Conquering fear (God, Christians, believers, belief)
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We humans are kind of a funny lot. I remember from one of my psychology classes in college about the fact that most (or at least many) people spend more time attempting to validate their choices after they make a decision then they do before they actually make the decision. It's called "validation" and it's just our ego wanting and needing constant and continually to make us feel good about our earlier decisions and to defend them against all other possibilities and/or choices that we could have made at that earlier time.
So, this seems to apply here. If you're comfortable with your decisions in life you don't usually feel the need to convince everyone else about your "superior" choice. You just accept that others make different choices and as long as they don't in any major way affect you, you're OK with that.
Conversly, the less comfortable you are with your choice, the more you feel the need to "validate" your choice by defending it to the Nth degree to all others who have made different choices. The only way you can feel good (and comfortable) about your choice is to see if you can get others to make the same choice....therefore validating your own choice.
Does this make sense to anyone else ? It's absolutely the first think I thought of when I read this post.
We humans are kind of a funny lot. I remember from one of my psychology classes in college about the fact that most (or at least many) people spend more time attempting to validate their choices after they make a decision then they do before they actually make the decision. It's called "validation" and it's just our ego wanting and needing constant and continually to make us feel good about our earlier decisions and to defend them against all other possibilities and/or choices that we could have made at that earlier time.
So, this seems to apply here. If you're comfortable with your decisions in life you don't usually feel the need to convince everyone else about your "superior" choice. You just accept that others make different choices and as long as they don't in any major way affect you, you're OK with that.
Conversly, the less comfortable you are with your choice, the more you feel the need to "validate" your choice by defending it to the Nth degree to all others who have made different choices. The only way you can feel good (and comfortable) about your choice is to see if you can get others to make the same choice....therefore validating your own choice.
Does this make sense to anyone else ? It's absolutely the first think I thought of when I read this post.
I think the "non-believers" have a little more to worry about.
Show me the history that shows where Atheists killed religious peoples.
I can show you COUNTLESS examples of where religious people have killed Atheists, and members of other religious groups, men, women, children, on scales that are only rivaled in bible stories.
Conversly, the less comfortable you are with your choice, the more you feel the need to "validate" your choice by defending it to the Nth degree to all others who have made different choices. The only way you can feel good (and comfortable) about your choice is to see if you can get others to make the same choice....therefore validating your own choice.
Does this make sense to anyone else ? It's absolutely the first think I thought of when I read this post.
When it comes to a certain sect of believers, I don't think we can get beyond it. I'm talking about the onward Christian solider bunch, of course, who think their beliefs are good for everyone else, whether they like it or not.
I've never had a Native America, Pagan, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, spiritualist and whatever else you can think of try to force their beliefs on me. I do think it's possible for atheist and other religious people to get along, even though we may not agree on certain things.
Personally, I don't care if someone wants to build a statue of Xena The Warrior Princess in their front yard and sacrifice chickens to it everyday, so long as they aren't bothering anyone.
once more:
the op used the word "conquering". what does that mean to any individual?
do i find words to describe what i feel?
do i just somehow act like driven?
do i simply withdraw, waiting for this fear to go away?
do i turn to religion and/or philosophy to explain what it is?
^further observation: weren't we supposed to embrace the unknown?
either embraced or conquered, it seemed not too friendly, and our memories have stored such information.
Conversly, the less comfortable you are with your choice, the more you feel the need to "validate" your choice by defending it to the Nth degree to all others who have made different choices. The only way you can feel good (and comfortable) about your choice is to see if you can get others to make the same choice....therefore validating your own choice.
Does this make sense to anyone else ? It's absolutely the first think I thought of when I read this post.
At first I thought it was a typo - but I'll be using that phrase "the first think I thought of" from now on
I'm sure there's truth in what you are saying.
Also, in fundamentalist versions of systems like Islam or Christianity the followers believe they are ordered by God to tell everyone they should make the same choice or face very unpleasant eternal consequences. That's a fairly intense concept to live under (understatement ). I preached for many years and I did encourage folks to discover that there was more to life than just the surface experience (ie: God) but that's a lot different than being afraid that my failure to convert would cause eternal damnation!
I've no love for fear, and I find it utterly useless...
I have also found that fear comes from a lack of understanding, such as a kid (Like one of my cousins) who used to fear vacuum cleaners. As years went on he realized that a vacuum cleaner was just a cleaning tool, and not an evil monster that wanted to cause him harm. Much like I used to fear spiders because I thought that they just randomly ran around and bit people. I then began to learn that spiders only attack when threatened, like most every other creature in existence, then I understood them and no longer feared them.
Fear to me as never been a necessary nor a particularly advantageous feeling, and I do not believe it is natural. I believe it is taught, mostly as children.
When I was a child I feared nothing, though as my parents needed a way to keep me in line... I was taught fear.
I shouldn't do this because it will harm me, I shouldn't do this because it is not the best choice. Slowly fear finally got a hold of me and it took a long time to dispell it.
Now I base everything off of understanding, and I've no fear left really. Instead of fearing things, I try to decode and solve them. Without fear, much MUCH more is possible than with it.
I've no love for fear, and I find it utterly useless...
We're pretty much on the same page here. Of course naturalists can make the case that the basic fight or flight instinct is key to survival. I'd like to believe that even though those animal instincts do exist within us we do not need to be controlled by them any longer.
Aren't we ready to move on?
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Yep, I just call it insecurity.
). I preached for many years and I did encourage folks to discover that there was more to life than just the surface experience (ie: God) but that's a lot different than being afraid that my failure to convert would cause eternal damnation!
