Dunning-Kruger

There's a well-studied phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which observes that with a little knowledge about a subject comes an over-exaggerated sense of expertise. More knowledge will eventually balance out confidence to an appropriate level. Or, as Neil Degrasse Tyson states: "One of life's challenges — knowing enough to think you are right, but not enough to know that you are wrong."

As I've been writing this blog, I have that in the back of my mind. Some things I shared with an amount of passion and confidence that could border on false understanding. For example, a few days ago I said that God commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was not beautiful. I did a little more investigating and found that child sacrifice was practiced by Near-East religions at the time of Abraham. So, while this idea is shocking to us with our 21st century ethics, it would not have been so to Abraham. There's a thought among religious studies experts that this event signified to Abraham an end of child sacrifices.

So, with a little investigation, there could be a sense of beauty in that an abhorrent practice finally came to end, though it begs the question why it was practiced in the first place. Personally, I think one purpose of the Bible is to record humanity's thoughts on what God was like. When I read the phrase, "God said", I interpret that as, "the people thought that God said." This idea leaves room for growth and understanding.

One thought I've had about the purpose of life is maybe it's to grow consciousness. We don't start with complete understanding. It's given out, bit by bit, rather than all at once. Maybe the point isn't just to know everything about God, but to learn about how to learn about God. A growth mindset, as it were.

I was raised in a fundamentalist mindset, meaning I had the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This is a fixed mindset that doesn't allow for improving one's understanding. Basically, I was stuck at the peak of the Dunning-Kruger curve. Once I broke free from that community and started reading more, I was able to progress further down the curve. Learning how to learn.

I'm still human and can get stuck in the comfort of certainty. I'm trying my best to recognize those moments and keep an open mind. It's sort of a two steps forward, one step back thing.

It would probably do us well to embrace mystery with a mindset of curiosity. The physical and metaphysical worlds are big and we are limited only by our imagination.

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