On the matters of faiths, beliefs, sciences and worldviews.

This interesting little story makes it abundantly clear what the differences are between believers and skeptics.

Two people return to their long neglected garden and find, among the weeds, that a few of the old plants are surprisingly vigorous. One says to the other, ‘It must be that a gardener has been coming and doing something about these weeds.’ The other disagrees and an argument ensues. They pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. The believer wonders if there is an invisible gardener, so they patrol with bloodhounds but the bloodhounds never give a cry. Yet the believer remains unconvinced, and insists that the gardener is invisible, has no scent and gives no sound. The sceptic doesn’t agree, and asks how a so-called invisible, intangible, elusive gardener differ from an imaginary gardener, or even no gardener at all.

The Parable of the Invisible Gardener was originally told by British philosopher John Wisdom. It highlights the lack of necessity of falsifiability in believer’s minds, and how faith can be adapted to explain away any and all problems that threaten one’s own theories. Where skeptics must, often against their will, accept fact, someone who takes something on faith must not. They can simply decide to believe whatever they want, regardless of proof or evidence.