Why We Believe What We Believe

[measle_weasel]

This is a short, informal essay Ive been meaning to write for a long period of time, and have finally gotten around to doing it. It is titled: Why we believe what we believe, and how that why affects our lives.

Enjoy!

Why do we Believe what we Believe?

Why does one person profess faith in Christianity, and another in Atheism? Why do some people believe in Communism, and others in Capitalism? On the surface, you could say its because of a persons upbringing, or because of their studies and experiences, personal preferences, etc. But that explination can only go so far in bringing about the true answer to the question of why do we believe what we believe. Its akin to asking the question "Why is that car made that way?", and receiving the answer "Because thats the way the engineers designed it". While technically correct, it really doesnt convey any deep knowledge to the questioner; the answer is just a tiny scratch on the surface of a potentially very deep question.

But whats it all come down to? What is at the core, the very heart, of every persons every belief? Ultimately it comes down to free will, but in this thread my primary focus is on the fundamental assumptions chosen via free will (or pre-determined, if youre into determinism), by every person on the planet.

A fundamental assumption is easy to define; it is simply some concept that an individual holds to be true, without having absolute certainty that it actually is true, which forms the foundation for all other assumptions that person makes. Another attribute of a fundamental assumption, is that it is not based on any assumptions itself; it is simply taken to be true in and of itself, hence "fundamental".

We all make fundamental assumptions, even if we dont realize that we do. Even a person who has been taught every belief theyve ever held, they still make fundamental assumptions that allow themselves to believe that their beliefs are true. The fundamental assumption in the case of the prior sentance, for instance, is that the people telling that person what to believe, have objective truths and are unbiasly sharing it with them. A common, yet faulty, fundamental assumption.

How do Fundamental Assumptions Affect us in our Daily Lives?

Fundamental assumptions affect our daily life whenever it is that we are perceiving. Thus, they affect us at all times, and each set are in fact each of our own individual measuring sticks of truth. Most philosophical arguments, as in arguments pertaining to the nature of reality; what is and what is not, if analyzed deep enough, (excluding miscommunications) arise from two differing sets of fundamental assumptions which are in conflict with each other, ie, one set contradicts the other set, thus both cannot be true at the same time. No where can this be more easily witnessed and observed than in the world of religion. Theists and Atheists argue over whose fundamental assumption is right; God exists, vs God does not exist. Neither can be proven, but are both argued over interminably because both of those concepts cannot be true at the same time. One must be true, the other must be false, and there is simply no logical way of circumventing that fact.

When realizing at some point that everything we base our beliefs on all comes down to certain things we just assume to be true, heated arguments that get personal take on a new level of absurdity. Watching them becomes akin to watching two people argue and fight over the contents of a sealed, unopenable box. "Theres a penny in there" one says. "No, theres a nickle in there!" says another.

"Penny!"
"Nickle!"
"PENNY!"
"NICKLE!"
"PENNY, idiot!"
"NICKLE, moron!"

And thus begins a pointless, eternal argument over something that neither side can actually prove one way or the other. Hop on over to the religion section for thousands of these types of arguments.

Another more subtle, yet in my opinion much more prevalent way in which our daily lives are affected, is when a person does not consciously know what their own personal fundamental assumptions are. This usually manifests itself as an inability to explain ones rationale for believing a certain thing, and ends up leading into a circular debate in which supported premises become the foundation for the ideas that are supporting them. In other words, the debate becomes akin to someone trying to convince you that the top floor of a building is what is supporting the bottom one, while at the same time the bottom is supporting the top.

This is most detrimental to the person who does not know WHY they believe what they believe, and can easily lead to an existential crisis in which everything they believe (but do not know why they believe) all at once comes into question, and their entire view of reality is suddenly undermined. It also prevents a person from truly knowing themselves, and being free to think for themselves without having to fall back onto dogma which they usually do not understand on an intrinsic level anyways.

Ramblings, Musings, and Conclusions

Fundamental assumptions are what each of us constructs our realities upon, and the measuring stick we use to qualify whether an idea is true, or untrue; logically sound, or just really silly, etc. Knowing why we believe what we do, and that ultimately it all comes down to a choice and that no ones choice really holds any more validity than anyone elses, greatly strengthens a persons character and gives them a real platform to think for themselves, ponder outside the box, and create new ideas and theories without worrying what others think, and without worrying that you are "getting it wrong".

Its all just a roll of the dice; a spin of the wheel and a pull of the lever anyway, right? Speaking in terms of correct and incorrect pertaining to what God "wants" you to believe and what not to believe, and based on my own personal fundamental assumptions, its all just a guess, so why not get creative and construct a theory of reality that you enjoy? Why not think for yourself? Why argue over things that are at their core, unprovable? Ive fallen into that trap many times, and nothing is ever accomplished. Believe whatever you want to believe, but just remember that what you believe is not fact, but assumption, and that you are no more verifiably right than the next guy. And know why you believe what you believe; know the fundamental assumptions you make which create the foundation for those beliefs, or else your beliefs are quite simply, foundationless.

All this is not to suggest that there is no such thing as objective truth. However, it does imply that whatever the objective truth is, it is impossible to know, and gives little to no indication as to what it might be. Our fundamental assumptions are each of our individual best guesses as to what we want to believe that objective truth to be, so we mind as well make them something interesting, fun, open ended, and not get to caught up over whose guess is better than whose.

Because after its all said and done, and the computers are shut off and weve all gone to bed, who *really* knows what the truth of it all is?

I know I dont.

-----------------------------------------

Thus concludes my short essay. Thank you for reading, and I hope you are able to take away something positive from it all. I have definitely taken away something positive from writing it.

[bagatell]

Another post on beliefs?

[myth]

Another post on beliefs?

I believe it is :D

[measle_weasel]

Anyone have anything constructive to add?

[herzmeister]

Yes, discussions can become cumbersome, like the umpteenth reiteration of boring soap operas.

I'ts true, we can never know objective truth, we can ever only measure our position (actual and transfigural) in relation to others. We should be allowed to do so however by mutual exchange of information (and other goods and services ;)) to get maybe a certain sense of approximation to some kind of objective truth. Many of us fail admitting errors in thinking to ourselves, that's true. Of course it's necessary to do so in order to be able to rearrange our thinking, so that we can outgrow and escape old patterns and thus advance intellectually and spiritually.

It sometimes makes me wonder then why we have to if we are already eternal and thus all-knowing. What brought us into this situation of ignorance and isolation from the whole? Sometimes I do like to believe it's a game. :D

[themime]

A moth dances around a light bulb with no concept of electricity. All it knows is that instinct stirs something inside. In the case of the moth it is its natural guidance system, it mistakes the light bulb for the Moon and as a consequence wastes precious moments of its short life going nowhere.

Humans with unyielding mindsets do much the same. They mistake their truth for the truth and waste their time and energy going around and around and fending off what they see as attacks on their beliefs. When instead they should question everything they think they know everytime they ask others to evaluate it.

[ekim]

Nice post measle_weasel.

My belief is this need to understand stems from a fear of the unknown. This allows us comfort in a world that perhaps we are not meant to understand, but rather just observe.

If the unknown is actually unknowable, how could one ever know anything?

[jakemaverick]

good read! nicely written...

for my tuppence worth, I believe that people largely believe what they are taught to believe and they want to believe that.......and in this society those who don't conform to those beliefs are severely punished, arguably worse than death.....<sig will give u an example>

this article quite close to my heart, i wonder if the author has any comment on what I wrote RE: my beliefs and what was done/ still being done for them?

[romas]

There are different forms of belief, conscious beliefs, unconscious beliefs, self imposed and externally "forced" and you can have different mix among those to.

Religious beliefs usually come from family, passed down from authority parent, though it's possible for individual to actually choose religion as part of psychological damage control, though act of choosing itself is a paradox, thus rendering all religions as a one giant paradox or simply a joke.

When you really go down to the crux of the matter, no belief can be fundamental as we can't even fully trust our own senses or cognitive abilities, to be confident 100% is to be completely ignorant of physical facts. The next best thing is to rely on your own experience, because that is what you are and that's all you really have.

[tinyint]

Anyone have anything constructive to add?

Yes. :)

I think the whole belief system in place, be it religious, political or whatever, is very much dependent on how a person has been experiencing this world.
A person, who went through communism, experienced it's fall will certainly have a very different view than say sb who 'only' experienced the west.

I for myself can say I sometimes feel like having made a timetravel in certain aspects. Much to do with values,education and ethics, ie life experience and society itself.
The more 'input' one has the more 'output' one can give.
I does not necessarily mean, the one with much experience is always right though.

Edit: That is what we are here for, to share experience. :cool:

[dude111]

Why does one person profess faith in Christianity, and another in Atheism? Why do some people believe in Communism, and others in Capitalism?This is an interesting thread!

I was just thinking about this the other day!!


Why do some people believe everything the GOVT tells them for example while others know whats really going on and dont believe a word!!

[jim fear]

Interesting word to start with!

Believe
Be Lie
Be Life/lief - (same phonetically)
Be like Eve - (As in Adam and eve)
Be live - to be what you live

When it comes to religion and culture we would appear to have been assigned our beliefs from our geographical location as mentioned by Terrence McKenna. Someone I find interesting to listen is Robert Anton Wilson; who describes himself as an agnostic about everything. He brings up how subject truth can be in relation to our individual reality tunnels, which is related to Quantum theory.

An argument is the point of the polarities meeting. Believe is only a matter of perspective and can be subjective. Your description of the box idea was an interesting example, so I’ll borrow this concept to develop my point further. If I were to take a solid Box and stand directly above it I wouldn’t see the lines or boundaries of the box which identifies it as a 3D object, instead I would see it as a square. However if someone else were to stand by the box they would be able to see part of the lid, the line separating two of the sides, leading to the conclusion that this was a 3D object in the form of a box.

However which one would be right? Because the person looking down at the box WOULD see a 2D squire they are right when they say “That is a square”, but a more accurate statement would be “To me that appears to be a square” yet the other person sees the full object. Same idea works for a sphere or a circle.

You mentioned an interesting point about Theists and Atheists argue over whose fundamental assumption is right; God exists, vs. God does not exist. This is an example of polarity. There is an incessant need in man to categorise and box everything. Recently I was on a Hippy Forum were people were discussing how crazy a local council worker was who claimed to have seen a tutu wearing Alien. They were almost offended by this event because it was “unboxable”. For me it feels safer to be unboxed otherwise you can be given a polar opposite to fight against and holding you in puerperal motion, always moving whilst never going anywhere and impeding your progression and development

Something else occurred to me as well. I am also studying the esoteric meanings of the alpha bet at the moment. The letter A is a modification of the Ancient hieroglyph of a yoked Ox (the first letter of the Hebrew alpha bet is “Aleph” which means Ox). The Letter A is a negative Value and comes before something BUT it can also be absents of something (Asexual, Atheist, etc). To put the B in front of the Ox to form the word Box (B-Ox) is similar to casting a spell(ing) upon someone who is going back on him or herself. ( Ox(A) – B - C or B – Ox (Box) to nothing)
The polarization also forms separation and so the movement from A to B moves, which will manifest the first line and the unfolding, a perpetual motion stuck between polarity never allowing it to be whole again and it wont be long before you manifest a whole 3D illusion.

It’s very difficult to separate what you KNOW from what you THINK. Knowing is of spirit and thinking is of the ego, it has its place but it is a means to an end it is not IT.

Its all about taking responsibility right down to the smallest level such as the language you use and how you react to your emotions all of which can make a big difference when you stay in what you know. Realising that your world is only your perception.

[gracimusic]

A moth dances around a light bulb with no concept of electricity. All it knows is that instinct stirs something inside. In the case of the moth it is its natural guidance system, it mistakes the light bulb for the Moon and as a consequence wastes precious moments of its short life going nowhere.

Humans with unyielding mindsets do much the same. They mistake their truth for the truth and waste their time and energy going around and around and fending off what they see as attacks on their beliefs. When instead they should question everything they think they know everytime they ask others to evaluate it.

Thumbs up!

[ivorywire]

Not that anyone should care, but what bothers me about what "we believe" is that much of what "we believe" we believe without a shred of evidence. Science and religion are all about faith. People who act like they have it all figured out probably don't know anything. Take global warming for example. In high school, my chemistry teacher was preaching about it. Now we discover that scientists have been manipulating the data to fit their theories. It's all a big lie, and I was getting it from a public school teacher. That teacher is making $40k a year to spread lies. I should have known it was all a big, fat lie.

[jakemaverick]

'faith in g-men' was always the 'new religion' NOT science....so what you gonna replace it with....? come join my gang.....

[the apprentice]

Believe only what your eyes can see out in the open, not always what your ears hear and what the signs of nature show you and you shouldn't go far wrong, trust me you buy one, you get one free and we are now officially comming out of the recession.

[measle_weasel]

good read! nicely written...

for my tuppence worth, I believe that people largely believe what they are taught to believe and they want to believe that.......and in this society those who don't conform to those beliefs are severely punished, arguably worse than death.....<sig will give u an example>

this article quite close to my heart, i wonder if the author has any comment on what I wrote RE: my beliefs and what was done/ still being done for them?

Thats a big blog :eek: Ill have to work through it in small increments!

[jakemaverick]

Thats a big blog :eek: Ill have to work through it in small increments!

i'll be quiet impressed if you can manage it! works well with that freebie txt to speech reader u can get online....:)

[gallifrey]

Whenever people talk about belief, and faith, I think back to this part of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy:

'I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, 'for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.' "'But,' says Man, 'The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.' "'Oh dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanished in a puff of logic. "'Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing. "Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best- selling book Well That About Wraps It Up For God.

:D

[darryl84]

If you can give yourself or what you believe a label without being aware it is an illusion, the matrix has you.

[dude111]

Heres an interesting book which has some thoughts on exactly this question.

As it happens its also the name of this book :D

Why we Believe What we Believe (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743274970)

[measle_weasel]

Heres an interesting book which has some thoughts on exactly this question.

As it happens its also the name of this book :D

Why we Believe What we Believe (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0743274970)
Thanks, Ill take a look at that!

[gm991]

Most of you are so very, very irrational.

If you want to be corrected, get off the internet and enter professional forums.

David Icke is not theology. Get over it.

[one666]

This is a short, informal essay Ive been meaning to write for a long period of time, and have finally gotten around to doing it. It is titled: Why we believe what we believe, and how that why affects our lives.

Enjoy!

Why do we Believe what we Believe?

Why does one person profess faith in Christianity, and another in Atheism? Why do some people believe in Communism, and others in Capitalism? On the surface, you could say its because of a persons upbringing, or because of their studies and experiences, personal preferences, etc. But that explination can only go so far in bringing about the true answer to the question of why do we believe what we believe. Its akin to asking the question "Why is that car made that way?", and receiving the answer "Because thats the way the engineers designed it". While technically correct, it really doesnt convey any deep knowledge to the questioner; the answer is just a tiny scratch on the surface of a potentially very deep question.

But whats it all come down to? What is at the core, the very heart, of every persons every belief? Ultimately it comes down to free will, but in this thread my primary focus is on the fundamental assumptions chosen via free will (or pre-determined, if youre into determinism), by every person on the planet.

A fundamental assumption is easy to define; it is simply some concept that an individual holds to be true, without having absolute certainty that it actually is true, which forms the foundation for all other assumptions that person makes. Another attribute of a fundamental assumption, is that it is not based on any assumptions itself; it is simply taken to be true in and of itself, hence "fundamental".

We all make fundamental assumptions, even if we dont realize that we do. Even a person who has been taught every belief theyve ever held, they still make fundamental assumptions that allow themselves to believe that their beliefs are true. The fundamental assumption in the case of the prior sentance, for instance, is that the people telling that person what to believe, have objective truths and are unbiasly sharing it with them. A common, yet faulty, fundamental assumption.

How do Fundamental Assumptions Affect us in our Daily Lives?

Fundamental assumptions affect our daily life whenever it is that we are perceiving. Thus, they affect us at all times, and each set are in fact each of our own individual measuring sticks of truth. Most philosophical arguments, as in arguments pertaining to the nature of reality; what is and what is not, if analyzed deep enough, (excluding miscommunications) arise from two differing sets of fundamental assumptions which are in conflict with each other, ie, one set contradicts the other set, thus both cannot be true at the same time. No where can this be more easily witnessed and observed than in the world of religion. Theists and Atheists argue over whose fundamental assumption is right; God exists, vs God does not exist. Neither can be proven, but are both argued over interminably because both of those concepts cannot be true at the same time. One must be true, the other must be false, and there is simply no logical way of circumventing that fact.

When realizing at some point that everything we base our beliefs on all comes down to certain things we just assume to be true, heated arguments that get personal take on a new level of absurdity. Watching them becomes akin to watching two people argue and fight over the contents of a sealed, unopenable box. "Theres a penny in there" one says. "No, theres a nickle in there!" says another.

"Penny!"
"Nickle!"
"PENNY!"
"NICKLE!"
"PENNY, idiot!"
"NICKLE, moron!"

And thus begins a pointless, eternal argument over something that neither side can actually prove one way or the other. Hop on over to the religion section for thousands of these types of arguments.

Another more subtle, yet in my opinion much more prevalent way in which our daily lives are affected, is when a person does not consciously know what their own personal fundamental assumptions are. This usually manifests itself as an inability to explain ones rationale for believing a certain thing, and ends up leading into a circular debate in which supported premises become the foundation for the ideas that are supporting them. In other words, the debate becomes akin to someone trying to convince you that the top floor of a building is what is supporting the bottom one, while at the same time the bottom is supporting the top.

This is most detrimental to the person who does not know WHY they believe what they believe, and can easily lead to an existential crisis in which everything they believe (but do not know why they believe) all at once comes into question, and their entire view of reality is suddenly undermined. It also prevents a person from truly knowing themselves, and being free to think for themselves without having to fall back onto dogma which they usually do not understand on an intrinsic level anyways.

Ramblings, Musings, and Conclusions

Fundamental assumptions are what each of us constructs our realities upon, and the measuring stick we use to qualify whether an idea is true, or untrue; logically sound, or just really silly, etc. Knowing why we believe what we do, and that ultimately it all comes down to a choice and that no ones choice really holds any more validity than anyone elses, greatly strengthens a persons character and gives them a real platform to think for themselves, ponder outside the box, and create new ideas and theories without worrying what others think, and without worrying that you are "getting it wrong".

Its all just a roll of the dice; a spin of the wheel and a pull of the lever anyway, right? Speaking in terms of correct and incorrect pertaining to what God "wants" you to believe and what not to believe, and based on my own personal fundamental assumptions, its all just a guess, so why not get creative and construct a theory of reality that you enjoy? Why not think for yourself? Why argue over things that are at their core, unprovable? Ive fallen into that trap many times, and nothing is ever accomplished. Believe whatever you want to believe, but just remember that what you believe is not fact, but assumption, and that you are no more verifiably right than the next guy. And know why you believe what you believe; know the fundamental assumptions you make which create the foundation for those beliefs, or else your beliefs are quite simply, foundationless.

All this is not to suggest that there is no such thing as objective truth. However, it does imply that whatever the objective truth is, it is impossible to know, and gives little to no indication as to what it might be. Our fundamental assumptions are each of our individual best guesses as to what we want to believe that objective truth to be, so we mind as well make them something interesting, fun, open ended, and not get to caught up over whose guess is better than whose.

Because after its all said and done, and the computers are shut off and weve all gone to bed, who *really* knows what the truth of it all is?

I know I dont.

-----------------------------------------

Thus concludes my short essay. Thank you for reading, and I hope you are able to take away something positive from it all. I have definitely taken away something positive from writing it.

I have written a short list of what my own personal fundamental assumptions are, as kind of a bonus to this thread. I was going to include it into the same thread, but thought splitting them into two would be better for organizational purposes.

My Core Beliefs, This is What I Believe (http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102058)
People believe what they believe because they're dumb and don't have the courage of a thought of their own. This is why they believe other peoples points of view other than their own. They might pass it off as their own but usually you find they get their ideas from others rather than 100% work things out for themselves.

[john white]

I like where you are going measel weasel with identifying fundamental assumption as the underlying structure of belief

I like to remind myself that an assumption only appears an assumption to the conscious mind: because it didn't process assuming it, the conscious mind considers whatever was assumed about to have created itself as part of reality: its assumed because it is "self evident" and doesn't need to be thought about

But from a larger perspective, everything that is "fundamentally assumed" is actually subconsiously chosen

It is the subconscious that drives us and take the flow of energy of life and shapes it

The conscious mind is merely us contemplating the reflection of our sub conscious

And to the subconsious, belief is simply the fundamental essence, which is then formed into the pillars of a structured comprehension of reality by "mind"

[jrhartley3165]

Anyone have anything constructive to add?

The Bible was written by people. Any descriptions of god are human perception, drawn from what they see around them, and a lot of people were gits. Social evolution (and, probably, physical evolution - were taller, live longer and are cleverer) has led to a more benign society, at least among the majority - might is no longer the deciding factor - thats why they have to lie.

If you are to develop your own society in accordance with your free will (of which democracy is the group expression) you cant have god picking you up every time you fall.

Consider this.
If God does something for one person, it is unjust not to do something for every person. Okay, so you do something for one person - say you bring a child back from the dead. (We'll leave population considerations aside for the moment.) So, in the interests of fairness, you have to do something for everyone. Some have relatively easy lives, so their 'gift' is relatively trivial. Lets say, perfect eyesight. So you do something for everyone. All well and good (We'll ignore the 'easy come easy go' attitude that might develop - why do anything except sit on our fat asses ? - read The Time Machine -HG Wells - see also Desiderata - 'Strive to be happy'. Question - What do you value most ? That which you have striven for or that which is easy to acquire, be that material or skill or whatever.)

Back to the main drive of the arguement.
So, now a child of the person who got the perfect eyesight dies.
Unfair that someone received something trivial should endure this severe loss whilst another did not.

Then, again to be fair, you have to do something for everyone.

Eventually you end up doing everything for everyone and you are as kept beings, no more than your own pet dogs and cats.

Back to free will. It is obvious that day to day you make your own decisions about what you do. Everything up to free will can be calculated - laws of physics, instinct etc therefore free will can be predicted with 100% certainty - its advent not consequence.

[drael]

I dont really have anything to add, except that I agree entirely with this.

Its interesting how the true skeptic and the true mystic both come to these sorts of veiws, via such different means - like maybe just maybe the mind really doesnt like having these twists and turns and confusions hidden within - that in truth they are more emotional, philosophical and psychological obstacles than everyday tools, conveinences or practicalities.

[ozpixie]

I only read this yesterday and I think it is beautifully written.

What I believe keeps changing as I get more and more information and learned that it is not just OK, but essential to question everything. Its always been a fluid process that builds as the body of knowledge grows.

[pi3141]

I read in the Cosmic Trigger series by Robert Anton Wilson that sometime back in early 1900's there was a mathmatician who was the last mathmatician to know all the theories in the field of maths. After that the field grew so rapidly that it was impossible for one person to know all the invented theories and equations of maths, and thats just the field of maths. There are of course also theories of other sciences such as Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy etc etc

Phyicists can measure the universe and predict the Big Bang was an event in our past, but they wil only ever know what they can detect and analyse - from a certain perspective, using only the biological senses and instruments available at the time. Not one of them will know all the maths, physics, chemistry, biology and astronomy theories currently known. Yes what they work out may well be very close to the truth, they may even be right. But in the example of the Big Bang, they can't know for sure.

They weren't there.

To know with certainty would be to witness it.

To step outside of the perspective of being on this planet, in this part of the universe and to view the universe backwards and forwards in time would be to see all that there is and how it fits into everything else.

Its the same with conspiracys, no matter how many clues you got, no matter how sure of where the data is pointing, you can't know it all for certain. Unless you know all the smaller conspiracies and then sit down with the head of the big conspiracy and have the whole thing explained to you. Even then. What if you weren't told it all? You may never know.


Thinking about this idea has bought me to a realsiation.
A spiritual truth has more value than a scientific truth.
Scientific truths are measured.
Spiritual truths are witnessed.
The people who have witnessed them, know the truth because they witnessed it.


But of course I could be wrong.
So reading this could have been a waste of time.

Thanks for reading.


I wrote this post yesterday before reading this thread and was going to post it as a thread topic but it seemed apt to post it here.

Thanks for the thread Measle Weasle.

[measle_weasel]

Thanks and your welcome everyone :)

Reading this again after so long, it reminds me of why I try to avoid debates now. The theory I present here recurs in my mind whenever I think about making a comment that someone else is wrong. It no longer makes much sense to do so, as doing such a thing usually just foments animosity.

I now like to look at the possibilities, and suggest them as well, instead of arguing over whose set of fundamental assumptions is right and whose is wrong, which is a futile argument anyway.

[rakkoo]

Anyone have anything constructive to add?


The answer to your Question measle weasle,

"why do we beleive what we beleive,

I would have thought that question was rather simple and obvious.

The Answer

"HOPE"


We all need it, and live for it.

And who ever pre- texts this answer for something else,is a sure fire sign they are here to destroy it.

[mcstyles21]

Why do we believe what we believe? Interesting question, the funny thing is, that question itself is an assumption that we have to have a reason to believe in something. As long as you think there needs to be a reason to believe in something you will be forever chasing your own tail because you will never find the reason, but the joke is you will think you have found the reason when you think you have found the reason and that will be your reason. All questions are ultimately futile, you go on this quest and where do you end up? The same place where you started which is nowhere lol A bit like the oroboros chasing its own tail.

[white zombie]

two differing sets of fundamental assumptions which are in conflict with each other, ie, one set contradicts the other set, thus both cannot be true at the same time.
All this is not to suggest that there is no such thing as objective truth.

However, it does imply that whatever the objective truth is, it is impossible to know, and gives little to no indication as to what it might be. Our fundamental assumptions are each of our individual best guesses as to what we want to believe that objective truth to be, so we mind as well make them something interesting, fun, open ended, and not get to caught up over whose guess is better than whose.

s'good man.

I'm sure a lot of people do make up their own truth but in the end - There can be only one ~ Highlander :D