Can you control what you believe?

[EverlastingMan]

Either we choose what to read, and similarly we choose to do everything else that we do, if naturally its not something out of our control such as instinct, or we choose nothing and everything can be reduced down to the firing of neurons in our heads. Choice is the subject of the will, and a will we most likely have as I will atempt to evidence when I have a little more time.

 

[jamesMarion]

Hello rstrats;
I am not sure I can explain it. It never occurred to me that I could not simply believe something. It is like flipping on a light switch. As soon as I became aware of myself around age 4, I and started accepting ideas as true or rejecting ideas as false. Many of the doctirnes the catholic school taught me at age 10 were simply unbelievable. The idea that the God that created all this wanted me to kneel to a plaster image was something I could not buy. I do know that submission to authority helps the process. The sisters of Our Lady of Lourdes were so imtimdating that I submitted instantly. This mind set of submission freed my mind to accept normal truthes such as the alphabet and how to read and write. Once I had an adequate vocabulary, more complex ideas could be considered. I should mention that I believe within my flesh dwells what I know as my "old sin nature". This "old man" is not me. I am a human spirit that dwells within my soul. The old sin nature also dwells there. It tries to convince me to act but I as the human spirit, I am in control. I may go along with the suggestion but I am still in control. When I physically die, my human spirit lives on while the "old sin nature" dies with my flesh. I have not studied psychology, but I suspect that they have a word that describes what I am talking about. You will find it on a chart hanging on the door outside my room. (just kidding) Please understand that my post is not a test of Poe's Law. I really believe this stuff. It makes perfect sense to me. Sorry for the rambling. I have to go now. A short man with buckles on his shoes wants a drink. I think I will join him.

 

[elman]

How do I choose what to read?

No longer a serious discussion is it? Perhaps it never was.

 

[TeddyKGB]

No longer a serious discussion is it? Perhaps it never was.

Not my intention, but sometimes being circumspect is the only way to make my point.

Let me try a different angle. Do I always choose what I want?

 

[Merlin]

We cannot control the beliefs we are born with, but there are methods which allow us to change our beliefs.

 

[TeddyKGB]

We cannot control the beliefs we are born with, but there are methods which allow us to change our beliefs.

Can we control those methods?

 

[Casstranquility]

Can you control what you believe or do you think the very core of your beliefs are determined by outside/other factors?

No, I can't control what I believe. From childhood it was influenced by outside factors, now it is influenced by inside factors. I can choose what to study, but I cannot choose whether I see it as truth.

Basing your beliefs solely on your emotions, or how you "feel" about an issue is not a sign of intellectual maturity since there is no rationalization.

Well, it may not be intellectual maturity, but I see it as spiritual maturity when one listens to their inner being.

 

[Merlin]

Can we control those methods?

Yes.
I do it for a living.

 

[Received]

I think we can control our beliefs in a secondary sense. The immediacy of conviction fulminating from the subconscious is beyond our control, but I think the very way in which we establish our own identity affects our convictions -- it has to. This is most clearly seen in a moral sense. If we choose to do something despicable (assuming, throughout all this, that we have freedom), this will ultimately help form our characters toward convictions that entail a sort of moral corruption; for instance, a person who continually chooses against his conscience and entertains base sexual thoughts is going to have more thoughts or beliefs relevant to this corruption than if he refused the thoughts in the genesis of their conception. Or if we, to use a non-moral example, choose to yield to the desire to yield to sports (random!), our convictions about sports will naturally be different, more sports-saturated, than if we rejected such a conviction when it first came to consciousness, and, say, went off and studied, or stared at the wall.

 

[TeddyKGB]

Yes.
I do it for a living.

So I can't just change what I believe directly; rather, I have to use a "method" to change what I know I want to change but can't just change?

 

[billwald]

A belief is a conclusion. The result of some sort of data analysis.

 

[elman]

Not my intention, but sometimes being circumspect is the only way to make my point.

Let me try a different angle. Do I always choose what I want?

No you don't chose what you want, but you do chose what you want to read.

 

[419gam]

You can choose things that ultimately impact your belief, but you can not choose your belief. I investigated lots of the aspects of Christianity that I had been taught. This investigatin eventually lead to me dropping my belief in it. If I could force myself to believe, I would choose to be a Christian. I liked the fellowship of church, and I liked the idea of Jesus' love and of heaven. However at this point "like" has nothing to do with it.

 

[TeddyKGB]

No you don't chose what you want, but you do chose what you want to read.

If I choose what I want in every case, why call it a choice? I want what I want; I do not get to choose that, do I?

 

[Merlin]

So I can't just change what I believe directly; rather, I have to use a "method" to change what I know I want to change but can't just change?

2+2=7


It is a normal response to reject the above statement.
There is a mental filter which blocks such belief changes, for our protection..
No matter how much you practice, meditate or whatever, you will still know deep inside 2+2=7 is false.
The protective filter must be bypassed or otherwise gotten around.

There is a method/process for bypassing the filter.

.

 

[TeddyKGB]

2+2=7


It is a normal response to reject the above statement.
There is a mental filter which blocks such belief changes, for our protection..

Yeah, it's called "two apples and two apples are four apples, not seven."

No matter how much you practice, meditate or whatever, you will still know deep inside 2+2=7 is false.
The protective filter must be bypassed or otherwise gotten around.

There is a method/process for bypassing the filter.

Is it the one where I convince myself that 2 = 3.5?

 

[Ioinc]

We can control what we believe. We can control if we will be loving or unloving.

So you can sit at your desk and thru the power of thought you can change your current belief that the earth is not flat? Or that the sun i hot? Or that the ocean is filled with fish?


If you can.... what power!

 

[Ioinc]

I can choose to accept whether something is true or not to me.

A bit scary.
You don't base your accpetance of somethings truth with logic or reason.

You could functionaly toss a coin and let that be your guide.

Could you make a choice not to believe in God?

 

[tothemoonandback]

Can you control what you believe?

No. I can control my actions but I cannot control how I feel about something.

I didn't choose to be an Atheist, I am one and no matter how much I want to believe in a God, I simply don't.

"Choosing" a faith sound be silly. If I chose to be a Christian, I would be living a lie because deep inside I know in my heart there is nothing there.

As a young person I followed the Christian religion because of my upbringing and went a long with it but never at any point did I feel it was right. I wasn't happy, it wasn't real for me.

I can choose my actions and my behaviour, but not my belief. I cannot make myself believe in Christ when I don't.

 

[elman]

If I choose what I want in every case, why call it a choice? I want what I want; I do not get to choose that, do I?

This was your response to this: Quote
Originally Posted by: elman




No you don't chose what you want, but you do chose what you want to read.


You did not read what I said.