The older I get the more I realize how chock full o' shit I am!
Terry, put more fiber in you diet and take laxitive, that should solve the problem.
God, Brain & Belief.
by Blueblades 25 Replies latest jw friends
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IsaacJS2
I tend to agree with Terry about people on average. We might be somewhat exceptional in this sense having left a group like the WTS. I went from dedicated JW to a skeptical secular atheist myself, so some people can make dramatic changes. But I've also met some ex-Witnesses that haven't strayed far at all. (I'm new in here, so I can't comment about members of this board)
I have a rather lengthy bit of personal philosophy to go with this, but it's too long and no one will read it. But I think most people form a general world view fairly early in life and tend to stick with it unless something totally earth shattering occurs. It's easier for us to take every bit of new evidence or information and try to fit it into that worldview instead of adjusting our worldview to fit the evidence. So we tend to rationalize things without realizing it, or simply rejecting the things that don't fit.
I could give examples, but don't want to step on anyone's toes. :-) This seems like a pretty varied collection of folks.
IsaacJ
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Terry
What if the quest for "truth" -- or actually the quest for being right -- turned out to be the vainest of all?
Looking back, I can say that I was never a believer in self-inflicted intellectual violence.
I let the beliefs slip off my mind at their own pace.
I'm currently sort of in the opinion that belief is ego and ego is belief. The quest for truth may turn out to be the ego's cry for affirmation. Beyond the survival value of knowing what's what---knowledge is asymptotically redundant.
Yet, some of us can't help ourselves. I've always had pedantic tendencies. My 16 year old son, alas, shows the exact same sort of pedantry and has since he was 2 years old! Just like me he loves memorizing useless facts and correcting people. Is it DNA? I just don't know.
My fuse is longer than it was when I was very young. I can actually keep my mouth shut in a one on one meeting with (another) know-it-all and let them shine their light without competing. It's tough, believe me! But, I've learned to do it.
JWD is my last fling at opening my big mouth. It relaxes me.
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Terry
Yes, it does feel that way sometimes. Beginning to wonder if it's worth holding on to any beliefs at all. Who would we be without beliefs?
tall penguinI'll tell you what----sometimes I'm put on the spot and something just explodes out of me that constitutes a declaration of "belief".
I was in my Religion section at the bookstore yesterday and a customer POINT BLANK asked me suddenly:
"Are you a Christian?"I blinked for a millisecond and blurted out: "Yes, I was baptized in 1963!"
Inside my head I was saying tacitly: "Where the hell did THAT come from?"
Apparently I have a split personality!
The correct answer would be: "I use to be an avowed Christain, but; I more correctly consider myself Agnostic right now."
That always sounds so pussy-footy I just hate saying it.
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Terry
Hmmmmmmmm.............Terry
Now you know that I am fond of you - that is without debate - you are one of the more challenging posters on this site but i just cant agree with some of the things you said, but I am not going to SCREAM about it..........
Firstly, you say in view of our comfort zone "You arent likely to want to embrace anything that challenges your beliefs, practices, sense of ethics and view of the universe". Is that not a little off kilter in light of the fact that many of us, myself included were born and raised Jehovah's Witnesses and a such were subjected to a rigid set of beliefs that gave great hope and comfort to many.
Who did I say that to?
Here is what I find depressing. The unwillingness to stray outside one's own comfort zone.
It was rhetorical.
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Terry
The older I get the more I realize how chock full o' shit I am!
Terry, put more fiber in you diet and take laxitive, that should solve the problem.
Actually, a diet of my own words works rather well, thank you!
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Terry
But I've also met some ex-Witnesses that haven't strayed far at all. (I'm new in here, so I can't comment about members of this board)
Here is a silly observation I make.
People who don't know much don't have to know anything to criticize somebody else's belief.
But, once you THINK you know something you can be critical using longer sentences.
However, if you become disillusioned at your own knowledge/beliefs there is a turnaround. Then, you end up on the same side as your previous debate foes TAKING THEIR SIDE! Now you're a traitor to your own previous convictions.
That is why a heretic or evil slave is so disreputable: they side with their own intellectual nemesis with equal conviction as previously supported the wrong belief.
In other words, being convinced/unconvinced is worse than merely holding an ignorant belief!
How many ex-smokers are a pain in the ass? It is that sort of thing.
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Confession
Terry, just wanted to say that I appreciate some of your open comments and admissions in this thread. It cracks me up to think that you might accidently tell someone you're a Christian! The know-it-all comment was funny too.
I seem to remember you don't subscribe to the Myers-Briggs temperament studies, but if I were to identify your type it would be that of the Rational, the "abstract utilitarian." Many of my closest friends are of this temperament. A few years ago I jokingly asked one of them (who happens to enjoy the study of temperament,) "So what's the problem with you Rationals anyway?"
He thought for a moment, and responded with a shrug, "Superiority complex."
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fifi40
My point was you said 'you aren't likely to want to embrace.....' and many do.
And if on leaving ones comfort zone is it necessary to become a masochist!
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Terry
I seem to remember you don't subscribe to the Myers-Briggs temperament studies, but if I were to identify your type it would be that of the Rational, the "abstract utilitarian."
In real life I hang on by my fingernails. I don't have a rational nature. I'm emotionally impulsive. I live in the moment and that plays deuces all with tomorrow. Now that I'm an old geezer I realize you pay the piper for the dance, so; I try not to dance too much.
I'm happy-go-lucky in everyday life and make everything a joke. I'm a "character" to my workmates. I can esteem the rational nature and desire it for myself, but; it goes against my natural grain, alas!
Right now my personal goals are geared toward cutting way back on impulses to develop better habits. I've made some improvements and gained a little ground. However, not enough to make a difference yet!
What comes out of my mouth is one sort of person, yet; what goes on in my head and heart is another sort altogether.