In any case, I’d like advice from the people who believe the Litany is inaccurate (or at least are able to model people who believe that) on how to handle the situation.
If you don’t believe the Litany, then to hell with the Litany. Seriously. There is, first, a place for doubt: a place for internal debate where you go through a phase of thinking “well, I disagree with this sentiment, but I respect the author, so I should give it the benefit of the doubt.” So you doubt. And then you decide, one way or the other.
And if you decide, after the doubt, that the lesson is wrong, then you should not continue to hold up that lesson as an ideal unless you value Rationality more than clear-headed thinking. Do not try to fix it. If you have arrived at a more general principle as a result of your doubts, then explain that general principle. Trying to modify the original lesson to teach the opposite of what it was written to teach will benefit no one whether you are right or wrong.
And if the ritual oomph of an argument is preventing you from judging it right or wrong, then maybe ritual oomph isn’t such a good thing after all?
I’m planning a ritual ceremony because I believe ritual oomph is important. I’ll be debating that later, but not now.
I do think your overall point here is pretty solid though. The only thing that gives me pause is that I don’t think the lesson behind the Litany is wrong. I think one of the arguments the Litany uses to express its point is untrue.
Part of rationality is discarding untrue beliefs and letting go of old teachers, but another part is being willing to look at something you believe, identify individual bad arguments for it, and then removing those arguments without feeling like you’re stabbing yourself in the back.
If you don’t believe the Litany, then to hell with the Litany. Seriously. There is, first, a place for doubt: a place for internal debate where you go through a phase of thinking “well, I disagree with this sentiment, but I respect the author, so I should give it the benefit of the doubt.” So you doubt. And then you decide, one way or the other.
And if you decide, after the doubt, that the lesson is wrong, then you should not continue to hold up that lesson as an ideal unless you value Rationality more than clear-headed thinking. Do not try to fix it. If you have arrived at a more general principle as a result of your doubts, then explain that general principle. Trying to modify the original lesson to teach the opposite of what it was written to teach will benefit no one whether you are right or wrong.
And if the ritual oomph of an argument is preventing you from judging it right or wrong, then maybe ritual oomph isn’t such a good thing after all?
I’m planning a ritual ceremony because I believe ritual oomph is important. I’ll be debating that later, but not now.
I do think your overall point here is pretty solid though. The only thing that gives me pause is that I don’t think the lesson behind the Litany is wrong. I think one of the arguments the Litany uses to express its point is untrue.
Part of rationality is discarding untrue beliefs and letting go of old teachers, but another part is being willing to look at something you believe, identify individual bad arguments for it, and then removing those arguments without feeling like you’re stabbing yourself in the back.