Common Sense

[twice11]

Shall we believe what others tell us? Did a direct cranial hit from a not-so-random lightning bolt provide someone with stunning insight? Are you impressively advanced in a lifelong spiritual study? If so, aren't you simply believing what others tell you? I have to believe myself, even though it's a decidedly scary enterprise. I've considered the basis/origin of the most populated religions. None of it makes any sense. We are animals. Most of us try to be "good". That's a product of socialization, an essential, learned element of survival seen in baboons, etc. I'm not complaining. We're all in this together. I see no reason not to help other people, enjoy them and try to navigate life with happiness and minimal pain. I'm glad for religion. How dangerous would our lives be without that buffer against violence and mayhem? I harbor no ill feelings toward any devotee of any religion. If they've found an anchor or a comfort, that's a great thing!

[ZHereford]

Are you asking what the rest of us believe or do you want a reason for not having to believe what others believe?

In any case, all the knowledge and information we have at our disposal is the accumulated wisdom and thinking of religious, historical, scientific and philosophical scholars of the past and present.

Some of it is provable, some self-evident and some of it speculative. If you want to decide what makes sense and what doesn't, you should study the works of the greatest scientists, thinkers and historians and then choose what you want to believe.

We are rational beings who have the freedom to think and believe what we want and our best bet is to make it as informed and knowledgeable as possible.

[Andrew Brunelle]

I understand what you mean by "we are animals," and that religion is essentially a way to 'ensure our survival,' or something on those lines, and the fact that we possess the capability to rationalize things allows us to try and make judgments about the world among other things. You and you alone choose your beliefs. It is your choice, so just because conventional wisdom tells you something, it does not mean it is true for you. We could get into a whole philosophical debate here, "What is truth?" but I feel that to do this, we would have to start a whole new thread. Welcome to the forums.

[ArthurHung]

I hold the position that to be efficient one must do secondary research before being able to do primary research properly. To use a belief system or to have advanced spiritually through secondary sources doesn’t necessarily mean that you are simply believing what others are telling you.

This is perhaps...the reason why religious groups are often openly mocked online for unquestioningly accepting what they are told, in a perceived blind submission to authority. If this were the case, perhaps that is why so many Christians miss Jesus’s message (I infer this from indirect sources and personal experiences) and do not spiritually raise themselves (levels of consciousness). All too often people embrace a belief system mentally and outwardly but in reality are doing nothing more than showing subtle arrogance—the belief system cannot be embraced by someone with such little understanding and such a low level of consciousness.

The danger of religion then, is that these "believers" are falsely spreading the word of mystics (Jesus and Buddha for example) by their uneducated, unspiritually advanced manner and thought. If the teacher is weak, the student will be weak also. Therin lies the danger, in my opinion.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by twice11

I'm glad for religion. How dangerous would our lives be without that buffer against violence and mayhem?

It seems to me that more violence is perpetrated in the name of religion than prevented by it. Of course, isolating the cause of people not being violent is is very difficult...