Kosh3

Your post isn't comprehensible to me

danrael

ThorsHammer had previously asked why such an overwhelming percentage of people held onto beliefs which they themselves agree may be irrational:
"irrational", as in "fear-driven". Fear-driven, as in "I choose to believe so as to avoid punishment", as opposed to, "I believe because it makes so much logical sense." In this context, irrational belief serves to calm one's anxieties about the uncertainty of the "hereafter" and any negative consequences (eg; "hell") associated with it.

Kosh3

I meant - ComestibleVenom's post. Not the OP

rstrats

danrael,

re: “Fear-driven, as in ‘I choose to believe so as to avoid punishment’...�

Is there any implication in that comment that you think that a person has the ability to consciously CHOOSE to believe that someone or something does or doesn’t exist or that a certain proposition is or isn’t true?

ThorsHammer

Thanks for your input. I find that in most cases, the real reason people believe in the supernatural is due to an overwhelming need, or wish for it to be true, or real.

danrael

Compelling indeed. So most of mankind chooses to believe that there is some otherness beyond their present everday reality which somehow holds a promise of a greater happiness?

danrael

I don't think so: were most people to actually consciously reflect on this question, I think they would have to come to the honest conclusion that they simply do not know, which would result in not taking a position at all, nor adopting any belief at all. It is almost an oxymoron that anyone would consciously choose to adopt a belief system about the nature of reality.

ThorsHammer

Yes. Atheist would also like to believe in such things, but they know that they would only be fooling themselves, whereas theists have convinced themselves into believing the absurd.

rstrats

danrael,

re: “I don’t think so...It is almost an oxymoron that anyone would consciously choose to adopt a belief system about the nature of reality.�

So when you used the phrase --- “I choose to believe� --- what did you intend that to mean?

seebs

I would have to disagree. There are many things about which I can reasonably establish my ignorance. I have made the decision to adopt certain models and assumptions because, well, I like to. It pleases me to imagine that there is stuff I interact with, that I can tell good writing from bad, or that my friends genuinely care for me. I can show you the "reasons" for which I believe these things, but it's quite easy to establish that everything I believe comes down to untrusted claims, and in particular, to assumptions about the reliability of my senses and memory.

To make it more interesting, I am quite able to demonstrate that either my senses or memory are inaccurate, or more likely both.

But what else can I do?