I am confused..Can we believe anything we want, and then act like it is real?

Mr. Ed said:
I wonder what her motive is for sharing individual greatness?
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Yea, me too. It reminded of our justice system, and how the courts and lawyers determine what the motive was for a crime. I think we feel that spreading false info is close to a crime, and in some cases can be. Then I remember that saying in the Bible where Jesus says "For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again."
 
I love YouTube, I really do, through it I've discovered new music and re-connected with old, I've found old documentaries and archived films that no one but me and three other people are interested in, and I now have a dozen doctors to consult about my problem of the moment -- however this sort of woman is the downside.

Any self-absorbed, arrogant person with a computer can set him/herself up as the voice of wisdom and advise others. This woman is a perfect example. She talks on and on about being special and chosen and she really doesn't say anything useful at all. She isn't smarter than anyone else and she hasn't been privy to special information, she just says she has and unfortunately people who have no real direction in life will latch onto her and follow her the same way Charles Manson found homeless, drifting young girls and got them to follow him.

I could film myself in my bathroom, rambling on in a soft soothing voice, tossing in words about the universe and how special you are and someone somewhere would think I had found the big answers. They would be so wrong.

Dateline had an interesting story recently about a woman very much like this who said she was the Mother of God and had amassed quite a devoted little cult through YouTube. She was selling them some sort of liquid mineral water that was making them all sick including herself.
https://people.com/crime/mother-god-dateline-special-examines-mysterious-death-of-amy-carlson/
 
Paco Dennis said:
I don't think I have had a firm grasp of what is real since my Mother died when I was 13. When I became a born again Christian is probably the most convinced . But that faded in 10 years. In middle age I worked at keeping my reality together, but never was totally convinced.

I that seems to resonate with me. Are you saying that doubting our constructed reality is not productive for us? How does one know for sure that we aren't totally fooling ourselves and resisting a more complex reality that the one we cling to?

Oh yea, Time just announced that Elon Musk is their "Man of the Year". WOW, talk about making up your own reality, and having a ton of money to convince others that there is really something to it. How do we know that his projects t, that cost billions to make are really beneficial?
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Time's Person of the Year is their selection for who had the greatest impact on the news — not who did the most good for society. Hitler was Time's Man of the Year back in 1938. It's not necessarily a good or noble accolade.
 
Paco Dennis said:
I remember that I was a talented athlete in my youth. I got a lot of accolades from others especially my parents. I thought I would become a professional pitcher. But that faded. Then a guitarist/musician...that has faded. The one thing that hasn't faded is my search for "what is this existence about?" Sometimes I wonder if what I am has been fated by genetics and environment, like a flower or tree or animal. It might not be in our control. Many people think that they can change that hard wiring to "create your own reality". I am stuck in the middle of that ideology.
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I can tell you how old I was (34) when I understood what this place called life was about. Up until then it was fun imagining all kinds of things to be real. For example: Becoming a professional anything requires an inordinate amount of boring practice. So you do that enough and find you're a professional. You kind of expect there to be some kind of celebration. There isn't any AND you have to keep practicing to stay sharp. That's what life is about until the end.
 
Judycat said:
I can tell you how old I was (34) when I understood what this place called life was about. Up until then it was fun imagining all kinds of things to be real. For example: Becoming a professional anything requires an inordinate amount of boring practice. So you do that enough and find you're a professional. You kind of expect there to be some kind of celebration. There isn't any AND you have to keep practicing to stay sharp. That's what life is about until the end.
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I think maybe "staying sharp" depends on maintaining enthusiasm for life and sustaining a certain energy level. That can be hard to do sometimes, but we need to find a way. :)
 
Individuals can choose to believe whatever nonsense they decide to but if made public that likely has a unspoken agenda. But in kind, none of the rest of us need to believe whatever they relate lest we be fools. There are plenty of members of nonsense The Flat Earth Society with agendas of playing the game of trying to spout nonsense so convincingly they hook those foolish.
 
You can believe in anything you want but that doesn't mean that it's true. eg: Santa Claus, little green men, fairies, vampires, globins, werewolves and that there is an easy solution to global warming. Also, if you believe that rich billionaires care about you, check on the photo below:
 

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Paco Dennis said:
I don't think I have had a firm grasp of what is real since my Mother died when I was 13. When I became a born again Christian is probably the most convinced . But that faded in 10 years. In middle age I worked at keeping my reality together, but never was totally convinced.

I that seems to resonate with me. Are you saying that doubting our constructed reality is not productive for us? How does one know for sure that we aren't totally fooling ourselves and resisting a more complex reality that the one we cling to?

Oh yea, Time just announced that Elon Musk is their "Man of the Year". WOW, talk about making up your own reality, and having a ton of money to convince others that there is really something to it. How do we know that his projects t, that cost billions to make are really beneficial?
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It can be very productive indeed, but can also take us on a different journey, of doubt and self-evaluation.

Cogito, ergo sum - René Descartes
 
Can we believe anything we want, and act if it's real? Yes. We gather data and formulate a belief, and then act on it, as Nathan said. But you've qualified the question with the words "believe anything we want". Everybody sees the flaw in this, "Oh, I believe I can fly, now where's the Empire State Building?'
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Can we believe anything we want, and act if it's real? Yes. We gather data and formulate a belief, and then act on it, as Nathan said. But you've qualified the question with the words "believe anything we want". Everybody sees the flaw in this, "Oh, I believe I can fly, now where's the Empire State Building?'
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Good point.

Is what you believe to be true, true for you...even though it is not a fact that can proven in a physical manner?
 
We all believed that we could be anything that we wanted to be
when we were children!

I remember coming out of the local hall, where they showed films,
depending on the film of the evening, I was Roy Rogers, or Hopalong
Cassidy, even an ace fighter pilot, children are everything, then you
leave school and the real world strikes.

That is when the struggle begins.

Mike.
 
Descartes should have put it the other way round: I am, therefore I think.
Try to create your own reality, I mean really try that.

I'm sure as stars are beautiful that if a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, it still fell. Better than that, if a flower grows in a forest and nobody knows of it, it exists. The flower's existance doesn't depend on our knowledge of it for its being. Our imagining it or thinking of it is nice but it's existance does not depend on our thinking it up, nor even our own existance.

I am, therefore I think. Or be a lonely, depressed, world anxed human and go the way of Descartes and believe you created yourself.


These days its a leap of faith to believe in the existance of things outside the internet, much less outside our own minds. 😄

🌸🌲🌸🌲🌸
 
Mike said:
We all believed that we could be anything that we wanted to be
when we were children!

I remember coming out of the local hall, where they showed films,
depending on the film of the evening, I was Roy Rogers, or Hopalong
Cassidy, even an ace fighter pilot, children are everything, then you
leave school and the real world strikes.

That is when the struggle begins.

Mike.
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Oh how I loved pretending. Annie Oakly, Dorthy in the Oz story were some of my favorites.
Never grow up, imagination, sometimes it takes forms of its own in a way..
 

.Can we believe anything we want, and then act like it is real? People can do and believe whatever they choose, acting as if it is real, that depends on the depth of one’s belief. Put it another way, to be convinced something is real requires belief.​

 
RadishRose said:
Hi David, I'm sorry I don't understand what this sentence means. Would you clarify please? Thanks.
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Note I only briefly listened to the OP's video so did not respond to that specifically but rather the OP's opening post that to paraphrase, individuals are capable of convincing themselves of the certain truth of things they choose to that are not clearly supported by facts or logic. This is often the situation with religion. My beloved sister who passed away last year with an oxygen ventilator tube down into her lungs was very much so as a believer in Christ and that can be a very good thing if what one is committed to ends up being real. That helped her believe with great faith. And as an evangelizing prayer warrior, it made her more effective in that cause that was most important to her life.

There are many such unprovable beliefs that science cannot with certainty dismiss. Just because a person believes something that the consensus of science or society would lean towards probably not likely being true, does not mean others ought be critical that they personally choose whatever. However it is quite valid to be critical of whatever issue. In the OP's video case, that she has in her own mind worked what she wanted to believe to be a certainty is fine though others are also free to be critical of what she believes in.
 
Irwin said:
Time's Person of the Year is their selection for who had the greatest impact on the news — not who did the most good for society. Hitler was Time's Man of the Year back in 1938. It's not necessarily a good or noble accolade.
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I'm not in any way giving Elon Musk a pass because, in my view, he needs to pay taxes. Also, he is in the "billionaire battle" to see whose rocket is first in space when all of them could be spending that money to feed the homeless and hungry on our own planet.

However, I did read that he has contributed $100 million towards initiatives that prevent climate change. That, and the proliferation of his electric cars, could help our planet. He is younger than the rest of us, so maybe this is self-serving. He understands what the future of the planet holds for younger people.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/22/elon-musk-tesla-ceo-donates-to-carbon-capture-technology-prize.html
 
Mr. Ed said:

.Can we believe anything we want, and then act like it is real? People can do and believe whatever they choose, acting as if it is real, that depends on the depth of one’s belief. Put it another way, to be convinced something is real requires belief.​

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Belief, and also hope.

The subject of imagination has been touched on. As a child I had a very fertile imagination. Lacking playmates as a toddler and living in a household of my mother, her two unmarried sisters and my grandfather (Dad was in New Guinea with the 2nd AIF), I was rather indulged. I had the company of an elderly cocker spaniel but I am told that I also has a menagerie of imaginary animals that I conjured up from the story books I was read.

Throughout my childhood I was always capable of retreating into an imaginary world that was stimulated by my books and the movies. The crucial point is that I could tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Even as an adult I have used this ability to take time out from uncomfortable realities without becoming seriously delusional.

One example I will share and Seniors can choose to believe me or decide that I am more than a little bit weird. As a child I attended Sunday School at the nearest church to home. It was a Baptist Church with emphasis on the simple stories of the old and new testaments. Naturally, I believed them all to be true but in my teens I began to doubt at the same time as I was falling in love with all things scientific. By 20 years of age I was prepared to call myself an atheist. I believed myself to be some sort of superior being for having thought this out by myself. I knew the truth, or thought I did.

Skipping a few years of life, by the time I was 33 years old I experienced a spiritual experience that shook me to the core. It did not arise from my own imagination yet it was very personal and very challenging. Long story short - I answered the challenge and became, as an adult, a committed Christian. In popular parlance I was born again but I prefer to think that after letting me have my own way for years God came calling and invited me to get with the program.

I had always been phobic about the dentist. My childhood experiences had been rather horrific and every time I sat in the dentists chair I dreaded what was about to happen. It was ridiculous and one day, while I was waiting for the dentist to appear I closed my eyes and prayed. I asked for calmness of mind. With my eyes still closed I saw in my mind's eye a lovely white rose and the details were exquisite. I saw the curl of the petals, the veins running through them and then I noticed a small and fragile spider sitting on the white petals. It was almost translucent with a greenish tinge, very delicate, and it was waving its front legs in the air. This vision held me entranced long enough for my heart rate to slow and by the time the dentist entered the room I was perfectly calm. After the treatment was over (a filling if I remember correctly) I prayed again; a prayer of thanks.

For some time after that I prayed the same prayer every time I had to visit the dentist. I asked to see the while flower again and I did. However, every time the flower was different. It could be a chrysanthemum, a gladiolus, a dahlia. Every time the flower was white and flawless but the little spider never appeared again.

Today I have no fear of the dentist at all and I am glad that faith, hope and imagination were available to me as an adult to help me cope with unpleasant realities. I regard these qualities as wonderful gifts that should not be denied.
 
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