A smorgasbord of beliefs: what do you believe in?

Question

Which of the following would you agree with and/or believe in?

Religion and Higher Powers
• I believe in some form of Christianity
• I believe in some form of Judaism
• I believe in some form of Islam
• I believe in some form of Buddhism
• I believe in some form of Hinduism
• I believe in some form of any religion in general
• I believe in a deity or deities
• I believe in a ‘higher power’ which does not adhere to the usual rules of the universe

Creatures
• There are ghosts, spirits, and/or some other form of interactive dead people in the world that exist but are elusive to detection
• Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and/or other forms of individual legendary monsters exist but are elusive to detection

Practices
• Acupuncture and/or chiropractics are subtle but legitimate medical techniques that are capable of treating pain, diseases, and other things not directly related to puncture or musculoskeletal anatomy in ways that are difficult to verify
• A person’s birth date or birth sign (e.g. Sagittarius, Virgo) has broad implications and can impact their personality, can be used to predict their future, or has other extraordinary applications
• ‘Natural’ products are inherently healthier or better than synthetic products (e.g. organic food is healthier than genetically-engineered food, ‘alternative’ medicine is better than pharmaceutical medicine, organic pesticides are healthier than synthetic pesticides, etc.).
• Asian (particularly southeast Asian) mysticism adds some form of concrete quality to certain practices or rituals (e.g. meditation is superior to other forms of relaxation, yoga is better than ordinary stretching, feng shui is better than other forms of interior decorating, various southeast Asian martial arts are capable of supernatural or superhuman effectiveness not available to hand-to-hand combat techniques from other pasts of the world, etc.).
• Magic is real, and it is possible to use it for spell-casting, aura-reading, predicting the future, or other literally magical activities.
• Some people have psychic powers, and can use these to read others’ minds, telepathically communicate, telekinetically manipulate objects, and/or predict the future.

Answer 1

I believe in one true form of Christianity.

I believe in one supreme being.



Creatures

• There are no ghosts, just deceptive angelic spirits who pretend to be ghosts of dead people. The dead cannot communicate with the living.



• There is no Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and/or other forms of individual legendary monsters exist but are elusive to detection. These are myths. Huge dinosaurs are all extinct and man has never been part ape or any other animal for that matter.



Practices

• Acupuncture and/or chiropractics "may be" subtle but legitimate medical techniques that are capable of treating pain, diseases, and other things not directly related to puncture or musculoskeletal anatomy in ways that are difficult to verify



A person’s birth date or birth sign (e.g. Sagittarius, Virgo) has "no" broad implications and "does not" impact their personality, "cannot" be used to predict their future, or has "no" extraordinary applications. This is a superstitious belief that has to do with astrology.



• ‘Natural’ products are inherently healthier or better than synthetic products (e.g. organic food is healthier than genetically-engineered food, ‘alternative’ medicine is better than pharmaceutical medicine, organic pesticides are healthier than synthetic pesticides, etc.).



• All mysticism takes away from the true qualilty of life and puts one in danger of being in contact with supernatural deceptive angelic spirits.



• Magic is "sometimes" real, and it is "not" humanly possible for mere humans, alone, to use it for spell-casting, aura-reading, predicting the future, or other literally magical activities. When magic is real, it is actually performed by the invisible deceptive angelic spirits, not the human magician. It is magic because humans cannot see how it is performed. The spirits respond to the magician, spellbinder, fortuneteller, or sorcerer from the invisible realm while the magician gets the credit for performing the feat. Humans have no supernatural abilities, supernatural beings do.



• "No" person has psychic powers, and "cannot" use these to read others’ minds, telepathically communicate, telekinetically manipulate objects, and/or predict the future. Misleading demonic angelic spirits are who put such thoughts into the minds of those proclaiming to be phychic.



EDIT: All those proclaiming to perform magic, phychic abilities, telepathy, telekinesis, and predictions are not necessarily connected to spirits. Many things are done by human deception, illusions, and tricks. Others that are legitimate, are performed by spirits from the invisible demension.

Answer 2

I'm a Christian and full time college student so I know what it's like for people to look down on me because of my faith. I'm personally use to it. The people who usually say those things are people who either never even tried Christianity or did but talked about it with fake Christians. Either way no matter what faith or background, where ever you go, there will always be someone there to talk badly about you.

Answer 3

I believe in some form of Christianity. Specifically, I believe in the teachings of Jesus, and that he was the greatest teacher man has ever produced. My Christianity has evolved over the years, and is likely different than many others... but I think this is true for all adult Christians, as at some point you have to go through a "dark night of the soul" and have adult beliefs, where before was only childlike.

Answer 4

Then I was asked, being an atheist, what I do believe in.



Life, the Universe, and Everything~~ according to Artie:



My fear is that I won't be able to express myself very well, for we are crossing into an area where words can be maddeningly inadequate.



Someone said:

"And Artie, I like the way you put that 'symbols of natural forces'. And when science catches up (and I really do believe they will), we can start using names for these natural forces that are less fanciful for those of us who prefer that."



I think Jung (and several others) tried to begin this work. I think Jung understood this and tried to give us other names for these things. Look out on any natural scene; the seashore, a forest, space, your own back yard. Most people look out on these views and think of them as something "out there". What I had known all along, but Jung gave me words for, is that vast and wild nature, is also "in here". Very much "in here". There truly is no separation. Everyone knows this deep, deep down. And it scares the holy living **** out of most people. Because to quote Osho, "The real 'god' is very wild. The real 'god' is very crazy. And the real 'god' cannot be controlled." Think about this, really think about it. These are the forces that create life, that keep the planets in their orbits, that make tornadoes, that bring death, that send asteroids hurtling through space, etc and etc. Very powerful. And they are not only "out there", they are also "in here". We can't control them and we can't get away from them, ever.



So what do we do? Well first we deny that they exist "in here". Then we project it outside ourselves onto any "god" you like. Denial and projection are partners. We make nice churches and temples, usually very quiet and sedate and calm, in the illusion we can contain these vast and powerful forces, to make them safe, or rather to make ourselves feel safe in their presence. Another thing I learned from Jung is that it's human nature (we may be hard-wired for this, I don't know, but strongly suspect we are) to personify these forces. So indeed, "god" did not create us in his image, we created "god" in our image! Human beings project these forces outside themselves and personify them. Presto! you got religion. We fancy we can communicate with a being like ourselves, if much more powerful. We fancy we can ask for mercy, forgiveness, forbearence. We bring it down and down, and make it smaller and smaller, until all the real juice is gone out of it, and there's nothing left but a petty tyrant smiting and throwing plagues at us. Or until it's dry and dessicated and meaningless. Or, as is most often the case, until "religion" becomes a political organization. . . . I think we all know the results of that.



Now comes Zen. Zen says, "Yup, it's both "out there" and "in here", that's you. . . . that's reality. . . .you can't get away from it no matter what you do. You can't put it into words. You will never figure it out. . . . so maybe we ought to learn to deal with it on it's own terms. . . "



The other thing I learned from Zen is that we really don't know. Oh, we think we do, we want to believe we do. But we don't know. We don't know what life is, or gravity or consciousness or electricity, etc and etc. We can "measure" them, yes. We know what they do and how they behave (mostly). But we don't know what they are. We rely on our perceptions, but our perceptions are biased because we only have one lense (the human one) to look through. And our perceptions can be oh so wrong. The earth is not flat, the sun is not the center of the universe, sickness does not come from evil spirits.



So I realized I better get comfortable with not knowing. Now, I prefer it.



And I said all that to say: I believe in nature.and that's more then enough :-)

Answer 5

None of the above. However, there might be benefit in chiropractic, it hasn't been researched that well yet.

Answer 6

I believe in every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows.

Answer 7

I believe smorgasbord is your second favorite word to say

Answer 8

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no and no, respectively.