"In the race of life, always back self-interest."
"We are all connected to everything in the universe, we are made of stardust."
"Follow the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
These are beliefs.
Loading...One of them might be a fundamental guiding principle of your life.
You might reject all three.
Maybe you operate with a bit of all of them running at once.
If you're religious, then those opening three beliefs are mere homilies.
The followers of most churches and faiths will believe in a god, an afterlife, ideas about sin and guilt, the importance of worship and observance.
The point is all of us have beliefs, and one of my beliefs is that these are the things that really drive us.
They shape our behaviours and actions in every single moment.
Most obviously, for those of faith. If that faith is deeply held and the follower attempts to live by the tenets of that faith, then that will determine their choices in everything — career, marriage, lifestyle, diet, all the way through to clothing and holidays.
But even if it's not an ancient code handed down by a god, your beliefs will still shape what you do.
Paul Keating is not the only politician to like the "self-interest" quote.
Many people believe that everyone is really acting only out of self-interest, even when they might appear not to be.
If that's what you do, then you do tend to think that's what everyone else does.
Throw in some perception bias, and your worldview is confirmed.
There's another group which is equally convinced that we are herd animals; we do everything as a group, we can't survive without one another, we can't and never have been able to do everything for ourselves and so we act in ways to make groups and communities, towns and cities — our real self-interest is in making sure that everyone's looked after.
I became interested in beliefs only recently when I was in a dispute.
There's enough defamation in our lives, so I won't expand on that.
The person I was in dispute with tended towards lying and deception.
Therefore she thought I was too.
She would treat any of my offers or defences as likely to be some kind of trick.
I would treat her tricks with a level of acceptance.
I'm trusting, she's not — very hard to find resolution.
This seemed to parallel everything else that was going on.
We defend our beliefs rigorously.
We reject those who don't share those beliefs.
The climate denier is always a climate denier.
The Yes campaigner is always a Yes campaigner.
On things we should be more open about, we have become more like football team supporters.
There's no discussion, my team is the best, will always be the best, even when we're losing.
So, I thought an interview series where I only ask people about their beliefs could be timely!
In The Belief Series, I don't want to talk to someone about their career highlights, latest book or what they think of the issues of the day.
I want to ask if they believe in an afterlife.
Do they believe that we should follow our dreams? Is that what we should tell our children?
What do they believe about raising children? Firm, unwavering discipline? Lots of play and freedom?
What do they believe about money?
What do they believe about the modern world — best time ever, or are we all doomed, entertaining ourselves to death as the world burns around us?
Are people basically good?
What is the good life?
There's no end of fascinating questions. And the more I started to list these questions, the more I became convinced that when we ask them of one another, we have an answer for them and that answer really does say a lot about who we are.
So far in the series, I've been interviewing people who I thought would have been thoughtful about their beliefs — deep thinkers, people who make decisions, people who may have been led into their lives by a belief.
What had they found? Did their life confirm or further shape that belief.
Richard Fidler, host of Conversations on ABC radio, has researched and interviewed thousands of people.
What did he hear, what did he learn?
Clare Wright, the historian, is diving into the archive with all kinds of new questions — what is she finding, how is this shaping her beliefs about history?
Mad Max creator George Miller often talks of his fascination with creativity.
William Barton is one of the finest musicians in the country, bringing sounds that are tens of thousands of years old into the 21st century.
What does he believe is happening when he does that?
They're the deep questions, but I wanted to ask them some of the others that we all have beliefs on; is social media killing us? Should you binge television? Do you believe cats are better than dogs? Do you believe our animals are sentient and conscious as Peter Singer would have us think?
So far, they've been fascinating interviews.
One of my big beliefs is that listening is a skill and needs to be practised.
All I want to do in this series is listen and understand.
I don't want to argue about someone's beliefs.
I'm not searching for the right ones.
Hopefully, when you listen to me listening, you'll hear a riveting conversation where someone cuts right to the bone of their belief.
When someone says what they truly believe about themselves and the world, there is no argument.
There is only acceptance and understanding.
We could do with some more of that.