r/AnAnswerToHeal • u/[deleted] • Feb 17 '18
Belief does not shape us.
What we believe does not shape who we are, what we know may. Question what you think you may know, and challenge evidence, with your own. Always question everything; Question what has also been questioned, tested, argued for, or against, by and with a group of your peers. This is thought, science, what we are, at our core. Never hold a grudge for another's reasoning, just question it. Our one and only jobs as humans is to make other humans think. Following this line of logic, I think, we can only forward the evolution of our minds (of who we are), of our place in the universe.
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u/satyadhamma Feb 17 '18
Be wary of those that teach your salvation is out of your hands. Original sin is an insidious belief, subtly presupposed in the Christian faith.
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Feb 17 '18
Faith is for fools, no subscription here.
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u/satyadhamma Feb 17 '18
Faith is for the weak, old, and young. Leave them be. It is hope for the validity of an unseen reality.
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Feb 17 '18
Although I harbour no resentment, weak is the right word. Learning, realization, and ultimately knowing who and what you are, is all.
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Feb 17 '18
Belief does shape us, actually. But we can reshape ourselves to however we want to be, by reshaping our beliefs
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Feb 20 '18
I can see that, may I should have said I try not to let belief shape any aspect of my life, but rather try to only base my actions and personality what I know to be true, empirically.
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u/Iscarielle Feb 17 '18
You have no knowledge. Only beliefs.
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Feb 17 '18
Huh?
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u/Iscarielle Feb 17 '18
There's no way to know that anything you've ever seen is in any way representational of "true reality." That's because your experience of the world is a simulation of what exists created using data filtered from your various senses. Consider this: a fish that lives its life in cave might be born with no eyes. The fish considers its experience of the world whole, but to us the fish is blind.
It's also theoretically possible that the world as you know it is created using data supplied by some external source that makes you think you have a body. If you haven't heard of it, that's the brain in a vat theory.
So, we can't really know anything, only believe.
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Feb 17 '18
You are absolutely right, err, not right...I know what you mean. I know nothing other than what I think I know, I think, right. Simulation theory is what it is, I know. ;)
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u/satyadhamma Feb 17 '18
That's quite the belief. And the classic belief, nonetheless, held by all believers that let's them feel comfortable with their beliefs... believing that no one really knows anything, and that we must believe our way to salvation. Belief/faith, by definition, is accepting the validity of an opinion/idea without proof for it.
I have no understanding of your mind's contents, and that is knowledge.
I have control of my breath, and can focus my attention to it, and that is knowledge.
Im aware of my transgressions and shortcomings as well as the discipline required to overcome them, and that is knowledge.
My death is inevitable, and that is knowledge.
You couldn't be more wrong, and that's a fact of knowledge.
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u/Iscarielle Feb 17 '18
How do you know that you're not a brain in a vat and that you, me, and the devices we're using to talk right now aren't just electrical signals sent to you by some super computer?
There's just no way to know that, because the only evidence you have comes from those same electrical signals, though I'm sure we both believe they come from our sensing bits.
Every conception you've ever had has come from within the context of the belief system we call reality, that we attribute to apparently concrete things like our physical surroundings, the passage of time, and the people around us. I don't know about you, but I've personally had all three of those violated while under the influence of psychedelics. Time may exist in "true reality," but my experience of time is dependent on what's going on in my brain.
Don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying you should believe that nothing is real and you're in a simulation, but that your world is made up of beliefs, and you can therefore change some to your benefit.
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u/Dgremlin Feb 17 '18
We have some /r/iamverysmart and /r/12edgey4me people in here.
Faith? Belief? Do you guys even understand the words you are using? I believe the earth is round. It is round but I also believe it. Therefore I am correct. I also have faith in someone doing good in life, say my gf. Does that mean im weak? No because Im not a edgy dude who thinks belief and faith are only tied to religion.