I'm posting this as part of the Forum's Benjamin Lay Day celebration — consider writing a reflection of your own! The “official dates” for this reflection are February 8 - 15 (but you can write about this topic whenever you want).TL;DR:  Tragic beliefs are beliefs that make the world seem worse, and give us partial responsibility for it. These are beliefs such as: “insect suffering matters” or “people dying of preventable diseases could be saved by my donations”. Sometimes, to do good, we need to accept tragic beliefs.  We need to find ways to stay open to these beliefs in a healthy way. I outline two approaches, pragmatism and righteousness, which help, but can both be carried to excess. Why I ignored insects for so long I’ve been trying not to think about insects for a while. My diet is vegan, and sometimes I think of myself as [...] ---Outline:(00:19) Why I ignored insects for so long(02:42) What is a tragic belief?(03:21) How can we open ourselves up to tragic beliefs?(03:34) Opportunity framing, or pragmatism(05:33) The joy in righteousnessThe original text contained 4 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. ---
First published:
February 8th, 2024

Source:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dy5h9Ly8osZEiFkru/tragic-beliefs
---
Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.