RE: The need to believe?
July 9, 2017 at 2:15 pm
(This post was last modified: July 9, 2017 at 2:20 pm by Brian37.)
(July 9, 2017 at 11:55 am)Aliza Wrote: The belief system I think you're describing is basically just something you've welcomed into your life to make you happy. It doesn't sound like you're trying to convince other people to join you in your spiritual quest, and if it's not detrimental to your social and emotional well-being, then you should think the way you want.
If you feel you have a need to believe in something because it brings you comfort, then you should take the necessary steps to secure your peace and happiness. Maybe feeling that there's some higher power just makes you feel more secure. This is your life, and you should live it your way.
You owe no explanations to anyone, and if anyone argues with you over the privately held thoughts that you have in your head (that are there to bring you comfort and peace, not them), or if they try to pick them apart to debunk your way of thinking, or if they have trouble respecting you for not thinking exactly like them, then trust me on this one thing: Those people are maladjusted fucks, and should be ignored.
You do you.
From a legal standpoint absolutely, but even then, if one is simply going to say, "I like it" or "I have the right", that still means nothing. Even when not trying to convince others, it is still important if one wants to know if they are correct in their position, to be willing to self examine it. By that I don't mean to fish for reasons to keep it, but to look for universal independent conformation beyond one's own bias. If one is unwilling to consider they got it wrong, then they are not being objective.
Outside that, it should remain merely your opinion.
(July 9, 2017 at 2:09 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: My sense of spirituality is simply a sense of being connected to something unimaginably larger than myself -- the Universe. It requires no faith on my part to feel that humility, and no woo for me to find comfort in it.
I never use the word "spirituality", it is highly subjective and started in a very superstitious past.
I get the same feelings too. But that to me is merely my body having a positive reaction to stimuli. My "sense of awe" and yes, that can be intense.
But knowing that while the universe has some really awesome things in it, it also has lots of extremely destructive and deadly things in it too. I am extremely amazed with all the countless factors that could have ended up with a different result but didn't, that we are here. But I see no grand design in the universe and do not see it as a giant living thing. I simply see both the good and the bad in it as natural with no super cognition behind it. But certainly our planet and universe have some damned amazing things in it, certainly.