That's a pretty common view of people who are against organised religion. But there are people who patronise others for reasons other than religion as well. So what? It's a human thing. My view is better than yours because of blah blah. You make no sense because you think blah blah.
Have you been patronised by a religious person you know personally? I have - by people who think of themselves as a more "religious" type - but I ignore them because their views aren't in line with what I believe in. But that doesn't give me the right to ridicule their views. You just agree to disagree... which is something I find more prevalent in older folk.
It's fine to have beliefs, after all, without beliefs our perceptional system would not function. Even on the topic of religion, people choose to BELIEVE to not believe. This is simply because a belief acts as our prearranged, organised filter to our perceptions of the world. The best way to define belief is that of congruent internal representations which control our reality. Once you realise however that a 'belief' is simply a state, simply a feeling of certainty regarding something we express through our communication, you can also realise that it is VERY possible to change someone's belief (
Bandler and Grinder).
See, you seem to consider (like most do) that your beliefs are a thing. That’s fine, you’re simply objectifying a feeling but you have to consider the fact that beliefs are not meant to represent any kind of logical disposition. As
Dilts reminds us "they are...notoriously unresponsive to logic. They are not intended to coincide with reality. Since we don't know what is real, you have to form a belief- a matter of faith". So in essence, they are simply generalisations we had to FORM regarding this world and they allow us to have preprogrammed responses in communicative situations. Since we FORMED them however, there is nothing stopping us or someone else for that matter changing them. Now obviously, on a forum, people who understand this simply love stirring each other, as they often have no emotional investment regarding the argument, yet the other person does. In any communication, the person who is most reactive has the lowest value and I guess the reason anyone 'shit stirs' is for their own validation or it’s simply a narcisstic function of their current state. Ever heard the Fight Club quote- " I felt like destroying something beautiful"?
Anyway, the coolest thing about beliefs is that if you can shape a behaviour into someone's belief system, you can get them to anything or stop doing something, as stepping into someone else's map gives 'instant rapport'. The hardest challenge is, once we have an old belief there is little room for a new one until the previous belief has been considerably weakened. But this CAN be done. That is why, for experimental reasons I would like to see anyone here who holds deep convictions about the nature of their spiritual reality (strong religious beliefs) last 1/2 hour with a trained Ericksonian Hypnotist and still come out feeling 100 % certainty about their own map of reality. If so, then that my friends is fucking faith.
