What are your beliefs? I believe in us as souls in a human experience. I also believe in parallel worlds. I guess I would fit in with hippies haha

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Jaimie  JT Profile
Jaimie JT answered

I don't believe in much anymore :) but I believe in me  now , and I like that :) and my power to  decipher bullshizit :) yeah ... I believe in myself :)also the power of Christ compels me !!!! Yeah nah .. It doesn't :p 

Virginia Lou Profile
Virginia Lou answered

Dear Nicole Ashley,

I also do not 'believe' in very much...I was atheist for thirty years, and during that time influenced by Buddhism. A basic tenet of Buddhism is that you accept nothing on faith, you prove it out for yourself.

I also think our human experience is each unique...I would not try to tamper with anyone's belief/experience because to me one's own personal knowing is SO important, it's right for them.

* * *

I recently came upon a wonderful quote from Albert Camus, who is someone whose experience I DO trust...and I hope The Z sees this, also Tom Jackson Didge (I think I showed it to couple of you already?) and any others who are interested... Because I would love everyone's take    ...anyway this quote resonates with me:

"I do not believe in God, and I am not an atheist.

* * *

If I can locate this in the original French, I may ask Jaimie JT to look at it and see if she thinks the translation is accurate.

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Virginia Lou
Virginia Lou commented
Dear Zee, your comments appreciated.

And I continue to hold Camus in ever higher regard... one quality of great writing is to encourage the reader's own thought process...and inspire deeper thought rather than placing limits.

That "optimistic as to man" seems to me very endearing.
Virginia Lou
Virginia Lou commented
Just Ice, yes to me I would say yes I do think so.
Takes us out of either/or thinking, and into more of a wholeness. (As do many great writings from Islamic traditions.)

I do wish I could read this quote in the original French as Camus wrote it...
Virginia Lou
Virginia Lou commented
I am actually delighted you pointed that out...def one reason I truly love the quote and I did not realize that until your comment.
Tris Fray Potter Profile

Science.  So, my beliefs change a lot, but I have always believed, and probably always will, believe in science.

Darik Majoren Profile
Darik Majoren answered

It is important to establish that having BELIEFS, in no way constitutes it being knowledge. Also, there is finite (but expanding) amount of Knowledge we CAN have, and once we reach those borders most lean towards Belief to fill the empty space. Is this wrong? It is if we tend to fill beliefs with things that would be out of our natural scope of reality. It is best to adhere to what is most probable with how the world works, then to sway to fantasy.

I believe in the natural world and what can manifest itself in that reality.

Because of this I don't necessarily support Supernatural Claims. I find the concept of the "Soul" a Supernatural claim. While some theoretical Physicists might "believe" in Parallel Universes, we currently do not have hard proof of their existence.

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Darik Majoren
Darik Majoren commented
I am not familiar with the term "Fairy Nuff" . . .
Darik Majoren
Darik Majoren commented
that is actually a pretty cute play on words . . I should have guessed from the Handle Just Ice, you would be very good at that.

I started to watch that video . . . As soon as he mentioned wanting to go to Bob Jones University I thought "Well of course this guy will convert to a different faith." . . .

You will find it very easy to go from one concept of God to another, the difficult transition is moving from knowing only God Concepts, to going to Atheism . . that, my friend was painful (not in a bad way), because of the conditioning one goes through in the early years.
Call me Z Profile
Call me Z answered

I don't foster BELIEF in the spiritual sense, but positions of understanding. Belief of this variety is that which one accepts without evidence. I don't abide this in my own life. I hold the position that theism, particularly monotheism, is the most destructive wickedness to ever be thrust upon the world. I have seen ponderous evidence to support this. 

That said, I believe in the inherent potential of human beings to set their own fate, and to overcome great challenges;

That morality is the product of our interactions with each other, not the directive of some fabled deity. The vast majority of us are intrinsically good.

That our greatest failure as a species is the lack of unified purpose to advance our common prosperity in harmony with each other and with the planet. This is the source of our greatest miseries;

More immediately, I believe we should hold the highest imperative to cherish and elevate this one, all-too-brief miracle of existence, everyday and everyone.

If I were to claim a personal credo, it would go something like that.

Tom  Jackson Profile
Tom Jackson answered

Like most people, I believe the things that make the most sense to me.

And for me, that is adequately stated in the Catholic Apostle's Creed.

A few comments on a more personal level (for your amusement or whatever other reaction you may have):

I think reincarnation is perhaps theoretically possible, but I consider it to be unlikely.

Myths exist in the sense that they are traditional stories.  They may or may not be true. Certainly much that is undiscovered may well exist, but it is also true that it may never be discovered due to the limitations of science.

If you don't have time to verify Newton's laws in a laboratory setting you may well "believe" in them.  Otherwise, one of the characteristics of science is that no "belief" is required.

(I am responding to answers in the ascending direction in this answer.  I usually do some research in the process of answering.  I just came across this link for Camus.  It gave me a good chuckle, perhaps it will you as well.

http://tnvalleytalks.hoop.la/topic/i-dont-believe-in-god---but-i-am-not-an-atheist--is-this-possible?reply=208733512873237047  )

And it sounds like Walter and I would probably agree about a number of things.

And I certainly believe in humans being comprised of body and soul.  I would characterize it as a little more than an "experience," but I don't have a particular word in mind.

Interesting question, by the way.

@Jamie JT---not ignoring you. Perfectly fine answer just like the others.  I believe in myself as well.

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Virginia Lou
Virginia Lou commented
Tom...I been kinda thinking about this thread...now not sure whether the wtf was a kind of violent dismissal or just a now-common expression...if the former, please forgive me and ignore what I am about to write...

Because from the link, I truly feel I came to understand that the Camus quote, it happens at the level of the Sacred Heart.
Catholicism being the only Christian tradition (that I know of) to acknowledge the Sacred Heart...not as just a beautiful icon, but a living moving dynamic of creation.

The link tries to discredit the quote on the basis of logic and reason, but the Sacred Heart transcends that. In fact I would say you cannot even utilize logic/reason accurately without the perspective through the Sacred Heart.

The Sacred Heart novena is my most essential prayer.
Again please forgive me, no intention to offend.
Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
The only thing that offends me is consequent ignorance---and I've never see any indication of that in you.

It was just my opinion of Absurdism---"(Camus') views contributed to the rise of the philosophy known as Absurdism."

"Absurdism is a philosophical school of thought stating that the efforts of humanity to find inherent meaning will ultimately fail."

And since I believe that "truth exists and is the proper object of study" as I have stated previously; and since I also find it to be "one" and therefore cannot contradict itself, I consider Camus a distraction rather than someone who provides insight.

So, if someone want me to invest time on Camus, my reaction is "No, Hell, no"---and my reaction to his comments is usually "WTF."

But that's OK---not everything written ever pretended to be for my edification.
Virginia Lou
Virginia Lou commented
One of the most tender aspects of the human journey in its mystery...so intimately attuned to each of us, our uniqueness.
mary adam Profile
mary adam answered

I am still unsure as what to believe, I look at the world and society and the way it is changing, the more I see it prophesied in the bible :-

From family values to a very selfish and self centred way of living.

From a world of countries battling with it's governments edging towards a one world order, a totalitarian agenda.

Fresh food becoming GMO

Hip hop music videos promoting making oneself rich, sleeping with lots of women, violence, throwing up the sign of the Goat, and 666,  (Turn on MTV or any music channel now, turn the volume off and really "see" what these people are doing). Turn on the advertisements and see what you brain is being programmed with.

Secret operations, MKUltra, project paperclip etc.

To adverts bombarding us with the idea that we should be dissatisfied with ourselves and buy buy buy, the Con Sumer ism.

To sexualising children.

To escape in to a virtual world of violence.

Where can this go?

The bible teaches us that this world is of Satan, we are enslaved by the desires of the flesh, the knowledge of good and evil, ego which set us apart from God.

Atheists tell us that God does not exist because we can offer no proof of his existence. But they want proof by seeing God. What happened in the garden of eden? Gen 3:6

1)When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food

2) And pleasing to the eye.

3) And also desirable for gaining wisdom,

She took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

This tells you that the eye is not the best way to decipher truth. This is why God is spirit. This is why it takes faith.  This is why one is to be born again, in the spirit of God. Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. This is the temple that God resides within, not stone buildings or churches, but in "you."

The world is selling out, become famous and become a Star, is not what the bible tells us to do. This is Baal worship, Lucifer, Osiris (Egyptian god of the underworld), Nimrod, the goat of mendes. "Do as thy wilt be the whole of the law." The witches rule, who believed in the Goat of Mendes (baphomet), a giver of wisdom.  The peace symbol is the Ravens claw, the broken cross, Nero's cross.

Matt 4:8-10 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

"No servant can serve two masters: For either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

Proverbs 6:13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers;

Since God confounded there speech, they turned to symbolism. The sign of the Goat, the ok sign (666), the tower of Babel, the hidden hand, the phallic symbol, the one eye symbolism (ayin), the tongue hanging out (Kali Yuga) this is all from Mystery Babylon The Great in it's many forms, the eastern star, Satanism, Freemasonry, the Skull and Bones, etc.

Matt 27:33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

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