Understanding Vs Assumption

It is common knowledge that we are all a bit quick to jump the gun. It is very easy to take a small bit of information and make assumptions about how things are. We are all guilty of doing this, especially myself. The way my mind works I feel like I need to insert the missing puzzle pieces to get the whole picture, and whilst sometimes it turns out okay, it can have a negative effect.

So, the question I am exploring today is, should we try more to understand situations over just assuming?

This thought takes me back to a moment when I put this into practice. On social media, I generally will not get involved in arguments or debates, I am much more of a silent observer, thinking about why people think the way they do. This one day, I am scrolling through Facebook, and in one of the groups I am in read something along the lines of “My daughter has started to practice Satanism, how do I stop this evil devil worship and bring her back to God”.

Now, being somewhat religious, I knew where this person was coming from, like myself, they evidently were a Christian who had been told that Satan is bad and there are no ifs, buts, and definitely no coconuts. However, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked myself the question, “Is Satanism actually that bad?”, “has this person sat down with their daughter and talked about what their beliefs actually entail?”.

Before I carry on, this is starting to sound like an advert for Satanism, but I can assure you it’s not, you will get where I am going with this.

As a response to this, I decided to take action into my own hands and do my own research. I bought the satanic bible and read it. Whilst it very evidently did not like Christianity and was quite an aggressive book, some of the underlining principles were not actually terrible.

This made me realise that if that mother took their time to maybe understand why their daughter started to believe in this and the morals and principles that came with it, then maybe they would not feel the need to steer their daughter in a different direction. I’m not saying the mother needed to then join a satanic cult, but it is good to be open to other people’s beliefs.

Sometimes, when we assume, we are led down a very windy path of possibilities, because we don’t know the truth, our mind ventures out into the realm of What if which can be quite a dangerous place to go, especially if you are someone to assume the worst. Through an attempt to understand though, we can get a much clearer picture of what a situation may entail and then can make a decision based on that.

If there is ever any uncertainty, then sometimes the best thing to do is just ask. Never feel guilty or weak for wanting to know and understand more as it is definitely okay to do so. To be fair, you will probably find that it makes life that little bit easier for you.