I'm sure you've seen the story about the climate scientists stuck in the ice in Antarctica. They went there to prove the globe is warming, during the Antarctic summer, and their ship got so stuck in the ice that two ice breakers couldn't free them. At last report they were awaiting flying weather good enough for helicopters to ferry them off the stuck ship to a rescue vessel,
It couldn't happen to a nicer group ... I feel the same joy I feel when a fringe religious sect holes up thinking the world will end and ... oops ... it doesn't end. In each case there is a similar phenomenon at work: confusing what you want to be true for what is actually true.
The strength of your belief has no influence whatsoever on whether what you believe is at all related to the real world. In fact, it could be argued that the stronger your belief, the greater the chance that belief is unrelated to reality. Meanwhile at the other end of the globe, this winter's Arctic ice is more widespread than in recent years.
