@fmf saidI have a hard time believing you don't see this when you PROCLAIM as you do that
We are just sharing our subjective opinions. If you wish to refer to your own opinions as "corrections" of mine, so be it.
does not come across as just an opinion, but a fact undeniable. Don't bother with
a series of posts justifying yourself, been here before, not going to bother with it.
@moonbus saidg) Things are believed if believing them creates a kind of euphoria that feels supernatural in origin.
Why are things believed?
Proposed answers: not because they are true, but because
a) they seem to someone to be true, or
b) they seem to someone to explain some complex or mysterious phenonemon better than an alternative hypothesis, or
c) they seem to someone to be consistent with or logically implied by something else which seems to be true, or
d) some putative authority figure says they are true.
<>Discuss.
@moonbus saidh) ...because hundreds of millions of people [like me] - and billions and billions more over the centuries - can't be wrong.
Why are things believed?
Proposed answers: not because they are true, but because
a) they seem to someone to be true, or
b) they seem to someone to explain some complex or mysterious phenonemon better than an alternative hypothesis, or
c) they seem to someone to be consistent with or logically implied by something else which seems to be true, or
d) some putative authority figure says they are true.
<>Discuss.
@moonbus saidi) Because I have been socialized - overtly and subliminally - to realize that if I don't [at least purport to] believe these things, life in my small conservative town ~ in my pious neighbourhood, with my kids in a nearby denominational school, and all these don't-take-a-step-back religionists around me ~ will be a life of being the alienated odd one out. Yeah, so I have internalized it all, and I do pray, I suppose, and I am a "believer", sure, but don't press me on the tenets or ask me to bet my children's lives on whether these "truths" are literally true.
Why are things believed?
Proposed answers: not because they are true, but because
a) they seem to someone to be true, or
b) they seem to someone to explain some complex or mysterious phenonemon better than an alternative hypothesis, or
c) they seem to someone to be consistent with or logically implied by something else which seems to be true, or
d) some putative authority figure says they are true.
<>Discuss.
@moonbus saidj) It is not that I believe them; that's not the the key to it. But if I want to run for office, then I believe in these beliefs - in so far as I won't get elected without espousing them; I've been doing it so long, the boundary between utility and sincerity has become blurred.
Why are things believed?
Proposed answers: not because they are true, but because
a) they seem to someone to be true, or
b) they seem to someone to explain some complex or mysterious phenonemon better than an alternative hypothesis, or
c) they seem to someone to be consistent with or logically implied by something else which seems to be true, or
d) some putative authority figure says they are true.
<>Discuss.
@moonbus saidk) "I converted to X [from Y] in order to marry my true love. I love everything about him/her, including his/her belief in X and the way his/her faith animates him/her. As a follower of X, I have been welcomed into the bosom of his/her lovely family who are all devoutly X and who respect me for converting to X and doing so with sincerity. My experience of X has been so much more meaningful to me than Y. It has given me a whole new lease on life. I am on the right path now."
Why are things believed?
Proposed answers: not because they are true, but because
a) they seem to someone to be true, or
b) they seem to someone to explain some complex or mysterious phenonemon better than an alternative hypothesis, or
c) they seem to someone to be consistent with or logically implied by something else which seems to be true, or
d) some putative authority figure says they are true.
<>Discuss.
m) I was helped to haul myself up from rock bottom, and I mean I was down and out - alcohol and drug abuse - by someone who had strong belief in X and his/her faith was at the very core of the whole psychology of his/her way of helping me - and against all the odds, a kind of miracle, I'd say - I have been sober for 5 years and my life is back on track. I credit the deity of X for where I am now: on the up and up. I will forever be grateful. And yes, I am now a believer who will never forget the miracle that happened to me."
n) "I took some magic mushrooms ~ it wasn't like it was the first time or anything, far from it, indeed my friends had been saying I had been overdoing it, disappearing for a day at a time ~ and this time the bloody fungus really hit me good and proper, I mean, my face was melting, didn't know where I was, and I was walking through this wood, it was near where I live I suppose, though I didn't recognize it, and the sun was shining down through the leaves, and there was like a haze above the ferns and undergrowth, and there, beside a tree, about 30 yards away, shimmering and slightly out of focus, I saw a man, and he didn't actually speak, but I could hear his voice inside my head, and he told me that he would always love me and look after me, and he told me to knock the mushrooms on the head, because they were really messing with my brain, and he was right, they were, and so I did, and I got my life together, eased back on the skunk too, my friends were amazed, I really cleaned up, and I have been a believer ever since."
