Have we forgotten what conviction truly means? Individual beliefs and the lost art of conversation

Photo Courtesy: Jakub Hałun

We live in an era of liquid modernity. I am aware this is a bizarre expression. This sentence condenses the thought of Zygmunt Bauman, a contemporary sociologist and behavioural analyst. The liquidity of modernity refers to the unbearable lightness of ideas in our postmodern society. Ideas fly over our heads in the shape of birds, creating fleeting migration patterns, only to be immediately replaced by a new wave of flying beasts. Beliefs are regarded in a radically different way than in previous centuries: birds are fleeting, and they carry both colour and sickness in their plumage. In this article, I will discuss how true belief barely even enters the contemporary mind. and the liquidity of modern conviction. That is, the short-lived fire of contemporary ideas, and what has driven us to this rather wet state of affairs.

What exactly is conviction? It’s commonly accepted as a strongly held belief. To this, I shall add an essential component: that this belief moulds the inner reality of the person, and that in some shape or form, it guides their behaviour. This is the way conviction projects onto reality: essential to propel action, it represents the birth of movement. Conviction has, on occasion, been held in a place higher than love, than friendship, and than life (alas, Jean of Arc). Something above our regular sense of morality, belonging to the realm of the divine: a dignifying constituent of the human race.

We can compare conviction to the steel axe with which the lumberjack takes down the tree. Let us now ask: what would happen if the steel of the axe were to melt? Would it still serve the same purpose? Would its edge still be as sharp? It seems dubious: when hitting the tree, the bland steel would be moulded by the superior density of the wood. In this metaphor, it is easy to see how it is only when conviction is strongly held with at least relative perseverance that it can be manifested in reality, that it can shape reality – instead of the increasing hardness and pressure of reality (the wood) shaping conviction (the steel). It might hit us when the cold arrives that the fire will not be fed by the product of the bland axe. My proposal is that, following Bauman’s theory of modern liquidity and due to the overwhelming abundance of constant overtaking stimuli, our generation is losing the capacity to focus on a single matter for genuine belief to be formed.

Within the scope of our consumerist mentality, ideas are very often naturally regarded as objects of consumption for each other’s gaze. That is, in our desire to sell ourselves as the most desirable social product, we are also losing the capacity for introspection, and therefore for any kind of meaningful conviction. This is greatly exacerbated by social media. Our ideas are as fluid as fashion trends are, and they swiftly carry in their flux the putrid aroma of intellectual death. Now, this, to me, is worrying and degrades our moral stands to an unbearable muddiness.

It seems to me that the key to recovering the lost art of introspection is no other than to fill our gazes with kindness and tolerance, for only within tolerance can ideas solidify into tangible matter. To hold space for creativity within conversations, to let go of the horrible conversational restraints of what we label “cringe”. Let us show raw emotion, let us set solid foundations upon which we can build our very own world of conviction. Let it have strong walls that will withstand strong wind and rooms in which there is space for the dancing change. If we don’t look at each other through the lens of kindness, we become each other's censors. And if we are not careful, we risk that the heat of such constant censorship will turn or morph the already swift liquidity of modern conviction into something more grave: floating, elusive vapour.