*Writes 3k post*
*Considers the consequences from all sides*
*Cuts*
A question, and a statement. Apply them liberally--to yourself, and to others.
The question: Why do you believe what you believe? "Because the most influential people around me, now or at some more impactful time of my life, believed something quite similar" is a valid answer. More people should admit this.
The Statement: No two minds are identical, nor are their experiences! Yes, it sounds obvious--but, no, really, lots and lots of things people think of as universal experiences are far from universal. This includes the God Feeling / Divine Presence Experience. Did you know people have felt this strong sense of the presence of holy divinity? Did you know that some people have not? Did you know that lots of people in both categories assume everyone in the other category has/has not the same as them, and are therefore evil liars for disagreeing with them about religion? And this never comes up because people assume it's so obvious that they'd sound less condescending if they pointed out that water is wet?
This isn't just a spirituality thing, mind. The Ur example is mental images. Back in the nineteenth century, it somehow finally became a point of contention that visualization could involve actual visual experience, rather than just thinking about images. So someone did some investigating, and as it turns out, some people's imaginations trigger their actual senses, and some people's don't, and everyone just assumed the other was being poetic for the past 5000 years.
Likewise, some people have experienced divine presence, some people have not, and each has thought the others are evil liars for the past 5000 years.
This has theological implications, of course, but that's not what we're here to discuss.
Why someone believes something is probably a good way to what could change that belief. Start there. And don't get me started on the past decade of colleges. -.-
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
George... Don't do that.