The
Casaubon Delusion is about the lure of totality belief
systems. Even if you are one of those who wish to avoid falling into
the toils of the delusion you may find it difficult. (I know; I've
succumbed myself in the past.) Here are some of the danger signs that
may act as a warning that this is happening.
Emotional appeal
The very fact that we desperately wish
something to be true is a pointer to the possibility that we may
select the evidence that seems to support our favoured belief and
ignore whatever contradicts it. Many of us are guilty of attending
only to arguments with which we already agree; we prefer to bolster
our beliefs rather than challenge them. If we have spent many
years looking for the answer to a particular problem, we should be
all the more cautious about accepting any apparent solution that may
come our way.
Seeing the universe as a cipher
Totality belief
systems may represent the universe as a giant cipher, to
which they uniquely hold the key. We have to be careful here,
because there is a sense in which mainstream science treats the
universe in this way; think of physicists who speak of looking
for a Theory of Everything. The difference between a scientist and
someone suffering from the Casaubon Delusion lies in their readiness
to test their ideas by trying to refute them instead of looking for
confirmatory evidence, but the distinction isn't always easy to
make.
Limits to questions
Within many belief systems there is
an apparent readiness to accept questioning, and this may be quite
impressive at first. However, this openness is usually confined within
limits. Becoming a member of a group dedicated to the study and practice
of such a system is rather like learning a new game, with very
complicated rules many of which are never spelled out but have to be
picked up as one goes along. Peer group pressure is undoubtedly an
important factor in such circumstances.
Psychological experiments have shown that group attitudes can affect how
people perceive things. For example, if you are shown two lines of equal
length when you are a member of a group in which all the other
participants have previously been told to say that the lines are
unequal, it's quite likely that you, too, will perceive them as unequal.
Elitism
Because they believe they have discovered
or been given the key to a mystery, adherents of a belief system
tend to regard themselves as an elite. What's more, subgroups who
are supposed to have specially privileged understanding of the
group's ideas tend to arise within the main group over
time—ultra-elites.
Claims for great antiquity
A feature of many belief
systems is that they are said to be of great antiquity, even if
they have apparently arisen quite recently. They are then said to
be rediscoveries of ancient truths. If_ the knowledge is
timeless it can't change, but the understanding of the group
members does constantly change as they continue to explore it, and
this is hugely exciting The leader of the group often ensures this
by progressively revealing more and more ideas as time goes by, in
a kind of spiritual sriptease.
Gurus
It follows from the last point that another
characteristic feature is that the knowledge is usually in the
hands of an inspired and inspiring teacher—a guru. Nearly
all totality belief systems are equipped with such a guru, who
is normally the founder of the system. Sometimes the founder
has died. in which case the guru's mantle will have been draped on
the shoulders of a successor.
The lure of gurus can be strong but, I suggest it is dangerous and
should be resisted.
All authorities, whether political or spiritual, should be
distrusted, and extremely authoritarian characters who divide
the world into "us" and "them", who preach that there is only
one way forward, or who believe that they are surrounded by
enemies, are particularly to be avoided. It is not necessary to
be dogmatic to be effective. The charisma of certainty is a
snare which entraps the child who is latent in all of us.
[Feet of Clay: Anthony
Storr]
Excessive certainty
Perhaps the most characteristic feature of totality belief systems
is the degree of conviction they inspire. The certainty that we feel
about our beliefs is not a reliable guide to their correctness. It's
often when we feel most firmly convinced of having attained ultimate
truth that we are enmeshed most deeply in the the Casaubon Delusion.
The critical question to ask
Ask yourself this: what could happen to make me think I might be
mistaken? If you can't answer, or say there is nothing that could do
this, you are probably in trouble.