Is it wise to 'believe whatever you want'?

Belief is the start of ignorance.

I have strong opinions based on observations, anecdotal experiences, and scientific evidence. I am not a spiritual person, I don't like religion, or political religion, I can do without any of it.

I am human. I can be prone to misconceptions and unfounded conclusions just like anyone else. But I try to avoid doing that because I don't like looking like an idiot when it was all too simple to look something up.

Of course it's unwise to "believe whatever you want." People believe some stupendously stupid things, in general ... people other than myself, of course.

But it's even worse to force belief on someone else in most cases... thus rational discourse wins over ending arguments with a gun.

Now that I think about it, and slightly at tangent, is it "right" to force people to act in their interests, as in, say, environmental damage leading to mass extinction... ? Would we rather be morally upstanding or living... if the rational arguments keep failing?

?

a reply to: Profusion

Is it wise to 'believe whatever you want'?

No. Of course not. You should follow evidence, see what that is saying, then believe that. Your standards of evidence also need to be high, and you need to be able to admit wrongness. However, that is very hard for a great many of people so they just believe what they want. The problem is that it isn't fair to FORCE them to believe something they don't want to believe. Hence the expression, "believe whatever you want."

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I disagree somewhat in that because I know everything about anything worth knowing, I think its o.k. for people to believe whatever they want as long as their beliefs are the same as mine. If they aren't then that's a serious problem! I agree that high evidentiary standards should be applied except in terms of my beliefs since I already know everything about anything worth knowing, evidence is just a waste of time. Fortunately for me, admitting I'm wrong has never been a problem since I've never been wrong in terms of my beliefs and I never reveal what my true beliefs are so......they've never been challenged.

Its a simple life, really.

"Believing whatever you want" is a core part of freedom, so it should be a core human right. Acting on those beliefs is a completely different matter.

originally posted by: Profusion
I hear this advice from time to time, "believe whatever you want."

So?
There is a plethora of foolish advice, as there are a plethora of fools! *__-

Is it wise to 'believe whatever you want'?

'Wisdom' doesn't have anything to do with 'beliefs'.
Neither does 'desire'!
'Beliefs' are not deliberately, logically 'chosen'.
There is no 'free-will/choice', other than as a passing (vain) 'feeling/thought'.
'Beliefs' are a pathologically symptomatic infection of the imagination, the ego! Vanity!
'Beliefs' are 'caught' and 'spread', like any other infection, not 'rationally chosen'!
'Beliefs' are insanity!
Existence is 'make-believe', and those who 'believe' are toxically insane!
No one ever deliberately harms another unless he hosts some strain of 'belief, or other!

Every person should have the freedom to believe what they want. It's not easy to though and not everyone will reach that conclusion. I mean think about it...most of us are indoctrinated from birth to believe what our parents/guardians believe so for most of us there never really was the "freedom" to believe what we want. Even when you get older and decide to believe in something different than what you've been taught it takes a looong time to free yourself of said teachings (if you ever do completely).

I'm leaning towards the idea that parents should not teach kids about their own belief system. If you really want your child to have "freedom" in this regard, let them choose their path when they are old enough to honestly make the choice. Too many of us believe what we believe because "that's what my mama and them believe". I'm only talking about belief systems; of course you should still try to raise your child to be kind and honest.

or how about you just dont "believe" anything.. why do people have to have beliefs at all?

a reply to: AVoiceOfReason

People have beliefs, they can't help themselves. Facing an empty and uncaring universe, beliefs are both inevitable and necessary for all other things to happen. Like eating and drinking are necessary for smiling or building buildings or reproducing or paving roads, just to name a few examples from the top of my head.

This is why people have beliefs.

It doesn't matter if the beliefs are wrong or right. The truth value is of no consequence.

a reply to: Subnatural

This is true. Esp the part about people needing hope, therefore belief comes in to play.

a reply to: tiidoc

I do agree with this. But there will be much greater forms of hope awaiting in the future, than any of us can imagine now. Greater than even Jesus of Nazareth could imagine.