The Role of Belief

As children we are told many stories by our parents and other adults. Some of them we believed for longer than others, but all of them had an important role in our lives. By believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy we understood that we were in a world where things were ordered and looked after and that there was an element of certainty. 

There was a lot of upheaval in my early life. By the time I was 11 I had lived in four different countries and had had around 10 different addresses. It was true that financially we were comfortable but when you go to four different schools in your first four years of primary education it becomes very unsettling. I have written at some length about my primary school experience before, but the effect of all that moving was to make belief a very important part of my younger life. That may explain the fact that I was still waiting for Santa Claus to arrive the Christmas after I started Secondary school. Let’s face it, after finding out how bad pretty much everyone was in that school I needed something to look forward to.

Terry Pratchett explores the nature of belief in one of his finest books, The Hogfather. He reflects upon the reasons for it in one of the best exchanges in any book, between Death and Susan, who is Death’s granddaughter.

“All right,” said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasies to make life bearable.”

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

“So we can believe the big ones?”

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

“They’re not the same at all!”

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME…SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

“Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what’s the point—”

MY POINT EXACTLY.”
― Terry Pratchett

As this brilliant piece of writing makes clear, nothing you believe in childhood is ridiculous, because it’s an integral part of the process of growing up and understanding yourself and your place in the world. If you have a childhood without these beliefs you are being cheated of an innate need. So, embrace your childhood beliefs and help other children embrace theirs, especially Santa Claus who is of course absolutely real!