Cult of CHuB

Practitioners within the various branches of scientific endeavor have, with varying degrees of success, attempted to keep their assertions based on the empirical, tightly-woven argument, and rightly so – that’s the tedious and often fruitful task they have set themselves to. Orbiting the gravity of such arguments is a segment of society, particularly well-represented by the well-educated, that seeks to find whatever salvation is available within the realm of truth established by empirical fact separate from speculation. There is a nobility in their sincere efforts to circle hard evidence in their reasoning, but the bare facts are often confounded with the latest interpretation of facts and, despite their often formidable sophistication, they are not immune to the human propensity to preach – and preach they do. It can be heard in the authoritative tones of a PBS documentary, it is nested in the dialogues of TV dramas and motion pictures, and permeates much of the reporting done by our large news outlets. It can be recognized by its “as everyone in their right mind knows” quality.

This preaching would be better received if it weren’t for a spirit within us that instinctively knows to be more adventurous than the intellectual weight of our time and place. Yet the continuous suggestion that such adventurousness is ill founded – that there is but one truly sane way to see things – (as mentioned earlier) can trouble the soul.

Short of giving into the suggestion, is there a balm to relieve this chafing?

Humor, though it usually involves a degree of hyperbole and overgeneralization, is one thing that can help. In giving a name to this form of faith that presents itself as an alternative to faith, I choose to borrow in small measure from that nothing-is-sacred mind-set that many of its adherents should appreciate: It is the Cult of the Contemporary Human Brain or, for greater ease in reading and speech, the Cult of CHuB. For most in the Cult of CHuB, the mind is what the brain does and nothing more. Their tendency is to characterize themselves as being above the flightiness of faith yet their abiding faith is placed in what they believe can be measured and understood by the contemporary human brain. Their hard evidence and incontrovertible logic, by their own reasoning, can be no more than the hard evidence and incontrovertible logic of what they themselves have defined as a quasi-arbitrary biological formation.

Now, the next time that familiar tone of “as everyone knows” raises its head in print or over the airwaves – when you feel that chafing that comes from what are often tenets of faith being presented as accepted fact among clear-headed people– just say “Cult of CHuB” to yourself for a little relief and context.

Faith and Chafing

Floating in more questions than we can answer, we are inescapably creatures of faith and look to one another in deciding what to believe. Individuals seek clarity in their communications and crave the clearer meaning that the exchange of thought can give to a life. Particularly in the give and take of sincere, heartfelt messages the soul can glean a solace unlike any other and at times the turn of a phrase can resonate within as if conveyed by the tongue of angels. In our yearning for clarity and consensus, even when our exchanges are far less than heavenly, preaching comes naturally to the species and, deep down, we are keen to receive the sermon that saves us from chaos.

(Being human, I am not exempt from such inclinations. Writing is my fight for light and the thought of the battle’s chronicle resonating with another soul provides a unique satisfaction and a motive to share.)

Yet there is something distinctly discordant about a sermon masquerading as something other than the preaching of faith that it is. The false dichotomy of believer and non-believer is a detrimental construct that haunts the modern mind to this day. In truth, all are believers and exercisers of faith and, though certainly the foci of our various faiths differ, to posture in writing or in speech as if one has somehow escaped the ultimate necessity of faith disrupts the sense of authenticity that that makes communication meaningful. Being continuously exposed to such disingenuous sermons can result in a chafing that, I am confident, has been experienced by more than myself.