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You show a real lack of confidence in your worldview if you won't even name it. I'm not sure you have a coherent worldview.
You said you admire someone who puts together a personal statement of philosophy, yet you're afraid to even name your own worldview. What does that say about you?
I've reconsidered. Here you go:
None of the major world religions have it “right”, but many of the major world religions have some principles that are worthwhile to understand and, perhaps, after personally testing them, those select principles might be incorporated into one’s personal path through life.
Religionists should stop preaching the “facts” in scriptures that are thousands of years old. Few of the facts are supportable, and it’s impossible for us to determine what is fact and what is fiction, so we should consider it all fiction. There is no reason to believe that the world operated vastly differently in the past (in terms of things like miracles) than it does today. Stick with principles. And don’t just mouth them, test them. Don’t just “buy” a belief system lock, stock, and barrel. Wisdom can be found in many places…and so can foolishness.
For me, the closest match to what I believe in is Buddhism. I believe in a balanced view of the Four Noble Truths, centered around the concept that man’s craving for unimportant things is the most important, long lasting cause of suffering. However, there are things that people long for that are not “useless cravings”, and may even be noble.
Things get more complicated with the Noble Eightfold Path. Concepts such as right view, right intent, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, and right livelihood can be, in some instances, situational. The question sometimes is whether or not eliminating all suffering is always desirable or even possible. Sometimes reducing suffering may come into conflict with other aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path.
The concept of karma seems to me (and many) to be a logical cause and effect situation. It is not a cosmic justice system. It is simply that making good choices is more likely to bring about a positive outcome, as compared to making bad choices. Rebirth, another integral part of Buddhist thought, is more difficult to resolve. Due to my own personal experiences, I lean toward believing it, but that is far from certain and I acknowledge that I can provide no definitive evidence of the concept.
As with the Noble Eightfold Path, how stringent one should be with the Five Precepts is also sometimes situational. Abstaining from taking life seems logical…in most cases. What is “sensuous misconduct”? Is “false speech” always bad? However, I always abstain from intoxicants (and I use that word in the broad sense).
I firmly believe that people should not proselytize, however, if another person asks for guidance about religious/spiritual matters, that is a different matter as long as one provides resources, not heavy handed persuasion. A person’s religious/spiritual beliefs should have no affect whatsoever on others. People are intelligent enough to seek the help they need. It’s an individual path, and that in central to Buddhist thought – that a person is his own master, and will reap the rewards or the suffering for the choices he or she makes.
None of the major world religions have it “right”, but many of the major world religions have some principles that are worthwhile to understand and, perhaps, after personally testing them, those select principles might be incorporated into one’s personal path through life.
nipped for space ...
I firmly believe that people should not proselytize, however, if another person asks for guidance about religious/spiritual matters, that is a different matter as long as one provides resources, not heavy handed persuasion. A person’s religious/spiritual beliefs should have no affect whatsoever on others. People are intelligent enough to seek the help they need. It’s an individual path, and that in central to Buddhist thought – that a person is his own master, and will reap the rewards or the suffering for the choices he or she makes.
speak to what one knows. teach to what one understands. Help people with what one's skill set. And the most important thing is know ones limitations.
anti-god to for social change is not the best we can do. And "just letting them by because you feel we end up in the same place." is negligence if not criminal.
1. And you can't be sure god does exist.
2. No, I don't see his world view as being materialism. Not everything "not christian" is materialistic.
3. While I don't fully endorse his "Ten Truths", he is one of few people who has sat down and actually put together a personal statement of philosophy.
I guess you can't help yourself, but okay. Thanks...
What about my "personal statement of philosophy" do you not endorse exactly?
You have probably explained before, but I can't remember much other than your compliments, so either there in that thread (preferably) or here, I'd like to know how someone like you disagrees with what I think are ten very easy bits of "philosophy" that most people can agree upon without too much difficulty let alone rancor. Unless you believe in a god, of course. In that case I understand where disagreement is pretty much a given, but I don't think that's you...
No facts are not innocent until proven. Guilt is but not facts. Donnie Marshall Jr. Was convicted of murder. A few decades later new evidence was discovered that cleared him of that crime and he was released. The fact that he was found quilty did not change but the fact that he was not guilty was proven. Marshall being found guilty in his first trail did not make him murdering the victim as a fact.
Something normal having occurred I will accept without evidence. For example if my wife told me that we didn't get mail today I have no reason to question her. If she told me she was a ducted by a UFO I would ask for evidence.
If an atheist tells me that God doesn't not exist I will take him meaning that he does not believe in a God. If a theist tells me that God does exist I take it they mean they believe that he does exist. When someone tells me that it is a fact that God exists or doesn't exist I want some evidence to sufficiently support their claim. As far as I am concerned the existence or non existence of a diety is not a fact. It is a belief or a person opinion. The poster asking if the lack of God was a fact or a personal opinion, is in my opinion not a good question as it assumes the asker has facts for their belief.
Again you are confusing what are facts...
Fact - a thing that is known or proved to be true.
Untruths, mistakes, are not facts! Never were and later simply proven as such. Not to be confused with facts, truth. Right? Just because it was BELIEVED to be fact the Sun revolved around the Earth did not make it a fact. The FACT is the Earth revolves around the Sun. Thinking otherwise was/is a mistaken belief, not a fact after all.
If your wife gets mail from the mail box and tells you the mail man just delivered it, fact is your mail was delivered that day given all appearances. If in fact your wife is having an affair with your mail man and is pretending to get the mail when she really is not, then you getting the mail that day is not a fact, but a ruse.
Hopefully you will come to learn the truth, what are the facts, sooner rather than later...
Fact - a thing that is known or proved to be true.
Untruths, mistakes, are not facts! Never were and later simply proven as such. Not to be confused with facts, truth. Right? Just because it was BELIEVED to be fact the Sun revolved around the Earth did not make it a fact. The FACT is the Earth revolves around the Sun. Thinking otherwise was/is a mistaken belief, not a fact after all.
If your wife gets mail from the mail box and tells you the mail man just delivered it, fact is your mail was delivered that day given all appearances. If in fact your wife is having an affair with your mail man and is pretending to get the mail when she really is not, then you getting the mail that day is not a fact, but a ruse.
Hopefully you will come to learn the truth, what are the facts, sooner rather than later...
It's always been my view that explanations, definitions and semantics ought to be used to clarify, not confuse..
The delivery of the mail is still a fact, if in fact the mail was not delivered, that is also a fact. What one claims, is told and believes or provisionally accepts are facts about one's views or beliefs but are not facts regarding the things one has the beliefs about.
If this seems absurdly confused, let's take a simpler and more relevant analogy.
That we once believed the earth to be flat is (nit -picking apart) a fact. That we now think it is not flat (apart from some cranks) is also a fact.
It also a fact that the earth is the shape it is, no matter what we think about it. Whether what we think is factually correct depends on how good the evidence is (and the extent to which we know the evidence or just accept what we are told is beside the point) and the more the valid evidence piles up (piles of bad evidence is just piles of garbage), the nearer we get to a sufficiently reliable model of reality that we may call both the opinion and the reality 'fact'.
Does that help to sort the semantics?
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 06-01-2020 at 09:50 AM..
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