What do you think are the best aspects of your belief systems, or the way you approach the world?

One that isn’t inflexible.

I always approach life thinking the very worst will happen. That way, I’m not quite as devastated as I would be when I’m right-that the worst usually does happen! I also think that if something awful occurs something else bad will be along shortly.
I find this such a blissful way to live. I highly recommend it. (-:

I can’t easily identify my “system.” I consider myself a heretical Christian, but that doesn’t tell you much. Maybe: a humanitarian who believes in the Judeo-Christian God… does that help?

The good things about my belief system are that I believe that life is sacred (by which I do not mean I am pro-life! I am pro-choice) and that God loves everyone and everything. With peace, love, and respect are how everyone and everything should be approached. Everyone should be viewed as an individual, and not part of a group. Prejudice is very destructive.

Obviously it is difficult to maintain one’s ideal ways of behaving. Sometimes I am short-tempered…

To summarize, I simply believe that we should do our best to strive for some sort of equality in society. This stems from my atheism, liberalism, and beliefs toward secular humanism. I know it won’t happen, of course, but as long as we’re making progress in some way that contributes to providing stability and happiness, instead of segregation and civil unrest, that is important.

I watched some speech by the Dalai Lama the other day, and he had a good point. We can’t get rid of religious differences, but we can at least try to understand each others beliefs based on finding commonalities within each belief system. He talked about how he travelled around and meditated/prayed with different religions at their places of worship. That was very humble of him. He found a way to connect with people on a more simple level that was based on mutual interests.

I guess I approach the world with a very open mind. I believe that we should find out everything for ourselves and not just state things that we have no clue about. We have to search, discover, find and experience things to come to concrete conclusions of our own. For instance I have been LDS (Mormon) almost all my life and they say whatever the prophet says is correct but I say examine what he says and find out for you. If anyone is Christian I believe Christ taught this way. Anyway I am now seeking my own knowledge and the Universe has opened up to me. I have discovered things I never thought possible and more comes to me on a daily basis. There are things that are so amazing I stand in awe of them. Though I am in pain life is exciting when you discover more and find things fit together and make sense in a confused world.

I’m consistent. I think that’s the most anyone can hope for.

I’m more or less a classical liberal.

The best part about my beliefs is that, if you want me to, I’ll always leave you the hell alone.

The best point about my system, I feel, is that I strive for consistency and coherency.

In a nutshell, I believe that harming other innocent sentient beings is wrong unless it is necessary to prevent equal or greater harm to another. As a corollary, anything that does not harm another sentient being is permissible. I also believe that all decisions on ethics must be based on logic and not pure emotion.

I try to do this. It’s the reason that I believe in, for example, animal rights and vegetarianism (not harming other sentient beings) as well as, for example, gay marriage (harmless and thus permissible.)

I also try not to fall victim to holding onto a belief so strongly that irrefutable evidence could not change that belief.

I strive to be the best person I can be. The way I go about doing this is looking inwards, developing self-awareness, living as gracefully as I can. I address my feelings – both negative & positive.
If I can avoid inflicting my issues on the masses, then that’s a step towards a better world in itself.
There’s nothing quite like self-discovery. It’s truly beautiful & exciting, etc. Living life in the moment is probably the most freeing feeling I’ve experienced

@Aster : I never thought about my views like that, i felt like I was being realistic, even though its somewhat negative…lol, life is full of mishaps and they are not controllable.. something that may seem pretty can turn ugly, like a motocycle.. beautiful but if you reck then what?
@nicobanks: prejudice is not a good thing, it shorts out blessings, and actually learning.. We can all learn something from one another regardless where you come from.. I think it limits the opening of the mind to just a certain part… I think its awesome that you are so positve.. Life should be that way, but is it possible?? Maybe it can huh…
When it comes to what I believe.. well i feel that there is good and evil in this world..
I try to think that people have a good heart even though sometimes it does come wrong, and there is a person that is missing one, lol
I believe that God created all things.. even dinosaurs,lol
And I feel that life is what you make of it regardless fo the predicaments… yeah today things arent going as good as I wish they were but tommorow I shall have another chance (I hope) to make it better….
Even though I do try to think of life in a good way I am a realist and know that bad can happen…

Realism.

I don’t bullshit myself and I don’t buy into the bullshit of others.

others, you are more than welcome to buy into my bullshit.

That I have finally arrived at the conclusion that belief is not necessary. Christ! It only took 54 years.

Did anyone get the irony there?

The single best aspect of my belief system is that it’s based on love, the strongest force in the universe.

That socialism is the way to go for any enlightened species that has or intends to grow out of its barberism.

Socialism is great, right up until you run out of other people’s money!

@CaptainHarley – doesn’t that sound dangerously close to a criticism? ;-)

@iamthemob

Um… lemmie see… can I come back next week? : )

@iamthemob
No, it sounds more like someone does not have a clue what socialism is!

Insults… the socialist’s final answer to those to disagree.

It is not an insult, it is a statement of fact.
You do not know what socialism is.
Socialism is not taking money from people away and giving it to others.
Socialism is the ownership and democratic administration of the means of production by the workers.
The fact that you do not know that means that you do not know what socialism is.

I could also claim that you were insulting me by writing in bold a statement that is a blatant lie.

LOL! Socialism is government ownership of the means of production. Government ownership is, almost by definition, inefficient and costly. Government can only make up its losses by increasing taxation, ergo by using other people’s money.

Once again you prove me right. Thank you so much.

Under socialism a ruling class of intellectuals, bureaucrats and social planners decide what people want or what is good for society and then use the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax, and redistribute the wealth of those who work for a living. In other words, socialism is a form of legalized theft.

http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/onprin/v1n3/thompson.html

Having said this, really don’t think that Pres. Obama is a socialist. He was given tough situation and listened to his economic advisers. The government, to hold up these companies, had in infuse capital into our system to avoid a complete failure of our ecnomic system. That just an opinion that could change in time.

Great answer, BoBo!

( But I don’t agree that Obama isn’t a Socialist. )

@ragingloli

Oh, nevermind. It’s not worth wasting the pixels.

@CaptainHarley like I said Captain, I could be wrong. We will certainly know eventually as he has said that once the economy turns around, he will work hard to balance the budget. I’m going to give him that chance as a voter. Did not think we had much choice in the last election when Mac picked Sarah as running mate. With Mac’s age, did not want the red phone by Sarah’s bed. loll

You know, it just occurred to me… I have never met a socialist or a liberal who could disagree with you without ultimately assailing either your intellect or your education. It’s part of the pattern they adopt of thinking that they know so much better than you how your life should be run.

You all act like it matters. LOL

My dad always used to say, “Socialism looks perfect on paper, but ultimately does not work well when applied to real people”. He also used to say, “A person is smart, but people are stupid”. Something I’ve always believed to be true.

@Harley
Funny how you invent some sort of superiorty complex based on the simple observation someone else makes about your knowledge and lack thereof in specific fields.
Not only that, you also feel the need to paint an entire segment of the population with that brush.
If ridiculing your opponents is all you can do, then talking to you really is a waste of my time.

@ragingloli

Oh, those conclusions are based on a lifetime of observations about the socialist animal, and on a fair amount of education ( which all liberals seem to value above life experience ). : )

Doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. No atheism, no religion but just that simple phrase.

@CaptainHarley Hey you should know by now that to be considered intelligent or a freethinker you have to be a liberal socialist atheist.

@Paradox

Oh yeah! Duh! [ smacks forehead ] : )

@Paradox Lmao…. yeah, what we would we know! Geezzz! Well, CAPTAIN Harley’s views, if you read his profile, should be enough said in regard to his knowledge of the socialism. At best, @ragingloli, seems a little arrogant to think he/she is the “guru of socialism,” as it’s not complicated.

sigh – I did attempt to make this a thread about what the best was in your system of beliefs. If people want to talk about socialism, there is certainly a way to do that here. The point is to address the best of what we find in our beliefs, rather than try to call out people about perceived mistakes they’ve made. I could have put this in general, but I trust you all to get on track. ;-)

end self-righteous lecture. ;-)

@iamthemob understood… I was taking up for a friend that was attacked by his comment! Thought the member was being a little testy…so to speak!

Which is a great aspect of your belief system! – defending those you find attacked for what you perceive as no reason. ;-)

Now we’re getting back on track. ;-)

cool my friend…. cool as the “under side of my pillow!”

1) Search for meaning
2) Forgiveness
3) Solidarity
4) Critical thinking

@mattbrowne – thanks for saying “critical thinking” instead of logic. ;-)

kind of breaking my own rule here, but no one has said logic yet, ;-)

Logic, my dear Zoe, merely enables one to be wrong with authority. – Dr. Who

@iamthemob – Yes, critical thinking is far more than the ability to apply first and second-order logic.