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Belief system: lackthereof

negrogesic

negrogesic

Moderator: BDD, OD
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Jul 21, 2002
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Is it terribly unusual to have no belief system? By no belief system, I mean, no strong or concrete beliefs, no religion, no belief in a soul or the metaphysical, no political beliefs? I suppose I have hard time believing that I am little more than a primate.

I am educated, well-read and informed, but I can't seem to convince myself that I believe anything. Furthermore, I tend to heavily discount the beliefs of others. It seems unlike nihilism.

In person (when not on drugs), I have typically been able to dissuade most close people of their beliefs. In fact, I can often re-indoctrinate them with beliefs that I don't have actually have, but pretend to have. But, I don't want to get into my manipulative behaviors (i'm trying to be better about it).

Again, I'm asking if others feel similarly. I'm guessing not but I thought i'd ask. Still, I realize I am not that unique.
 
I navigate a constellation of maybes, but I've gotten rather attached to a few of them. ;)
 
I don't believe in anything either. I have no religion, no political ideals (apart from standing up for my rights and freedoms), and no real ambition in life. Admittedly it's not a worldview that I enjoy having, but I can't seem to change it. I guess I'm naturally skeptical and cynical.
 
I have a large amount of ambition and some very specific goals, but its a little empty and a bit greedy. Sometimes I feel like "Patrick Bateman" in American Psycho, except i'm more manipulative and not as interested in, as he put it, "fitting in". Fortunately, I haven't murdered anyone yet...

I still feel things though, I just don't believe in anything.
 
I can relate with you on this matter negrogesic.

Although I often joke around saying that I have no morals.. no beliefs.. etc.. I do.. but at the same time I don't...

I think a lot of my lack of beliefs stem from the fact that I often think to myself, what the fuck is the point of anything?
We're born, we live, we die.. Sure we might have a good time, a bad time, love, hate, accomplish great things.. but in the end does it matter for anything?
And no one knows what happens after that (after we die).. do we exist after we die here? Does our self or mind go somewhere after this?
Who knows, I certainly don't, and anyone who claims to know is a fucking liar.

Anyways, that's where my lack of beliefs stems from..

Also, I think its very easy to shoot down peoples beliefs as well. I mean.. in the end how can one prove anything?
You say a chair exists, but how do you KNOW it exists? How can you prove it. You can always question anything, even science.
How do you know you're not dreaming? Etc
I mean its philosophy, at a certain point.. if you just keep reducing things and boiling points down.. eventually you just have to go with your senses/instincts and a little faith (not religious)

For example, I generally think killing is generally wrong...
But I'm not going to bs, if I was offered a choice, kill someone (an innocent person whom I didn't know) for say a large sum of money... 50 million dollars... I'd do it in a heart beat I think.
Under the pretense that I wouldn't be caught or do jail time.
 
You have a belief system. It's impossible not to. It's just that yours doesn't include politics or religion.

You have a metaphysical belief system. If you didn't, you wouldn't be able to operate in the world. Imagine if you genuinely did not believe the information you got from your senses? Or in the existence of a reality outside of your own consciousness? It would be paralysing. You can do this intellectually, but you can never really shake a belief in these things, since they are intrinsic to our practical relationship with the world. You can't function without these beliefs.

Metaphysical beliefs are everywhere. We believe in ourselves, in our friends, in the concrete world. We draw distinctions between dreams and reality, and we believe (to varying degrees) in some of the things science tells us (at a certain level of abstraction, science is the elaboration of metaphysical claims).
 
^ agreed. Your beliefs are just so deeply held that you don't think of them as such.
 
beliefs and belief systems are different things

i am somwhat concerned about not having a solid belief system in place. although I am of an era to reject the outdated, I fear that I may be shunning the "wisdom of the ages" in ways. but it's hard to decipher the diamonds from the pepsi ads and propaganda and maintain a semblance of structure. :\
 
The difference between beliefs which constitute our everyday practical relation to the world (such as a belief in a world outside of ourselves) and 'beliefs' in the term that negrogesic is using it, is not clear cut. Rather, the 'beliefs' that most people talk about (religion, politics etc) are only discussed because they are questioned and made into conscious problems for people to solve.

I guess if you think that you have no beliefs in this sense, you need to think about what are actually problems for you. Ie, what are the important things that should be consciously addressed and treated as problems?

Deleuze argues that problems are ontological features of the world, but that they are related to particular coordinations of people, events, etc. So what is a problem for you might not be interesting for someone else, depending on the history that is constructed by the different lives that you live. But since this is the only sense in which problems exist, they are nevertheless valid. So I think the ethic that we get in acknowledging the contingency of problems is one of an active engagement and an active problem-making.

So rather than saying 'I have no beliefs' I think it's better to say 'the problems I'm solving with my beliefs are different to those that the systems described by religion, conventional politics etc are solving' and then go out and engage with the problems that really matter to you.
 
It doesn't pose a problem; i suppose it is beneficial. Yes, this seems to lead me to manipulative and dissocial/antisocial behavior.

Religion and politics were merely examples, this appears to go beyond that.

I suppose I am having trouble articulating. I was simply curious if this is a common condition in the modern human...
 
^^
Actually, I think it is a common condition.

I think that being disconnected from politics and religion is very common for people these days (although for different reasons).

But I also think there is a collective anxiety about "meaning" in modern society, which explains all of the quack medical remedies, self help books, weird cults, and so on. I think people want more "meaning" but in a secular society in which politics is so disconnected to the needs of real people, finding it can be difficult work.
 
True nihilism is extremely rare, I would think.

It's almost impossible not to have an opinion on something. The collection of one's various opinions qualifies, IMO, as a "belief system," regardless of whether it has gelled into a formalized ethos.

According to the great thinker Geddy Lee, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." :)
 
^Pretty sure that Neil Peart wrote that. I guess he and Geddy have a kind of Moses and Aaron thing going on.
 
I don't hold any belief system to be particularly concrete. I tend to float from idea to idea and see where each takes me. It's an amazing ride, full of the usual ups and downs. I guess what I ultimately believe is that with enough knowledge, I'll be able to fashion something akin to happiness. Or die trying.
 
I have never been able to understand a person that does not have a belief system or rather a belief in God. It just seems like a bland lifestyle that is bathed in a clinical foam-green color. I suppose my ability to not comprehend Atheism explains it to me in a deductive fashion.

Peace,
Seedless
 
bagochina said:
I have never been able to understand a person that does not have a belief system or rather a belief in God. It just seems like a bland lifestyle that is bathed in a clinical foam-green color. I suppose my ability to not comprehend Atheism explains it to me in a deductive fashion.

Peace,
Seedless
Click to expand...

It can be an incredibly bland lifestyle. I won't deny that. Unfortunately my nihilistic mind simply won't accept a solid belief system, let alone a belief in god.
 
OP, perhaps you cant recognize your belief system because you haven't adequately distinguished your perception of reality from reality itself. Your beliefs are so firmly entrenched and unquestioned, that to you they simply are reality.
 
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Shakti said:
OP, perhaps you cant recognize your belief system because you haven't adequately differentiated your perception of reality from reality itself.
Click to expand...

Check. Was trying to think of a way to say that, very nicely articulated.
 
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