It has a strange array of properties and applications.
The act of doubting something calls it's existence into question, on all sorts of levels...
In law, the defense attorney endeavors to raise doubt about his client's guilt...and a reasonable doubt will do. All it takes is a little to sink the ship.
It seems like relationships work the same way. Therapists talk about how people "are afraid of success...or love...or happiness" and there's truth in that.
When you doubt a venture, it is doomed to fail; any capitalist can tell you that.
The same principles apply to things like drugs. The placebo effect works because the patient believes that they are recieving beneficial treatment. Belief preludes truth, you might say...
BUT...things like Morphine trump the placebo effect, and hard fact trumps Belief when it comes to things like Religion...there's that doubt again.
Your grandpa who fought in a couple wars will tell you that you are not sick, that you are fine and to get back to work, and he is right too...most of the time. Hypochondria is a psychological illness manifest physiologically. Like many afflictions.
Doubt in action goes right down to your cells...A Wind In The Door taught us youngsters about mitochondria and energy...about kindergarten quantum physics...little bits of Truth.
Your immune system abhors doubt. It thrives on faith - and healthy Stimulation. Paul McCartney has the five-second rule and you might want to extend yours to fifteen or twenty.
In plain english, judging by the infinite complexity and strange ambivalence and generosity of our surroundings (selves)...our atomic, sonic structure / placement in the mix...It's probably best to be a Chiller. Go With the Flow. Facilitate. Partcipate...
Doubt is an internal, a personal venture. When we externalize it and contextualize it with other people, we illuminate it's sinister properties and make it useful with a healthy dose of Rationality...
This is getting faggy.
