Faith and science are hostile to each other. At least that is the popular opinion. One seems to be forced in one direction. Science thinks there is no free will, no God, no human rights, no soul or whatever. Whether it really says this, be discussed later. But let us say that it really claims this. What would be the consequence?

Every person with some life experience, and by that, I mean at 20 years or more, notices that there are different melodies of life. There are optimists, pessimists. Those who believe in miracles and those who don’t. Resilient ones and not so stable ones. The difference is found in the mind. In the thoughts of the people. These thoughts shape the life choices and the attitude to life. These thoughts thereby shape reality. These thoughts are, however, not scientific, but rather of religious nature. Maybe religious is too strong a word, but still far from objective.

So, the hypothesis is that religious beliefs are central to the mind. They promote placebo or nocebo, lust for life or suicidality, sense or nonsense. And now science is allowed to gain a foothold again. With it, we can (given, we have defined a goal) shape our belief. For the next stumbling block is to believe we can freely define our beliefs. Much of this is in our genes, in our life history, or in other elements of our lives that cannot be influenced. For example, some people are much more prone to depression than others. The other side is to believe that nothing can be influenced. This is also wrong. Science can help us find a way to a healthy psyche.

As a little addendum, this is where the story really starts to get interesting. Because we are now talking about how we should form our beliefs to achieve a goal. But these thoughts we create are not real and objective, but rather mantras. They are often not true. When I say, “I believe in miracles!” it may be scientifically wrong, but helpful not to lose hope in difficult situations. So, it may be that science says in the future that it is better to believe unscientific propositions.