So I’m really beginning to love sleeping. So much in fact that if anyone asks me what my favorite activity is at this moment in time, I would have to say hands down…sleeping. Not only do I get the best ideas and realizations of things right before I drift off to sleep (this also happens in the shower if you’ve read any of my earlier posts), but best of all…I get to dream. Thus far in the past week I’ve rescued a homeless puppy and in turn found a new friend/pet; I’ve wrestled with wolves twice, won, and saved my townspeople; and last night I was in some kind of Mario tree top land in the clouds, took an elevator up through the unfinished roof of a building (because of course the elevator said 100 floors when they only had 66 of them completed), shot into the sky, came plummeting down like I was sky diving, and landed onto a rooftop flat on my back, unscathed. You can’t do those things in real life (except maybe the rescue the homeless puppy…but they are never as cute as the one in my dream). Lol But if I believe I can fly in my dreams…by George, I’m gonna go ahead and do it. Which very roughly leads me to my point of discussion today...
My friend and I were discussing the topic of why do we believe what we believe, and he asked me to post it up and see what people had to say. At first, I thought it was a simple question and I answered for myself “cuz it’s logical, has been tested, and is the truth as I see it at the moment…because it’s good for myself and everyone universally.” But then he explained more.
He said “Yes, that is the way it is for you. But people have different motivations for believing in certain things, and I think it’s important to evaluate our motivations and the why’s of the beliefs we subscribe to…because our thoughts dictate our beliefs, and our beliefs dictate our behavior.”
Then I was thinking about it all together and dreaming seems so easy…you believe…then you do it…no questions asked. When you stop and think about it, I find life is much the same way. What we actually believe, we show in our actions…no matter what we say we believe, our actions will always speak what we have built the bricks of our life on and thus actually believe. (Side note: stay tuned for my brick theory in an upcoming post). But how often do we analyze what we say/think we believe and how our actions match up to that? I think we’ll all find that we have been telling ourselves things for years that we don't truly believe. So take a moment and stop and think about what you actually believe about this life and how it works and why you actually believe those things. I’m curious to see the different responses and if they are any different than what you thought they would be. :)
I read an interesting article in The Philosopher's Journal which proposed that the mind tricks itself into believing what it wants to believe. In an experiment, John Kerry and George Bush supporters had their brain activity monitored during speech recordings- whenever one of the candidates contradicted himself in some way the pleasure centers of the minds of the supporting viewer lit up. This seems congruent with how drug/alcohol or gambling addicts say they don't have problems; their minds want to continually drown in their addictions. It suggests that we are not conditioned to seek truth but rather a mentality that ensures a comfort zone within our minds. The whole concept really shook my faith: "Is everything I was raised to believe [as a Christian] wrong? Did I believe what I was taught to believe because it comforted me to believe there was someone always watching over me and because I couldn't bear the thought of there being no eternity to look forward to after death?" But then I thought that atheists and agnostics similarly could have deluded themselves in an equal opposite manner; ostensibly they seem like the more critical thinkers who are skeptical of things that sound too good to be true, but perhaps they are deluding themselves into believing there is no Supreme Being to which they are accountable because they have a rebellious nature, they would rather be the boss of themselves or their conscience was more agreeable with what is popular/dictated as moral by society. I have yet to come to any conclusions but these different schools of thought have left me somewhere caught between two different worlds but without a firm grip on either one.
ReplyDeleteThat is all super interesting for sure. It just goes to show how much of a battle things truly are and how powerful the mind is. Why do you think we teach kids what they need to learn when they are young? Because it's hard to break away from the things we've built our life and how we see the world on. Honestly my thoughts on the subject are that each and every person has to do their own personal inventory at some point. I too came to a point where I realized I had no reason to believe how I did...I had no experience, just believed what I was taught for so long and had nothing backing it...basically I had not put in the work to make my beliefs my own. That was the beginning of an amazing quest though. Questions are good. They help you find the truth. After coming to my own conclusions and forming my own reasons why I believe what I do it all became real to me personally. There were certain things and experiences in life I've had and witnessed that I could never discount and would always make me know there was a higher power but I needed to figure out my what's and why's. When you do that you have the right to say this is my belief and I'm proud of it. The best thing I learned is it doesn't have to be so cut and dry...it's alive and real and changeable. As I grow I can expound on it and move around things that don't work. I made it my own basically. The good part is the core of my beliefs is the same as what I was taught when I was young...but the method of how it's taught, what is right/wrong, how to live it...is all my own. There are some things I haven't quite come to a conclusion on...and I'm sure there are many things I never will. But little by little it grows with each life experience. And the best part is when I see my beliefs in action and they work to make things better in my life and the people around me. Anyway...good luck with your questioning...never stop!
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