From: farris@ruhets.rutgers.edu (Lorenzo Farris)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.newage
Subject: Reply to phoenix (was Re: Reply to more on God ....
Date: 22 Nov 92 14:02:49 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

In article <1992Nov22.050146.18507@news.unomaha.edu>, phoenix@cwis.unomaha.edu (Shannon Chris Saltzman) writes:
:If we have not a set of beliefs,how do we evaluate other beliefs?

What do you use to evaluate beliefs? I think the way is to examine the
effect of the beliefs on the way one lives.

:I have seen friends be so open minded that they lose sight of what
:and who they are. I believe you are right,many christians(including
:myself) could stand to be more open. I also believe we should not
:form our own Gods according to our beliefs . I am far from what I
:believe my God wants,yet I do not choose to change my God to justify
:myself.

How could you? God just is, and whatever you may think about Hir wont
change Hir. (Or could you ;)? ).

:If this is a cop out then do not all our beliefs protect us from the
:horrible massive confusion called life? Without beliefs(however temporary)
:would not everyone be reduced to an insanity greater than the ones imposed
:when we try to explain life through flawed beliefs?

Not only that. Very often our beliefs 'protect' us from that
incredible ecstatic experience that life often is. Beliefs are
something that one accepts as unalterable truth. You can't help but
have a few, or you will wind up dead or in a psycho ward. Such as,
large, fast moving buses will kill you if you stand in front of them. 

A great body of beliefs that you possess are what allow you to see the
world in roughly the same way as the rest of society around you. This
is known as cultural conditioning. If you don't buy into this then you
run the risk of pissing people off.

And there are the body of beliefs about the 'spirit', 'God', etc.
These have no supporting evidence for most people. As long as you
don't insist on telling people about them, they usually have little
effect on your life, in our society. Sometimes they do. 

There are many less than civil exchanges about beliefs on the net.
This is due in large part to the fact that most beliefs have been
given to one, rathered than acquired through one's own experience.
'Red cars are the only cars worth driving!' 

If you try to evaluate a belief by comparison to your own, you just
end up with a closed mind. All you can really judge a belief by is its
effects. And you can't usually see the effects on the net. All you
have left is to try them on for a while, and see how they fit. But of
course, if your present belief system describes that as sinful, I
guess you're stuck. :-)

Any belief I have arrived at consciously may be better described as a
meta-belief. I accept it provisionally. All meta-beliefs are subject
to revision due to new data. Or perhaps they are better called models.
It is only those beliefs that I haven't analyzed yet that can get me
to react irrationally when challenged, for the most part ;)

:I do not forgive the repliers as they did nothing that I didnt.So why
:would they need (or even want) my forgiveness?
:Shannon Saltzman
:-- 

Myself, I find it easiest to forgive people 'errors' that I commit
myself. It's easier to have empathy, then. But in any case, I don't
think anyone is seeking forgiveness. Certainly not on this medium ;)
The best we can hope for are civil, rational exchanges.

			yours in the limbo of meta-belief,

				Lorenzo
-- 
"Once upon a time men were possessed    ******************************
by devils. Now they are not less        *  Lorenzo Farris            *
obsessed by ideas" -CG Jung             *  farris@ruhets.rutgers.edu *
					******************************
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