Credulity thinks not, reasons not, but believes

Credulity sees not and hears not and cogitates not. It is the child-mind that refuses to grow. It thrives where ignorance, superstition, and fear lull man's intellect to sleep. It cares not for reflection, discrimination, and judgment. It just believes without any consideration of the possibility or otherwise of a question. It is wedded to an exuberance of unbalanced and unreasoned faith. It is the negation of the scientific way of thinking.

Credulity is the failing of well-meaning visionaries, pious zealots, and ardent enthusiasts. Extraordinary is the appetite of the credulous for the marvelous. Glibly and greedily they swallow vague stories and fabulous tales as truth. They take flashes of vague thoughts as inspiration and visions as verities. They invest legends and myths with a symbolic significance. They give credence to the incredible, foolish and the false. There is nothing so illogical and absurd that the credulous will not believe. They always believe and believe too easily and too readily and too much.

Let me not live in a fairyland, nor in a dream land. Let me live in the world of reality and face hard facts of life. Above all, let me be a man of practical, common sense. Thinking is thy most matchless gift to man, Ahura Mazda. Teach me how to think and lead me to think in accordance with the recognized canons of the method of reasoning. Endow me with the gift of clear and accurate thinking, sense of proportion, critical acumen, sound judgment, and historical sense. Enable me to make the best and the truest and the most profitable use of thinking in my life, O thou Prime Thinker.

This page was last updated on Friday, February 11, 2005.