing about conviction is easy. It's time consuming to determine what matters most. It requires contemplation. It requires us to look inside. Don't misundersand my appreciation for Eliot. I am not anti-literature. Nor am I anti-learning. My concern with the increase of "knowledge" has more to do with how we digest the knowledge. Without convictions knowledge just contributes to the noise in our lives. With the aid of convictions, knowledge can be refined into authenticity.