To religions, doubt is “the Devil”. And philosophy is questioning and thus doubting. The prevailing method for dealing with the Devil is to simply dismiss and forget doubt, erasing it from the mind, sustaining faith. But one is born with doubt, not to mention the never ending load of doubt cast upon one throughout life.
But there is an interesting aspect of the Devil, of doubt. And that is that it destroys not only the mind it is in, but also itself. And that means that there is an element within doubt, that is its own demise, the devil of the Devil, a doubtless philosophy within the doubting that is Philosophy.
Have you ever held one mirror facing another, or perhaps a camera facing the camera’s screen? The image reflects infinitely, or at least until there is no more light, beyond detectability. When one “reflects upon oneself” (self-conscious), one inquires of oneself, seeing one is who inquiring of oneself, who is inquiring of oneself, who is inquiring of … ad infinitum.
The devil within says,
“What if you are wrong?” - doubt.
And if attentive and alert then says,
“What if you are wrong about being wrong?” and
“What if you are wrong about being wrong about being wrong?” and
“What if you are wrong about being wrong about being wrong about being wrong?”
.
.
.
an endless procession of doubt upon doubt. In such endless doubt, one cannot attend to life and living, one is inherently ignoring ones situation, ones “God”. The devil within is a “vampire” that “sucks the life blood from life” via self-doubt.
So the question arises, “Is there a way to stop the doubt, vanquish the vampire, and return to the living, attending to ones actual situation?” How does one know when to stop doubting? Very many people insist that everyone should always and forever doubt. They claim that it is the path to wisdom and knowledge. And to a degree, they are right, but only to a degree fore there really is an identifiable stopping point where one can get off of the train with incontrovertible confidence, undoubtable “faith” … with no chance of being wrong.
Within philosophy, it is actually pretty simple, almost too simple. The prevailing question in philosophy is “How do I know that this is true? Every truth depends upon some other truth that depends upon some other truth, ad infinitum.” Or so it often seems and is often promoted. Thus most people just ignore philosophy and do whatever is most obvious, blaming everyone else for whatever comes of it.
But the stop-off for that train of doubting, is the simple concept called “by unambiguous definition”. Of course one must at first doubt the truth of that. “What if the definition isn’t right,” one asks. But realize that I didn’t say, by “right definition”. I said by merely “unambiguous definition”.
“So okay, but who’s unambiguous definition”, one then asks. Who’s mind is asking? If it is your own mind asking, the definition is yours. Do you not know what you mean when you use a concept or word? Do you doubt what you meant when you thought or said a word? I am not talking about what other people might believe that you mean, nor what other people proclaim is the proper, standard, or right definition to use when speaking to them. One has to first get his own thoughts in order before being concerned about communicating properly. And that begins by declaring your own unambiguous definitions for your own thoughts, “This is what I personally mean when I am thinking about this…” Perhaps write it down to yourself.
Truth in thought is formed and known by only this;
A) consistency in thought (those unambiguous definitions/explanations of meanings)
B) comprehensiveness of thought (nothing of concern being left out)
C) usefulness of thought (rationality toward accomplishing ones goals).
Of course the minions of doubt, those who promote doubt so as to destroy your mind will argue endlessly, denying any actual defeat in debate. “You cannot know Truth” they will endlessly proclaim. The only concern is whether they managed to instill or clear up any doubt within you. Their endless questioning and doubting provides a means to check oneself and ensure that one really was right. Beyond that point, they can be sent on their way down the track, to endlessly question only themselves. You need not follow fore your doubt has been vanquished.
But if one doesn’t get his thoughts verified by such a means, one leaves room for doubt to enter. And then one finds himself back on the train until he gets his thought verified beyond any possible doubt, through unambiguous definitions, comprehensive understanding, and usefulness of his thoughts. Questioning in itself isn’t bad. But it does have an identifiable limit. And verification is required before that limit is reached.
Throughout the rest of what the world provides as societies, there are other means to cause doubt than merely questioning. The favored tends to be to use medical interference to “break the brain” preventing it from being able to organize its thoughts. such means give rise to justified doubt that leads to demise, futile life, and slow death. It is a common means to murder the people in other societies without being seen.
There are three types of Devil rolled up into one;
Devil of the mind, “doubt/confusion/obfuscation” causing mental decay - death of the mind
Devil of the physiology, “medical diseases/toxins/drugs” causing medical decay - death of the brain
Devil of the body, “pestilence/coercion/extortion” causing physical decay - death of the body.
Reflect doubt upon doubt with an undoubtable stopping point in mind, “personal unambiguous definition”.
Reflect medical interference upon medical interference with a personal state of health in sight.
Reflect physical interference upon physical interference with a personal physical process of life in heart.
Such can seldom be done, if ever, without the help of others to verify and confirm, but surviving is leaving no place for the Devil to enter that is without double mirrors reflecting the Devil toward undoubtable certainty, clarity, and “the light”; the Devil’s “glass cage of self-reflection”.
Establish verified undoubtable rationale for ones faith and ones faith is eternal and the Devil, merely his own issue.