world views and beliefs

I could get so long winded with this, but I will try to keep it brief as it can still get the point across:

I follow the golden rule religously: Treat others the way you want to be treated. Under no circumstances will I break this.

I am about as much fairness as I can possibly pull together. Give people the benifit of the doubt, and they are innocent until proven guilty. Forgive wrong-doing by determining their inner motive. I give people a lot of credit for their actions and it allows me to justify it and understand it. Understanding peoples motives explains a lot, and prevents anger from building.

Do not infringe on anyone elses will, so long as they are not harming someone else. Live and let live.

I am not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but this is what I am assuming by the OP.

 

General Outlook:
Model Agnosticism

"Belief in the traditional sense, or certitude, or dogma, amounts to the grandiose delusion: "My current model (or grid, or map, or reality-tunnel) contains the whole universe and will never need to be revised." In terms of the history of science and knowledge in general, this appears absurd and arrogant to me, and I am perpetually astonished that so many people still manage to live with such a medieval attitude." - Robert Anton Wilson

Religious/Spiritual Outlook:
(Currently) Agnostic Atheism



Political Outlook:
(Currently) Paleo-Liberalism

"A paleo-liberal believes in low to moderate government intervention on personal matters and moderate government intervention on economic matters. They tend to be opposed to war, police powers and victimless crimes. They believe in a social safety net, but to a lesser extent then most leftists. They generally believe in protecting personal liberty. They support self-ownership and privacy. Some Paleo-liberals may lean towards embracing capitalism as an economic system. Paleo-liberals are reminiscent of the attitude of the "new left" of the 60's and 70's. Strong Paleo-Liberals border on Libertarianism."

(http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-politics-test)

Moral/Ethical Outlook:
(Currently) Meta-Ethical Relativism

"Meta-ethical relativism, on the other hand, is the semantic and epistemic position that all moral judgements have their origins either in societal or in individual standards, and that no single objective standard exists by which one can assess the truth of a moral proposition."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_relativism)

 

i think the most important thing you can do for yourself is to not assume you know what is going on. by thinking that, you'll miss reality, and live in a world entirely constrained by the boundaries of your own imagination (which can be expansive, no doubt, but it will never encompass the breadth and beauty of the actual, physical world).

this loosely accords with Pyrronism

 

The biggest thing I try to make sure I do is slow down, smell the roses as it were and try to see each day and each experience, no matter how trivial, as the focal point of my life at that time. This helps me get the most out my time and not feel as though I wasted a day that felt busy but I that can't quite remember what I did.

Also I try to employ the 'less is more' ideal.

That's on the philosophical side of things, and I'm still well open to new ideas and guidelines and I'm reading/have/will read quite a lot of ideas from Bertrand Russell to Aura Colours.

My mind's definitely made up on the theology side of things though, I'm a 'devout' atheist out of pure common sense and I view - as kindly as I can - agnostics as atheists without balls

 

I suppose I'm an Atheist in the sense that I haven't seen enough evidence of any kind of god for it to be worth believing in (kind of like the boogyman, fairies etc.) that doesn't mean I don't like to entertain the idea once in a while. Basically the only thing I'm certain of is the uncertainty and complexity of the universe.

I love nature and I often like to think of all living things and natural systems and how they are all influenced by each other, the complexity of it all. How the ebb and flow of nature moves towards an equilibrium it never quite reaches.

I strongly believe in the interdependence of humans over independence, I don't think we are adapted to living in large populations, I think a small community is our ideal environment. I think morality mostly comes from a biological basis (evolved), and therefore deem immorality to be not evil but simply defective.

 

no labels and no borders
but
i wouldn't call it views and beliefs, it's the reality
labels and borders are pure imagination

 

It would be easier for you to just get in a rocketship, shrink yourself, and fly into my ear or something.

I don't know where to begin answering the question.


I'll just say I think life has no meaning and people are very skilled at driving themselves nuts asking questions that don't have answers. People always have to ask Why. Why? Why? Why?

Poor things. There are worse fates, I suppose. I'd rather be a questioning human living in the first-world than a pigeon. I always see them missing toes.

 

I am not too keen on describing my religious beleif systems as it is more or less created by my own observations and what not. It ends up sounding kinds of blah because of it. I'll try though, breifly.

I concider myself new age. I would refer you to the wikipedia article on new age beleif systems as it describes it pretty well, and explains a lot of core things I follow. I follow astrology a lot as it explains many many things to me, and has proven to be amazingly accurate through out my whole life. I believe in many psychic phenomon. Ghosts, spirits, and in particular, energy. I sense energy very easily and use it to make many judgements, decisions, ect. Energy effects everything. I read tarot cards, and that in itself is rather broad. I also know of other advance card reading techiques and they can make things even more direct and accurate. I will participate in rituals, energy work, reiki ect. I believe in a higher power. I concider "god" to be a collective source, not a actual being. More or less the supreme judge if you will. I believe very much in past lives, and that spirits have the potential to be eternal. I believe that everyone creates their own reality. What you believe, what you think, what you feel, and what you put out there, will become the sort of things that you encounter in life. For this reason, I do not see most relgions as right or wrong.

This is a very rough overview.

 

Indeed, I agree with this view. I do not consider myself religious but I do consider myself spiritual and I am heavily interested in spirituality, those new age topics you post are amazing and are indeed very amusing to read. I do not criticize or oppose any religion, I try to be as open as possible and tolerant. I also do believe in a higher power, someone who I can't describe and I feel no human can do so.

 

Altruistism without the dogmatic coercion or any coercion sums up my worldview

 

What do you mean by world view?

 

World view is an exhaustingly massive thing to define, and especially to describe. You are what you believe, it defines you.

I believe in reality and in that we should try to discover it.
I also believe that the attempt is futile in an extremely fundamental way.

I believe in love and deem it the most valuable thing a person can ever find.
I believe values to be impossible and all humans to be socially inept, selfish and, by nature, solipsistic.

I believe in the grace and intelligence of man.
I also believe in his destructive stupidity.

I believe in contradictions. I believe in circular realities. I believe we will be wrong no matter what we believe. And I believe that's fine.

My beliefs are kind of bewildering to me in all their vagueness, moreso as time passes and they keep gradually changing towards gray.

 

You might find this interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_number

"...it refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts with it."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_view)

 

A picture says more than a thousand words...

 

I've gone through a lot of phases. I grew up in a Catholic family and Catholic school, so of course I was Catholic. But each year I grew older I grew more and more distant from it. Since it was so important to my mom, I just never thought twice about it, but once I left home I realized I had to decide things for myself. I was kind of an agnostic for a while, who just cared so little that I didn't even use the term agnostic, then for a while I got interested in deism, then my own weird interpretation which the closest term would probably be panenthesim, which I guess I kind of still stick to.

But in all honesty, each time I take up an "ism", I always end up feeling betrayed somehow in the end. I feel like I espoused something which I realize later wasn't what I thought it was. I always end up seeing from a new angle, which forces me to throw out the old one. This has happened with politics too. Part of me feels like I have to have some name or title to represent my beliefs, but another part feels like its not at all worth it. Putting a name on something just freezes my identity, and I'd rather stay fluid and keep changing. Even though I think its one of the most important things to live by some set of principles, I don't think I'll ever stay firmly with one definable belief, and I think writing down the values I have just limits them.

I read this thing about a "systems metaphysics" based off of systems sciences, which was the most interesting thing I've read in a long time, and probably the closest I've seen to my own beliefs. http://www.metanexus.net/Magazine/tabid/68/id/10051/Default.aspx Section 2.1 about a "secular theodicy" is definitely worth checking out.

Based on your description Quinlan I bet you'd be really interested in this.

 

It's an overwhelming question that I can't really answer because I don't feel I have any set worldviews or answers. I'm constantly arriving at points and then moving on, dissatisfied with what I've settled on.
Contemplating this question gave me the drunk spins for a second there.

I don't think that you are what you believe, because beliefs can change as one gains knowledge and yada yada.. You can believe in one thing and then violently oppose it later.
People are amorphous. It's hard to handle, so we try to fake being concrete by clinging to beliefs and opinions.

As for theological views, I find agnosticism reasonable (though not entirely satisfying.)

 

I'm an empiricism kind of guy. It doesn't work until you try it. And then, it still might not work.