Nullius in Verba

When I was young, I was told many things to do, to follow, to believe by elders, parents, teachers, and whoever there who can. Since elders use to know many things which I don’t and have seen their predictions work out there, I thought they know everything. It was easy for me to believe what they said. They were right many times, they knew how to do things which I couldn’t as a child.

Parents knew how to take care of me, whenever I was scared, they knew how to protect me and comfort me. When I was feeling hunger, they could feed me, which I couldn’t on my own. They could gather things out of places which I know nothing of to give me. They could do a lot of things which I couldn’t, so it was obvious that they are abler than me. I used to take their words for granted, their actions as the ultimate acts.

Teachers could answer questions which I couldn’t, could solve problems which I couldn’t, could come up with ideas needed to do things which I couldn’t. They are teachers Afterall, giving us knowledge. So it is by definition they possess knowledge which I don’t. So their words meant absolute truths to me.

Everyone around me seemed superior to me and their words as undeniable truths.

But then as I started to grow, I met people who are of my age, who doesn’t know things which I myself don’t know. So I couldn’t place my confidence in their words. Then I met people who are younger than me who took my words for granted. Even when I am not that confident of my words, younger ones believed my words, since they thought I knew better.

I started to see things from their perspective imagining myself knowing nothing. I was able to see that elders are not always right, that parents aren’t fully capable, that teachers aren’t absolute knowledge sources.

I read stories of great people whose words were proved wrong later on, I have seen scientific laws given by great scientists being overthrown by better ones. For example, the Newtonian theory of gravity was considered true until Einstein’s theory of relativity was proposed.

All these stories told me a few things. Just because someone is more intelligent, more capable, once in a generation sort of genius doesn’t mean they are right, doesn’t mean their work is absolutely true. Just because someone spent a lifetime working on something doesn’t mean at the end, his research would contain at least one truth. His entire work can be wrong.

Just because great Ambedkar put his whole life into research doesn’t mean he is right in all his words. Just because holy Shankaracharya spent all his life learning from a great many sages and possessed enormous wisdom doesn’t mean his teachings are absolute. Just because Einstein was able to give a better theory and a better explanation, doesn’t mean his theories are right. It only means they are better than previous ones.

What does all this mean? It means that whatever your parents, you elders, your best teachers or experts in their respective fields taught you can be wrong. You should never accept anyone’s words, should never believe anything they told you, not even a single sentence.

You should not take anyone’s words or works for granted. This is famously stated by ROYAL SOCIETY in their motto: ‘NULLIUS IN VERBA’, which is Latin for ‘Take nobody’s word for it’.

I don’t know if you are shaken by what I just said. But it is indeed a horrible thing to know. All your life you have been doing things putting your faith in the words of many people. You believe that you have to brush daily, you accept that you have to bathe daily, your brain is filled up with notions which you never questioned but just followed blindly cause you believed words of others.

There are many notions which we have, some obvious ones are colour, creed, race, caste and so. Even Nationality is one such notion (link here). People die believing that. But I am not here to just question notions building our social structure which I already did to some extent in the link here. But rather I am talking about every step of our life.

To put it simply, we shouldn’t accept something or believe something without proper proof. Every action of yours is based on many beliefs. You should be aware at every step as to what your action meant, what beliefs it rests on and how much of its credibility have we tested.

What if bathing daily removes the protective layers of your skin and it turned out you never questioned the action of bathing, just followed it only to doom your skin and expose it to external harms? I am not saying bathing regularly is harmful. I am asking you to ask questions, to check for the credibility of the information you take in, to check for proofs that the info is right.

Doesn’t it seem simple and easy, to question everything and find the reasons behind them, to check for the data supporting the claims! Just like scientists. This way you will reduce the risk of being wrong. This way you get a full understanding of everything you know and everything you do.

This is the starting step of science, to use observational data and reasoning to find out if something is right or wrong. Then on, you believe not others’ words but things which are proved and which are right.

I think this is an important rule everyone must follow in their life: ‘Question the input, use observations and reason to check it, believe in the output’. See, belief comes at the end of this process, not at the beginning.

To put it simply: “Nullius in Verba”.

But before leaving this thought here, do one thing. Close your eyes and think of something your parents or your teachers taught you like right. Now question whether you know why it is right. You might know the reason but rethink the reasons again to see as to how much extent that reason is right. I am guessing the reason is right cause it has some underlying assumptions which you were taught to be right.

I don’t know if this questioning helped you see the point that most of the times we don’t question the information’s validity but just believe it.

I can think of few things that I was taught: God exists, We shouldn’t cut nails after 6 o’clock, alcohol is bad to health whereas Toddy isn’t, 1+1 = 2, Earth revolves around Sun, Plants have life just as we animals do and so on. I couldn’t see perfect reasons or proofs behind many things I was told, not all things though.

So nullius in verba…! I stand here calling upon you to start upon a new way of life, a scientist’s life.

If I am successful in convincing you that “Nullius in Verba” is the perfect approach, I am glad. But in my next article, I am going to show you the loopholes in it….Yup, loopholes!