on the nature of beliefs...
Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2022 6:23 pm
on the nature of beliefs.. first we have to understand the topology
of beliefs... beliefs can be both personal and communal..
beliefs that one person can hold.. I hold that Babe Ruth is the
greatest baseball player of all time...other people have looked at
the exact same stats as I have and made different conclusions...
that is an example of a personal belief...a communal belief is
the belief that America is the greatest country on earth...millions
of Americans hold to that belief...
we also know that communal beliefs live in history...which means
beliefs have history.. they are born, they live and they die..
or said another way, how many people still believe in RA or Zeus
or Anu? Beliefs exist in history... the belief in the ''exceptionalism
of America'' is slightly more than a hundred years old....it was born,
it currently lives and it will die...
we can see why beliefs are born and why they live,
but why do beliefs die? Beliefs exist within a certain time frame,
within certain conditions and if those conditions change, the beliefs
must change in response to the changing conditions....an
example of this is how as children, we hold beliefs in Santa Claus
and the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy...we are indoctrinated
with these beliefs.. but think about someone who still holds these
childhood beliefs as strongly as they did as a child... I would be
very concerned about someone who held these childhood beliefs...
I would wonder why they hadn't grown up and evolved into adult
beliefs... and you would to...
the nature of beliefs is that they change and evolve as we ourselves
change and evolve.. as we go from birth to being a child to be
a young adult to being an adult to being middle age to being
a senior citizen.... today, I am a senior citizen... my current beliefs
are age appropriate... I don't believe in the Easter bunny and I don't
believe in Santa Claus.. and I don't believe in the nonsense of my
middle age years... the lie that if you work hard, you will "move"
up in the world... the vast majority of people do work hard and get
nowhere.. they grow old and have very little to show for 40 years
of backbreaking work... the time-honored beliefs of America are
lies... as I have grown older, my beliefs have changed, as they should...
The evidence I have seen in my life, the facts on the ground, have
changed what I believe in.. my beliefs have changed as they should have...
and that is the nature of beliefs.. that they change.. they change because
the facts on the ground force them to change.. the environment has changed
thus, the beliefs must change to match the changing environment...
for example, when I was growing up, what a member of the GOP,
meant certain things. you believed in certain values...
in small government, in low taxes, at one time the GOP even believed
that the government wasn't the problem, it was part of the solution...
or see the history of the 1950's.. where the GOP was instrumental
in massive building projects all over America.. including the
modern day freeways... and bridges, libraries, police and fire departments...
all the stuff that the after one of the 5 worse presidents in American history,
Raygun, said, that the government was the problem, not the solution,
in opposition to what the GOP believed in 30 years earlier...
and this is another example of the changing nature of beliefs..
the communal change in beliefs...
certain communities hold certain beliefs... what might be true, a belief, in a NY
city community, is not a belief, or true in a Mississippi community...
and that too is part of the nature of beliefs.. the nature of beliefs
change with changes in age, economic changes, social status, marriage/children,
titles... we change our beliefs as our social-economic status changes, for
some anyway... My economic status has changed... but my beliefs in
the equality of human beings hasn't changed.. but many who move,
change in economic status, become wealthier or poorer, do change their social,
economic beliefs...the environment we live in, changes our beliefs...
and what if it doesn't? We must change our beliefs to match our environment..
and what happens to beings that don't change their beliefs to match their
environment? We call them dinosaurs and recall what happened to
the dinosaurs...
So the belief in god and religions did at one time, matched their
environment.. the belief in god/religion did work in that environment
but do the ancient beliefs in god/religions match, work for our modern
industrial, technological, scientific age? I don't see how.. for existence,
for us to survive, we must change and adapt our beliefs to our current
situation/environment.... and if we don't? we are nothing more
than dinosaurs...
to change, to challenge one's beliefs is an emotional event...
we feel safe and comfortable with our entrenched beliefs
but changing and adapting is what it means to be human..
human being survived because we were able to change
and adapt our beliefs... what caused our ancient ancestors
to climb out of the trees? A changing environment and
to adapt, we moved out of the trees... and today is no
different... to survive, we too must change, adapt our
beliefs to our current situation/environment....
but that calls for a reevaluation of values....
America is in dire need of a revaluation of values about
what it means to be an American...
Do you have the courage for a personal and communal
reevaluation of values?
Kropotkin
of beliefs... beliefs can be both personal and communal..
beliefs that one person can hold.. I hold that Babe Ruth is the
greatest baseball player of all time...other people have looked at
the exact same stats as I have and made different conclusions...
that is an example of a personal belief...a communal belief is
the belief that America is the greatest country on earth...millions
of Americans hold to that belief...
we also know that communal beliefs live in history...which means
beliefs have history.. they are born, they live and they die..
or said another way, how many people still believe in RA or Zeus
or Anu? Beliefs exist in history... the belief in the ''exceptionalism
of America'' is slightly more than a hundred years old....it was born,
it currently lives and it will die...
we can see why beliefs are born and why they live,
but why do beliefs die? Beliefs exist within a certain time frame,
within certain conditions and if those conditions change, the beliefs
must change in response to the changing conditions....an
example of this is how as children, we hold beliefs in Santa Claus
and the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy...we are indoctrinated
with these beliefs.. but think about someone who still holds these
childhood beliefs as strongly as they did as a child... I would be
very concerned about someone who held these childhood beliefs...
I would wonder why they hadn't grown up and evolved into adult
beliefs... and you would to...
the nature of beliefs is that they change and evolve as we ourselves
change and evolve.. as we go from birth to being a child to be
a young adult to being an adult to being middle age to being
a senior citizen.... today, I am a senior citizen... my current beliefs
are age appropriate... I don't believe in the Easter bunny and I don't
believe in Santa Claus.. and I don't believe in the nonsense of my
middle age years... the lie that if you work hard, you will "move"
up in the world... the vast majority of people do work hard and get
nowhere.. they grow old and have very little to show for 40 years
of backbreaking work... the time-honored beliefs of America are
lies... as I have grown older, my beliefs have changed, as they should...
The evidence I have seen in my life, the facts on the ground, have
changed what I believe in.. my beliefs have changed as they should have...
and that is the nature of beliefs.. that they change.. they change because
the facts on the ground force them to change.. the environment has changed
thus, the beliefs must change to match the changing environment...
for example, when I was growing up, what a member of the GOP,
meant certain things. you believed in certain values...
in small government, in low taxes, at one time the GOP even believed
that the government wasn't the problem, it was part of the solution...
or see the history of the 1950's.. where the GOP was instrumental
in massive building projects all over America.. including the
modern day freeways... and bridges, libraries, police and fire departments...
all the stuff that the after one of the 5 worse presidents in American history,
Raygun, said, that the government was the problem, not the solution,
in opposition to what the GOP believed in 30 years earlier...
and this is another example of the changing nature of beliefs..
the communal change in beliefs...
certain communities hold certain beliefs... what might be true, a belief, in a NY
city community, is not a belief, or true in a Mississippi community...
and that too is part of the nature of beliefs.. the nature of beliefs
change with changes in age, economic changes, social status, marriage/children,
titles... we change our beliefs as our social-economic status changes, for
some anyway... My economic status has changed... but my beliefs in
the equality of human beings hasn't changed.. but many who move,
change in economic status, become wealthier or poorer, do change their social,
economic beliefs...the environment we live in, changes our beliefs...
and what if it doesn't? We must change our beliefs to match our environment..
and what happens to beings that don't change their beliefs to match their
environment? We call them dinosaurs and recall what happened to
the dinosaurs...
So the belief in god and religions did at one time, matched their
environment.. the belief in god/religion did work in that environment
but do the ancient beliefs in god/religions match, work for our modern
industrial, technological, scientific age? I don't see how.. for existence,
for us to survive, we must change and adapt our beliefs to our current
situation/environment.... and if we don't? we are nothing more
than dinosaurs...
to change, to challenge one's beliefs is an emotional event...
we feel safe and comfortable with our entrenched beliefs
but changing and adapting is what it means to be human..
human being survived because we were able to change
and adapt our beliefs... what caused our ancient ancestors
to climb out of the trees? A changing environment and
to adapt, we moved out of the trees... and today is no
different... to survive, we too must change, adapt our
beliefs to our current situation/environment....
but that calls for a reevaluation of values....
America is in dire need of a revaluation of values about
what it means to be an American...
Do you have the courage for a personal and communal
reevaluation of values?
Kropotkin