You are wrong: what now?

[okieinexile]

1 Thessalonians 5:21
Test everything. Hold on to the good.

[Susma Rio Sep]

Originally Posted by The Fool

Hypothetical: whatever your own beliefs that you hold now, tomorrow a certain new theory comes out, receives universal acceptance, and clearly contradicts everything you believe in.

Question: do you abandon your beliefs? If so, why? And what will you do instead?

Reason: I have often see people on forums claim that if there was a way to prove their own religion wrong, then these people would no longer have a reason to to be "good" - to hold themselves in a position of moral/ethical obligation to themselves, to others, or society.

This I have never understood.

How would you react, though? Personally, I have never accepted any form of moral absolute, so my own moral/ethical compass I consider entirely personal.

If a person is not happy with his religious beliefs, then he should look around and change to others that can make him happy. If he can't find any, then he should make his own religious beliefs and observances. After all every extant religion today has been established by men like you and me.

Or give up all religious beliefs and live without any. See if you can be happy then.

What about morality? You are talking about religious morality; for there is morality that is not founded upon any religious beliefs. Ask atheists or people who are by their declaration non-religious and even anti-religious. They also claim to be observant of moral principles. Know any atheists without any morality whatsoever?

Susma Rio Sep

[Zazen]

most spiritual traditions in the east emphasise basing nothing on faith alone, only learning from direct experience, that is the key to spiritual enlightenment

because you have to be concious of your spiritual cultivation, like most things if your not focused on the goal ahead then you will easily loose sight, and constantly be subject to new ideas and different concepts, and your perceptions will change as well

in buddhism we aim to be free of perceptions, to transcend dualistic reality

amitabha

[ISFP]

my own beliefs change or are shaken so often, i can't imagine feeling terribly bad about this situation.

however, should one belief especially dear and meaningful to me be disproved theoretically, i think the purpose and joy that said belief brings me would be enough for me to hold on to it. after all, i don't hold that belief for the scientist or the philosopher. i hold them for myself and the reality i reflect on.

[louis]

[quote=The Fool]Hypothetical: whatever your own beliefs that you hold now, tomorrow a certain new theory comes out, receives universal acceptance, and clearly contradicts everything you believe in.

Question: do you abandon your beliefs? If so, why? And what will you do instead?

From Louis...
An important question, but hardly "hypothetical", since
so many people are already in that position.
Considering all the different and contradictory things that
people believe, it's painfully obvious they CAN'T all
be right. Even if some people have inadvertently hit
upon beliefs that are right, that leaves BILLIONS of other
people who are clinging sincerly and intensely to beliefs
that are WRONG.
And nobody KNOWS how to tell the difference!

[louis]

Originally Posted by The Fool

Hypothetical: whatever your own beliefs that you hold now, tomorrow a certain new theory comes out, receives universal acceptance, and clearly contradicts everything you believe in.

Question: do you abandon your beliefs? If so, why? And what will you do instead?

Reason: I have often see people on forums claim that if there was a way to prove their own religion wrong, then these people would no longer have a reason to to be "good" - to hold themselves in a position of moral/ethical obligation to themselves, to others, or society.

This I have never understood.

How would you react, though? Personally, I have never accepted any form of moral absolute, so my own moral/ethical compass I consider entirely personal.

More from Louis....
I posted my first reply before reading ALL the other
replies and now I feel I should add something....
I have never practised any form of religion and have
been quite content for all my seventy years.
So the question is reversed for me - what if someone
should discover a way to PROVE that one of those
belief systems is ACTUALY TRUE ?
For example, most people cling to the notion of an
"afterlife" - a way to survive death by staying on the
good side of some particular "God or gods". There's
no way to know WHICH God until you actually "wake up
dead" and then it's too late if you've picked the wrong one.
What if there was a way to know the "winning side" while
you're still alive ? Wouldn't you grab it immediately ?

[louis]

Hypothetical: whatever your own beliefs that you hold now, tomorrow a certain new theory comes out, receives universal acceptance, and clearly contradicts everything you believe in.
Question: do you abandon your beliefs? If so, why? And what will you do instead?

From Louis....
An important question - let me fill in some background.
As I have never practised any religion, I have no clear
perception of the things that matter so much to believers
( an afterlife, the supernatural, magical events, etc. ).
To be brutally honest, I suspect ALL religion to be an
invention of the human mind and maybe NOTHING MORE.
I have about a half dozen friends who agree with me.
But that still leaves about six BILLION people who
DON'T agree. If ANY of them are even PARTLY right, then this world around me is VASTLY DIFFERENT than what
my senses show me ! Is my own perception really that
limited or do other people just interpret things differently ?
Do they have SENSES I don't have or do they just prefer to play GAMES with their own perception ?
People who see things that are not real are usually
considered DELUSIONAL ( insane ? ). If their delusions
are just as real as anything else, then who's insane ?
Is the fact that I DON'T see it mean that I'm mentaly
disabled - or is it the other way around ?
Sorry if that rant offends anybody - feel free to retaliate.

[louis]

Question: do you abandon your beliefs? If so, why? And what will you do instead?

From Louis...
I understood your question to be : What if the worst
possible scenario comes to pass ? For example, what
if you "wake up dead" and find you're not in heaven
or hell or anything similar to what you expected ???
Do you have a "contingency plan" for such a possibility ?
But, from the replies I've read so far, NOBODY could even get past the suggestion that their beliefs might be ... WRONG !

[StrangeQuark]

Originally Posted by louis

Question: do you abandon your beliefs? If so, why? And what will you do instead?

From Louis...
I understood your question to be : What if the worst
possible scenario comes to pass ? For example, what
if you "wake up dead" and find you're not in heaven
or hell or anything similar to what you expected ???
Do you have a "contingency plan" for such a possibility ?
But, from the replies I've read so far, NOBODY could even get past the suggestion that their beliefs might be ... WRONG !

Hah . . . you're right. I just can't do it.