A different perspective

[Ahriman]

Many people seem to think, that holding opinions/beliefs etc., is important/necessary, however, it doesn't really matter what kind of opinion/belief you hold, when it comes to certain vital things, such as: what god (any god) thinks of you, what kind of person you are, how much suffering you can endure, etc. There are more than just these three, but for the sake of brevity, let's examine just these three issues.
 
"what god (any god) thinks of you"
--If there ever was, is now, or ever will be, any kind of higher power (good or evil) that influences your life in a significant way, it would be important to know where you stand with such a higher power. In the worst case scenario, it's important to know this information because, in the worst case scenario, god would not care about you very much (or at all) and so god would not help you when you asked for help, under any circumstances, and knowing this about god, would be important because, if you knew god would not help you no matter what you said or did, you wouldn't waste any more time/energy on praying/doing rituals/reading holy texts/going to church etc., and that time/energy could then be used in more productive ways. In the best case scenario, god would care about you a lot, and so, even if you did not pray/do rituals/read holy texts/go to church etc., god would still help you, and even if god was evil, it wouldn't matter much, because you would naturally figure, "If god is helping me, I don't really care if god is evil."

"what kind of person you are"
--Knowing your real self, is important, because when you know who you really are, you can express yourself more freely (than if you don't know who you are), and some suffering in life, can be mitigated, by expressing yourself.
 
"how much suffering you can endure"
--Knowing how much pain/suffering/boredom you can endure, is very important, because when you know this information, you will be less likely to put yourself in an intolerable situtaiton (whether that situation is some kind of sexual activity, or sports/fitness related activities, or consuming drugs, or simply having to wait around for something to happen, such as at a doctor's office)

[Foxaèr]

Was hoping for a synoptic conclusion.

[brewer]

Stigmata while typing?

[The Grand Nudger]

I think something similar. The belief in gods, particularly.... is unimportant... even to the religions ostensibly based on belief in gods. Higher powers is an ambiguous term, and many people who don't believe in gods believe in a great many higher powers upon which they premise normative statements about life which are the traditional fault line between god botherers and atheists.

An atheist and a theist get into a discussion bout their respective beliefs in right and wrong..and, firstly, they don't disagree all that much. Secondly, zeroing out a god or adding a god doesn't reduce any disagreement or build any agreement between the two. What kind of person you are and how much suffering you can endure are god nuetral questions, and the only god question is itself explicitly reduced to labels, rather than concept. Know what any standard you hold to says about you.

How many of our weird christian friends see nothing wrong with abortion, for example, beyond what an existent god feels about it....? I suspect the answer approaches or actually is zero.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

It’s in colour, so it must be frightfully important stuff.

Boru

[Belacqua]

"what kind of person you are"
--Knowing your real self, is important, because when you know who you really are, you can express yourself more freely (than if you don't know who you are), and some suffering in life, can be mitigated, by expressing yourself.
 

Interesting questions, and different from what we usually get around here, so thank you for posting these.

The first one is the most difficult, so I will skip it at least for now.

Knowing oneself and expressing oneself are intimately related, I think. And I agree that expression can be very helpful.

There is an old joke: "How do I know what I think until I hear what I say?" And this is kind of the basis of all talk therapy. What the therapist says isn't important; what I hear myself say to the therapist is what counts. I say something that seems obvious, and he raises an eyebrow and says "really?" and I think "god, I really believe that don't I? What the hell?" It can be devastating. 

I see it as dialectic. You make something as self expression, and this "gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name." It makes a concrete, visible touchstone of your state of mind. This then becomes a rung on a ladder, onto which you can step to see a little further. 

"how much suffering you can endure"

--Knowing how much pain/suffering/boredom you can endure, is very important, because when you know this information, you will be less likely to put yourself in an intolerable situtaiton (whether that situation is some kind of sexual activity, or sports/fitness related activities, or consuming drugs, or simply having to wait around for something to happen, such as at a doctor's office)

Related to the other question, above. Knowing oneself means knowing one's limits. What to avoid, who to put on ignore. 

The psychoanalyst Adam Phillips writes wonderfully about this stuff. His latest book is about giving up, and how we see that as a failure, but in fact it may be a very positive thing. 

Do you have any real-life examples you are willing to let us know about?

[The Grand Nudger]

When Ahris done embarrassing itself I'll pick that one up. I don't think that people can make it into any state of cognizant adulthood without grappling with that issue.

[Ahriman]

When Ahris done embarrassing itself I'll pick that one up.  I don't think that people can make it into any state of cognizant adulthood without grappling with that issue.

????

[Fake Messiah]

"what god (any god) thinks of you"

Usually, people in religions like Christianity and Islam end up at a point where homosexuals are afraid that their god will punish them but racists are not.

[The Grand Nudger]

For good reason. Theism has been a traditionally ethnocentric enterprise with strong provisions on what it means to have an acceptable sexuality.