Esoteric question for the evening

[thanate]

I keep being asked this sort of questions, so here's one for everyone else to think about. You don't have to answer, of course, but I'd be interested to hear what other people think of. (comments screened, so let me know if for some reason you share something here that you don't want other people reading)


What do you belive in?

gravity? object constancy? God? Murphy's law? thursdays? love, the power of truth, the american dream...?

I don't believe in too many things, really (or I say I don't, when asked...) I wanted to believe in magic, as a kid-- the sort of children's fantasy magic that tumbles you into some sort of thrilling adventure around the corner and makes you appreciate the safety and normality of home when you make it through-- and when I never found my way into elfland or anywhere it was somewhat of a letdown. Normal people believe in religions, usually, but having been raised by a fairly vocal atheist, I've never quite been comfortable with them. I find most of recent history/current events/pop culture oppressive; I don't watch sports games with hope for the outcome or great faith in my favorite team. (ok, I don't watch sports at all)

I believe in people. Not people as a whole, but the power of individuals to be able to overcome whatever they have to. Sometimes they don't; not everyone lives up to their potential-- in fact, often we don't. But the things that people go through-- sometimes caused by outside sources, sometimes brought upon themselves-- and still manage to be relatively sane and worth knowing can be amazing. The way that even when life is at its most horrible, people can still spend a moment laughing, or can want to make life better for other people. Or, you know, just go on when the only way out is through.

I believe in the power of ideals; that concepts like love or truth or honor have as much value as you put into them. They can be nothing at all to one person, and everything to another; they matter if you care enough to make them do so. I have a kind of strict personal moral code that I probably couldn't even explain most of to you-- it's too much ingrained in "this is what I do" to be something I'm entirely conscious of most times-- but I don't expect anyone else to follow most of it. It's based on choices of what I want to value, and the weight I give to things; I don't expect other people to value the same things I do. I don't lie-- I may say something that's obvioiusly not true in a case where I expect people to know I'm joking, or say something misleading if I don't like the question you've asked me, but I won't knowingly tell you something that's wrong. I try not to use the sex-related set of swearwords; I prefer to think of sex as something to do with love, not with abusing people. Stuff like that. I believe if something is important to you, you should be respectful of it, even if it's only an invented concept. At times it's good to be respectful of the things that are important to other people, too.

I believe that in a perfect world, all children would be wanted, well-educated, and cared for. That there would be enough room for everyone with wilderness left over for everyone who's not human, and with frontiers for the people who want a more challenging and less civilized life. Although I also believe that these things are unlikely ever to be obtainable. And that even so, it's worth trying to do what we can for our idea of a better world, if only to have tried. (not that I very often do.)

I believe in the importance of freedom, and of having people to whom you chose to be responsible.

I believe that one of the things I am bad at is writing conclusions, and that I should go to sleep. I am also very much of the opinion that sleep is good.

Comments

[fishy1.livejournal.com]

I've been sifting through this kind of thing lately; mostly i can talk more coherently about beliefs that i don't have rather than those i do have. Also i tend not to talk about/have trouble putting my beliefs into words, because they change and i don't want to confuse people by having told them "i believe X" when next week i may believe C, the opposite/contradiction to X.

I believe in reincarnation, that you get multiple tries at this life thing. Refinement of soul, etc.

I believe in neither coincidence nor fate, Unless it's funny at the time. Mostly i use the terms as a conversational convenience, much like normal or average -terms that have conceptual meaning(to most folks), but no actual substance(to me).

I haven't come to much conclusion on the matter of deity, etc. i suppose the closest would be some sort of polytheistic pantheon, but in the manner of a wizard. (insert obligatory quote about gods and tables here) Prayer, ritual, whatever works at the time.

There were others that i had actually managed to get into words, but they will have to wait.

[thanate.livejournal.com]

Part of why I was thinking about this (and why I posted something about it) is that I have a tendancy to simplify down to just saying "I don't really believe in much of anything; I'm not comfortable with religion." Which is true, but very incomplete, given that there are things I feel just as strongly about as other people do with their religions. They just have an easier time explaining it, because everyone assumes they know what people mean when they name a church or religious sect.

People change all the time, though... it's funny that people seem to see it as a bad thing to change one's mind about what one may feel or believe in.