Misconceptions we want to believe
Misconceptions are so easy to form but so difficult to get rid of.
They can happen anywhere, any time, and to anyone, especially when people speak from lack of knowledge, lack of understanding, and adding elements that are biased towards their own views.
It’s ironic that many of us would question logic, but readily jump into believing certain things despite not being sure about the truth.
Here are some misconceptions we want to believe, for various reasons.
Tsem Rinpoche
First president
The misconception: George Washington was the first president of the United States.
Why we want to believe it: Because he was the first president of the post-Independence governing body of the United States.
George Washington was the first president of an INDEPENDENT United States of America, but he was actually the 17th head of the Continental Congress. The first president of the Continental Congress was Peyton Randolph (picture), and the most famous was John Hancock who served twice as the fourth and the thirteenth.
The last sitting of the Continental congress was on March 2, 1789, two days before the first session of the 1st United States Congress, and one month before the inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the US government as it is known today.
Lucrezia Borgia
The misconception: Lucrezia Borgia wore a poison-filled ring and slept with her brother and father.
Why we want to believe it: Because modern society has a strong dislike of the middle ages and tales such as that of Lucrezia Borgia help us to confirm our mistaken belief.
Lucrezia was no saint, but she was not a monster either. She certainly had some power in Renaissance Europe, but there is no evidence that she was an incestuous murderess.
On the contrary, there is evidence that she was very religious, which would have prevented her from agreeing to such a dalliance, and she is known to have been fond of both her father (the Pope – Alexander VI) and brother until death, strongly opposing the idea that she may have been molested by either of them.
Victor Hugo is most likely the source of the poison ring story because of his 1833 play in which he depicts her as a “poisonous princess”.
Scientific Method
The misconception: There is a universal scientific method.
Why we want to believe it: Because most of us are educated from elementary science books which wrongly imply this for the sake of simplicity.
Many sciences don’t fit into a universal scientific method. For example, astronomy – how does one experiment with black holes when we can’t get near one?
Most modern scientific knowledge comes as a result of curiosity and unguided research e.g. cosmic microwave background radiation. While the scientific method is definitely useful in basic physics and chemistry, real science encompasses many methods (or none as we just mentioned).
Fat Burning
The misconception: Working out at a lower rate burns more calories from fat than a high intensity workout.
Why we want to believe it: We live in lazy times. This misconception gives us a great excuse to put in minimal effort at the gym while feeling like we are achieving great things.
It is true that you will burn a greater percentage of fat in a low intensity workout, but you burn more calories from fat in a high intensity workout of the same duration.
In a low intensity workout you might burn 200 calories – of which 60% (120 calories) is from fat, but a high intensity workout of the same duration might burn 400 calories (35% from fat – 140 calories). This shows that it is obviously better to do the high intensity training because not only do you burn more calories, you also get a much better cardiovascular workout.
Columbus Hindered
The misconception: Christopher Columbus was hindered in his efforts to get support for his voyages because people believed in a flat earth.
Why we want to believe it: Because it adds an element of bravado and adventure to the character of Columbus.
Western society has known the earth was a sphere since the Ancient Greek times (at least 300 BC) and no one disputed it.
The real hindrance to Columbus was a mistaken understanding of the distance to India (Columbus’ destination). He wrongly estimated the distance to be far shorter than what the majority correctly believed and had he not discovered America, he would have run out of supplies. Basically, he had to convince the people with money that his estimate of the distance was correct when no one else believed him.
King Tut’s Tomb
The misconception: King Tut’s tomb had a curse declaring death on anyone who entered it – and the curse worked!
Why we want to believe it: We all love the tales of curses and mystery surrounding the ancient Eygptians and their mortal remains. Add to that the coincidences around some of the deaths of people who worked in the tomb and we have “fact” which is better than fiction.
There never was a curse. It was made up by a journalist. The closest thing to it was an inscription on a statue of Anubis (the God of the Dead) in the tomb; the inscription reads: “It is I who hinder the sand from choking the secret chamber. I am for the protection of the deceased”.
New findings show that bacteria on the wall of the tomb might have been the cause of the deaths. The bacteria would release spores into the air, and when the explorers breathed in the spores, they became ill.
American Independence
The misconception: America became independent on July 4, 1776
Why we want to believe it: Because that is the day it is celebrated and we all like to think that we need only declare independence for it to be so.
It wasn’t until seven years later that both the American and the British signed a peace agreement, and King George III agreed to the independence. If the date of the signing of the Definitive Treaty of Peace was used as the date for the official US holiday, then Independence Day would be on September 3, 1783.
Human Soap
The misconception: The Nazis made soap from the fat of Jews that died or were killed in work camps.
Why we want to believe it: Because of all of the monstrosities that occurred during the War, it is easy to believe that this rumor is true.
This misconception is most likely due to the fact that the Nazis produced soap stamped with RIF, which were used in some concentration camps. People mistakenly believed the letters stood for Reichs-Juden-Fett (“Pure Jewish Fat”) in German but it actually meant “Reich Industry Fat”.
Bars of this soap have been tested and they contain no human DNA at all. In fact, RIF soap was a poor quality product that contained no fat at all, human or otherwise.
Stutthof concentration camp where small quantities of soap are believed to have been made from the bodies of human victims
Ancient Greece
The misconception: Ancient Greece was an important nation in the ancient world and it gave us democracy.
Why we want to believe it: Because virtually every non-university teacher teaches it.
Ancient Greece is not the name of a nation – it is the name of the region in which up to 1,000 individual cultures lived and worked alongside each other. Each culture had its own rulers, its own armies, and its own independence from the others. We have heard of Sparta and the Spartans – that is just one of the multitude of different states within the Greek region. The people of all city-states were united by language and race, but wars between them was not at all uncommon, which is why the ancient Olympics were governed by a special rule guaranteeing protection to competitors traveling from their state to the host state.
Source: http://listverse.com/2010/09/15/top-10-misconceptions-we-want-to-believe/
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Amazing how human misconceptions can easily be created due to our wrong views and easy acceptance. Many interesting misconceptions here that were interesting and we should always be aware to find out if it’s true before accepting it as fact. May this post open people’s minds up to find out real facts before placing judgements, especially with the Dorje Shugden authentic practises.
Interesting reading all the misconception of tales, stories and mysteries . Many tends to believe the misconceptions without finding the details to understand it. They choose to believe the many misconceptions following cultural beliefs, rather looking at all corners from information. Most of us do not know about the truth behind it. At one time I do believed King Tut’s tomb had a curse declaring death on anyone who entered it . It is incorrect because based on my faulty thinking and reading it. Its only later with advance technology of laptops and after researched through it I realised the truth. Interesting read.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Interesting Rinpoche.
I didn’t know all of the above.
All along I thought George Washington was the first president, I thought ancient civilizations believed earth was flat and also about the curse of King Tut’s tomb. Really an eye opener.
Thank you Rinpoche.
Interesting article about misconception. Human normally like to jump to conclusion without detailed investigation or examination on certain subject and then form their own perception which may be wrong. The above examples clearly shows that even after many year, human still make the same mistakes due to our ignorance and influence by the surrounding.
I think the important lesson for me is to always ask and drill further to understand why things happened and reason for it without quickly believing and form wrong perception.
Thank you for this sharing. Many would have easily believed the misconceptions out of ignorance. While we read these as fun facts, they are actually general knowledge critical as they give the right info or awareness for the general public to know the truth. Some of these misconceptions bring to mind the conflict and ban on Dorje Shugden that were based on lame reasons or misinformation. People bought into it partly because of ignorance. Knowledge and information are important tools that can help clear the misconceptions.
Someone once asked me why would I believe my parents are my biological parents without a DNA test? When we are introduced to someone and they us their name, do we ask to see their identification to verify the truth or we believe what they say? I guess in matters that are “unimportant” it is easier to believe what people say. Does it make a real difference if you know the truth or not?
The human mind is a tricky thing. So stubborn and yet so easily influenced too. An image we see, a phrase we heard even if only subconsciously it stays in our mind. How much are we brainwashed and how much of our thoughts are real? It’s nearly impossible to discern.
Perhaps that is why in the end the only logical answer is that nothing is real – that non existence is the only reality? We can say there are misconceptions that we want to believe in but I think truth is equally just something we want to believe in.
These are very interesting facts that I believe most of us do not know about. There are so many misconceptions in the world because we choose to believe in something that is easier for us to believe, and also because that we are lazy to find out the through behind these myths.
Through this it allows me to know that we should not take every word that we hear or read as truth. We should do research and find out the main reason behind why things are in certain ways. Only by doing this, it will allow us to progress and improve.
This little blog article is very interesting and an eye-opener to what people thought was a fact but is actually misconstrued facts. I love the debunk belief in a universal scientific method to ascertain something and also the myth of the curses of King Tut’s tomb. I do think that science is limited to perception that is imposed by current cultural beliefs.
Hence, what we know today is coloured by current cultural beliefs. Thus, when religious folks used to think that the world was flat, it affected the thinkers, explorers and so forth. As for today, not everything that is accepted by the scientific community can explain a lot of phenomena like those in realms of paranormal and so forth and in the deeper understanding of the mind.
Very interesting.
The misconception about the RIF soap really made me laugh. Though it was a very dreadful time for the Jews during Hitler’s time, but this is the classic case of taking things for granted and assumption.
Well, when I read about the soap it reminded me of this beautiful woman named Irena Sendlers that went all out to save the Jewish children from the ghetto. Do read the post here: http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/inspiration-worthy-words/the-lady-who-rescued-2500-infants-irena-sendler.html
A good read. In my opinion, people believe what they want to believe sometimes it is because we do not know any better. We lack resources and information about certain facts to be verified. So, at the end of the day, for arguments’ sake, we believe the facts that were passed down.. So if we are able to cross check our facts, we have a better knowledge of the world/people/things etc.
Knowledge is power. =)
Thank you for sharing, Rinpoche!
It is interesting to read through some misconceptions that humans have towards some ‘taken-for-granted’ truth here.
I believe a lot of times these misconceptions arise simply because of a lack of correct information. However, even if the right information is available, the societal pressure may suppress those who hold the right knowledge and hence gradually the right understanding is covered over time gradually.
Or simply, it is just so much more simplier to JUST accept what we thought to be truth. Which can be dangerous for both current and the future.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing these information here. This article also encourages me to question the validity of some claims which have long been taken to be truth.
Thank you Rinpoche for this post.
I think misconceptions are believed in because they satisfy and feed our mind of bias, prejudice and discrimination, our close,conceptual mind that is habituated to box things up into labels and compartments as separate, permanent and concrete. If , for instance, we have already labeled Hitler as a Nazi who was going all out to exterminate the Jewish race, then we readily convince ourselves that the Nazis did really make soap from the fat of all the Jews who were killed by them or died in the concentration camps that they had set up to torture them.
Thank you Rinpoche for this post.
What I learn from it is this:
We say that an apple is green, but it is not true, an apple is also red. So we have green or red. But if we leave the apple to rot, it turns yet into another color. And if I eat the apple it turns into other things too, it becomes energy, it becomes waste.
This can become very complicated in fact.
Yet, for the sake of my basic thinking, it helps to think of an apple as green (with a weird red cousin).
The I can train in maths, 2 apples + 3 apples = 5 apples.
Without this simplification, this convenience of thinking, this simple exercise would be impossible.
Where this becomes problematic is if I start loosing track that the “green apple” is a concept I use for simplicity, but I think of it as the reality of the apple.
Was Washington the first president, no he wasn’t, but yes he was…
Was Lucrece Borgia saint or poisonous, she might have been saint then, but she is poisonous in Victor Hugo’s play.
My conclusion is that we should always question the facts we find or the conclusions we draw from what we want to posit as established facts. Or else we would go to the extend of even war over those that argue that apples are red and not green.
Anyway, apples are neither green nor red, they are weird looking computers…
A couple of nitpicks:
(1) “Reich(s)” means “empire” or “imperial”, not “pure” (which would be “Rein(e)”
(2) The ancient Hellenes were not really united by language either, except through a shared reverence for Homer–there were numerous dialects. The word “race” is rather vague, and it is debatable how distinct the Hellenes were from surrounding peoples. (In Greece today there is much debate about Greek identity, and what it suggests for immigration policy. Many are starting to realize that their connections with the ancient Hellenes are rather tenuous.)
Very intresting article, separating facts-from-fiction. Infact iam very much drawn to the fictionius tale of LUCREZIA BORGIA, perhaps of the drama maybe hehe.
Thanks for the knowledge, 😀
Hahah! All the more we are reminded to be really careful in recording significant events, especially spiritual matters. It matters, to be meticulous.Thank you, Rinpochela.
Dear Rinpoche,
These segments of information are very interesting. What I enjoy most about them though is that some people might read them and instantly accept the explanation, because of the implication that they correct a misconception. Someone might say, “George Washington was first President” and their friend reply, “How do you know?” “Because I read it somewhere.” “Well, in fact, he wasn’t the first President at all.” “How do you know?” “Because I read it somewhere.”
I think this post highlights the necessity of self-investigation. There are many things we need to assume (otherwise we wouldn’t get much done!), but where questions need to be asked, they certainly should be. Once an individual holds a belief or opinion to be fact, it is difficult to shift. I think this is because a lot of people define themselves by their beliefs and opinions and so therefore, in essence, to challenge beliefs of an individual can seem as though you challenge them as a whole.
Kind regards,
Sandy