It has been said that everybody believes in something.
It's a truism; it's so obvious, nobody needs to explain it.
Or is it? Are there some people who don't believe in anything?
Background
Everyone, whether he knows it or not, sees the universe as a hierarchy in which some things are considered more important or valuable than others. Material objects and forces are all around him (such as his own body, other people, animals and plants, the sun, moon & stars, warmth, wetness, gravity, electricity) and he recognizes, labels and categorizes everything he sees and feels, whether he is aware of it--or admits it--or not. There are also various intangible ideas and concepts which he understands more or less well: joy, fear, anxiety, love, courage, confusion, trust, compassion, justice, anger,...calculus..., you get the idea. Mental labels (words or pictures) are the basis of thought & language. We give particular names to particular objects, actions & concepts that everyone is expected to generally agree upon. (A catalogue of these names/labels is called a dictionary or lexicon.) Without labels, no one would understand what anyone else was talking about and communication would be impossible.
There are at least three categories that EVERYONE uses about EVERYTHING: (1) "I like that (it's good);" (2) "I don't like that (it's bad);" and (3) "I don't care about that either way (it's neutral)." Of course there are usually innumerable subtle gradations of value within each of these (such as, "I don't know much about that but I'd like to learn more," or "I think that is weird in a pleasant (or unpleasant) sort of way"). There are also two other categories everyone uses: (4) "that's TRUE (whether I like it or not)" and (5) "that's FALSE (whether I like it or not),"--although not everyone admits to using them. There is a word that describes people who don't use categories AT ALL: they're called "comatose."
This process of categorization involves a faculty of the mind called judgment, and every thinking person uses it. Those who claim not to judge, label or categorize anything actually have an extraordinarily LARGE "I don't care" category and JUDGE that most people and things they encounter go into it. Either that, or they aren't very honest (either with themselves, or others, or both).
We--individually or collectively--are not always accurate in our judgments about things (we are frequently mistaken--e.g. "Just go through that puddle--we can make it ..."), but that doesn't change the objective nature of the thing(s) in question. People who refuse to accept or admit that most things have some kind of objective character that is independent of one's feelings toward them are usually considered "insane" (or disconnected from reality). A person might claim he can "define his own reality," but in reality, he does so at his own peril. (Or perhaps his self-defined "reality" consists merely of a number of outrageous claims that are difficult or bothersome for others to verify one way or the other, so people generally leave him alone, unless he becomes a recognizable danger to himself or others.) For example, if 99 people observe that object X is bright white, hard and rough, and 1 person says the same object (at the same time) is dark blue,soft and musical, the others would rightly judge that there must be "something wrong" either with his perception, judgement, mental process or honesty--and the rest may choose, depending on circumstances, to either "make allowances" for his exceptional claim, or take positive steps to correct it. (This is neither merely a case of majority rule nor a debate about the labels in conventional use, but a consideration of the nature (or objective character) of object X.)
OK, is everybody on the same page?
(To be continued...)
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