SilentMute
12-14-2012, 05:28 PM
At 37, I am re-assessing my belief system. I have been rather shocked to find out how much I have always accepted without question. Of course, we first get our beliefs when our minds are vulnerable, and other people tell us what we should believe. Messages are promoted through our entertainment. Later, I suppose we are supposed to re-analyze what we've been told and figure out whether we believe it is valid. We often do this in some areas, but now I am beginning to realize we don't do it with everything. I was very good about doing it with religion and the supernatural, but I neglected social and political concepts. I find myself reacting to things because of what I've been told, but suddenly my mind is saying, "Wait a minute! Is this true?"
On LitNet, there have been many discussions about belief. Some get rather nasty. However, I have come to realize that what you actually believe can differ from what the general concept is. You can believe in something and not believe in the concept at the same time. Let me use an example to show this.
When I was young, I suffered abuse at my grandparents Pentecostal church. Though I blocked it for many years, it gave me a horror of any type of organized religion. Even as a child, I rejected much of the religious teachings. Vulnerable as I was in many ways, I already had my own concepts about God that differed greatly from my grandparents' teachings. I was, though, apparently a very religious child, and so I borrowed concepts that I liked and essentially made my own religion.
Do I believe in God? Yes, I do. However, I don't agree with many concepts about God that are promoted by most religions. Do I believe in ghosts? Yes, I do. I don't, however, believe that ghosts are people with unfinished business, hanging around places where they died, and trying to talk to psychics about where the hidden will is or bringing their killer to justice. Do I believe in reincarnation? Yes, I do...but I believe that the soul is already perfected and merely reincarnates for amusement--our misery not being miserable to something that is immortal and doesn't have a physical form of its own. I also believe souls break apart and recombine--so twenty people could be Cleopatra. I also believe that they jump back and forth through time.
Now, of course, I'm sure some of you don't agree with me. That really isn't the point. The point I'm trying to make is that this is what I believe...but what I often believe goes against the popular concept. So I ask you...do you reject certain beliefs (and it can be about anything, not just religion or the supernatural) because you really don't believe in them...or do you think you merely reject the popular concept of them (and either have your own concept, or you never bothered to think further than the popular concept)?
On LitNet, there have been many discussions about belief. Some get rather nasty. However, I have come to realize that what you actually believe can differ from what the general concept is. You can believe in something and not believe in the concept at the same time. Let me use an example to show this.
When I was young, I suffered abuse at my grandparents Pentecostal church. Though I blocked it for many years, it gave me a horror of any type of organized religion. Even as a child, I rejected much of the religious teachings. Vulnerable as I was in many ways, I already had my own concepts about God that differed greatly from my grandparents' teachings. I was, though, apparently a very religious child, and so I borrowed concepts that I liked and essentially made my own religion.
Do I believe in God? Yes, I do. However, I don't agree with many concepts about God that are promoted by most religions. Do I believe in ghosts? Yes, I do. I don't, however, believe that ghosts are people with unfinished business, hanging around places where they died, and trying to talk to psychics about where the hidden will is or bringing their killer to justice. Do I believe in reincarnation? Yes, I do...but I believe that the soul is already perfected and merely reincarnates for amusement--our misery not being miserable to something that is immortal and doesn't have a physical form of its own. I also believe souls break apart and recombine--so twenty people could be Cleopatra. I also believe that they jump back and forth through time.
Now, of course, I'm sure some of you don't agree with me. That really isn't the point. The point I'm trying to make is that this is what I believe...but what I often believe goes against the popular concept. So I ask you...do you reject certain beliefs (and it can be about anything, not just religion or the supernatural) because you really don't believe in them...or do you think you merely reject the popular concept of them (and either have your own concept, or you never bothered to think further than the popular concept)?