#belief*

[thinking-in-broken-scenes]

@emiliosandozsequence

Aren't plushies beautiful? They were created so a sick child had something to hold. They were created so an adult living alone might have a friend to keep them company. They were created for a teenager to clutch to her chest as she cries. They were created to accompany a college student to his geology classes. They were created not for any material benefit, they don't change tires, but to be loved.

They were created for the purpose of love.

[wildworldx]

the eternity is something beautiful. - wildworldx

[incognitopolls]

Feel free to elaborate on which religion in the tags if you answer yes.

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[aeshnacyanea2000]

This is very similar to the suggestion put forward by the Quirmian philosopher Ventre, who said, 'Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right?' When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said, 'We're going to show you what we think of Mr Clever Dick in these parts . . . '

-- Terry Pratchett - Hogfather

[somewhere-rich]

Realising my age is getting serious but my life isn't.

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[succulentsiren]

Stop letting others define your life and start making the rules for yourself.

If you believe you can be successful in business and still maintain healthy relationships you can. If you believe you can have a successful online business you can. If you believe that you can become a successful influencer you can.

No matter what it is, only you can determine your fate. Ignore everything and everyone else.

Start creating your own ideal reality and don’t stop until you get it.

[entheognosis]

[prove-it-or-lose-it]

Fine, I'm not going to push it if you don't have any good reasons to believe something. But you shouldn't be surprised that I'm going to reject your assertion without any good evidence to support it.

I have a book that says there's a great cosmic turtle out there, which carries four elephants (there used to be five of them) on its back who support on their shoulders a giant flat world full of magic. It's true because I have a book that says it's true. This reasoning is exactly as sound as "god is real because the bible says so."

"You can only claim skepticism so far," is one of the sillier things I've seen lately. Your thought-stopping ideology tells you that skepticism is wrong and bad, to just have faith that something is true despite a lack of any good evidence. It stops you from questioning why you reject other (equally poorly supported) books that say other gods are real, and encourages you to engage in special pleading for your particular version of god on top of the circular reasoning demonstrated above.

I'm not arguing for argument's sake; you made a truth claim and I asked for evidence. If any god is real I'd like to know, but you decided either that I'm not worthy of the truth that you possess, or that exposing yourself to the possibility you might be wrong is too dear a cost to pay for attempting to save me from damnation.

I argue to bring myself closer to any truth that I might have access to. I argue because I think people should have the self respect to examine their beliefs, and to reject any belief that can't be demonstrated to be true. I don't want to believe a lie, no matter how comforting it might be.

[dk-thrive]

I can see now that I was hungry for love... For something to love: a bite, a dream, a person, a meal, a field, a piece of a world worth believing in.

— C. Pam Zhang, Land of Milk and Honey (Riverhead Books, September 26, 2023)

[creature-wizard]

"Respect other people's spiritual beliefs" is for things like how many gods there are, or whether Jesus always existed with the Father or was begotten five minutes before creation started or was just some guy who got really popular, or whether the divine is immanent or transcendent or both.

"Respect other people's spiritual beliefs" is not for shit like "I believe all the religions I don't like were actually created by an evil conspiracy trying to suppress the truth of my spirituality, which must be spread across the world to save us all from the evil conspiracy." That's just straight-up bigotry and conspiracism. That shit gets people killed.

[austinausten]

“‘It’s happened before,’ said the tortoise…’Belief, he says. Belief shifts. People start out believing in the god and end up believing in the structure.’”

-Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

[palatinewolfsblog]

"Be a free thinker and don't accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in." Aristotle.

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[wandoffire]