Is believing in autotheism a mental illness or a personal choice?

Definitely an extreme mental illness.

No more than any other religion.

Believing you are God is a type of insanity but believing you are a part of God or that there is something godlike about you seems to me quite sane. There is something uncanny about mud rising up to walk about the world and thinking.

I thought that autotheism was defined as “praying that my car starts in the morning”

Anyone who thinks he is god is, prima facie, nuts.

If you believe you are God then I think that’s called “Delusions of grandeur.”

“Two men say they’re Jesus one of them must be wrong” Mark Knopfler

@rojo – at least one of them…..

@rojo
1. Logically, at least one of them must be wrong.
2. Theologically, you can invent an extended version of the Trinity that allows for Jesus to be many people at once, all distinct, yet the same. Then both of them could be right.

Many religious people believe that their god or gods communicate with them either through holy text passed down for thousands of years or directly. Whether belief in a common culturally supported myth is a delusion is debatable. However, in my opinion when someone thinks that they have been given instruction or as god has the right to cause harm are delusional.

“Autotheism is believing that you are a supernatural being, or G(g)od”

I don’t really care what anyone believes. But I do care why they believe what they believe.

If I have no evidence to back up my belief of being a 7’ NBA Star, then my belief is unfounded. Not enough just to say it.

@ragingloli As I always believed and was led to believe, God was separate from Jesus, his son, and The Holy Spirit, whatever that was. Three separate entities in the Holy Trinity. Always wondered if “Holy Spirit” wasn’t the name of his ship…

@BIll You don’t get it. @OP Narcissists are everywhere, it’s an American epidemic so go for it.

@KNOWITALL what is it that I do not get? Narcissism predates the Greek Mythology that gave excessive self-love its name. In the last few centuries Capitalism has become dependent upon the development of advertisements that focus on satisfying primitive impulses in humans, which fosters narcissism. This is epidemic in developed countries. Altruism increases when the local economy is strong, and decreases as it becomes more difficult to provide for one’s family. Given that a world wide recession exists, a growing desperation and a growing fear that their survival is threatened, encourages an “us or them” mentality.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I think the answer to why they believe what they believe is that most people are born into a culture structured on a religion. Santa Claus, tree nymphs, the Great Pumpkin are all believable to a child that will accept whatever adult authorities tell them. Having established a foundation in one’s mental universe, any apparently contrary evidence has to be denied or risk the collapse of their archetype.

People whose lives are filled with suffering and are desperate for any reason to have hope, can be readily converted to a new or different religion that seems to offer an explanation for their misery and an escape from it. Those who disparage believing in what seems to them to be foolish at best and delusional at worst, might consider seeking ways to alleviate an emotional dependency on such notions.