You're wrong though. You are either too mentally weak to handle not believing in him, too arrogant to not accept there are things about the universe you can just say "I don't know" to, or too ignorant to understand that he isn't a logically necessary element of the universe. There's a difference between that and the belief that the world is "real", which is something that, if any of us were to truly commit to, would logically undermine our ability to perform actions in the world. If the world isn't treated as real, even on an informal basis, then our entire ability to do things and expect results that we interpret as significant is destroyed.

> I consciously choose to live as though I believe it is true because there's literally nothing else I can do

That's how I feel about God. Is that not faith?

It depends on what you mean by "believe". If I hold myself strictly to only making truth claims for that which I have real, objective verification, then no I can't say whether reality is real or a simulation. I don't believe it is on faith, or I wouldn't really consider it faith, more so that I consciously choose to live as though I believe it is true because there's literally nothing else I can do. If I didn't internalize the belief, informally, that the world is real, I would cease to be able to coherently act as an agent. It just wouldn't work. So there's no way I can't even if I wanted to.

Contrast this with belief in God, which is a totally unnecessary belief. People are able to exist as agents totally fine without that belief.

1. What is the source of presuppositions from which we start your reason processes?

2. I agree that reason provides significant confidence, but I find it to be rather retrospective than prospective, especially when it comes to life decision.

3. What is a "bad" decision? How do you determine? What makes you think switching to something else will be better over the course of time?

4. Reason can verify our decisions, but cannot trigger them. Blind faith or pure reason are not the only options. Blind faith entails random decisions which is absurd. Pure reason means no decision.

For example, you find good reasons and bad reasons to get married or not to get married. What makes you actually take a decision and not be stuck forever in the process of thinking? Reasons do not weight the same for everyone. If "existentialistic" decisions are like mathematical formulas our life will lack individuality. 2+2=4 is the same for everyone.

-- In my opinion reason needs faith and faith needs reason. They are complementary.

Can I ask you whether you believe this reality is all real, or whether it's a simulation?

The philosophy of being completely free -in both mind and body- I believe that the first step to such freedom is honesty.

It is quite apparent that the majority of humans living today are not free.  

They are more or less slaves, chasing after their thoughts. Society has conditioned their minds from a young age; their reality becomes set under something not made to aid their true nature, creating an ill mindset that tortures them daily, 24 hours a day.  

If one stops pretending, one can truly see that we know nothing. We have a collective and complete amnesia about everything.  

Our bodies know. We know. Jet, Why can't we remember?  

A thousand years ago, an individual had more freedom than a person living in today's society.  

We live in an enormous body structured like an ant's nest.  

Everything that is different will be viewed as abnormal. This affects a person's ability to be themselves.  

Back in the day, one could simply walk out of his village and live his life as someone completely different. His tribe doesn't reach the entire globe.  

There was no Internet for minds to intertwine.  

But since we live here, in the now,  

We must find a away to be.  

My philosophy of being truly free starts off by being completely honest.  

Honesty is a fundamental factor for trueness to spread.  

"What is real will prosper."  

The truth is a compass that guides us to itself.  

Now, understand that freedom is of great value, much more valuable than all the gold and silver in the world.   

And freedom requires strength. not physical strength but mental strength.  

The ability to walk away from the crowd and start one's own path becomes a key factor.  

That is why I love the misfits and the outcasts. Those who do not belong to society, jet remain pure in their truth.  

Sometimes I see God's intentions. It is a blessing to be born with the ability to think for oneself.  

A man one day awakens and looks around; the only thing he sees is that everyone else is still asleep.  

There is an unimaginable amount of effort involved in swimming against the flow of the crowd. And at the same time, it is one of the easiest things to do, like being honest.  

These things are just what they are, so all it takes for them to be is to just be. as simple as that.  

One needs to know oneself. Recognize the way one thinks. Question why he thinks the way he does and why he moves the way he does—everything comes together in one single unit.  

I heard that love is a mathematical principle. The digit 1 contains all other numbers. If 0 is a representation of nothingness,  

How can there ever be anything except that nothing is not simply no-thing but rather a thing that will become something.  

1 contains 2 just like they both are contained in 3.  

2 is just 1 split into two. and three, the one containing 1 and 2.  

2 can be one, 1 can be two, and both together will always be three. And when they all collapse into one, only one mass of energy is left.  

So everything comes back to oneself. And I am always left with the question, while being conscious, what consciousness is. Who am I? What am I?  

Why am I here?   I breathe. I think. I feel. I am just being me. existing as one. asking and searching.  

There is so much more.  

And my philosophy for all this is honesty, because it brings everything right back to oneself. It is simply what it is.  

The truth is simply what it is. Like water, it is clear and see-through. The words written all over the place creating our form and detailing the information.   Honesty is the key to freedom.      

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I'm not arguing for it being rational. I'm arguing that it works. You believe, you receive. Whatever neurological or cosmological explanation that has, it's still true.

The two ideas are intermingled: there is the degree to which the far right exploits Stochastic Terror, and then there is the degree to which people believe that the far right exploits Stochastic Terror.

There are also many other related ideas, like to what degree is each of us guilty for contributing (via action, or inaction) to the suboptimality that exists in the world, to what degree are people capable of considering such ideas, etc.

Humans are a very curious species - so much potential, but so much hubris, delusion, and folly. What will they get up to next with their fairy-tale-based culture???!!

I am still not sure what it is that you are wondering about. Do you wonder if it's true that the far right exploits Stochastic Terror or do you wonder if there is a distinction between belief and knowledge?

You can give x because you believe it will work based on a rational process of hypothesis development. You don't need faith. The difference is that making a rational prediction will make you more likely to acknowledge if you were wrong and move on to try different things, whereas faith—which is belief in something without evidence—will cause you to falsely attribute your results to your faith-driven actions, will cause you to make up some sort of fake cause that explains the results which you have no reason to believe is true, and will blind you to flaws in your perception that could show you the actual truth. Faith has no genuine use and it causes a litany of problems.

No, I am referring to the distinction between belief and knowledge/truth. I don't doubt you believe the things you do.

That's nonsense. Reason finds problems in what we do, but it is also the source of validation of what we do and therefore a source of significant confidence. You don't need faith to stick to your decision, and in fact faith can cause you to stick to a bad decision that hurts people or not switch to a better decision that is more helpful.

You ask me why I hold a belief, then when I take the time to tell you, you wonder if I might be lying about why I hold that belief?

Then how do you make sense of anything whatsoever?

What is being predicted other than reality?

If cause and effect are incorrect then why am I able to repeat experiments and how does change occur?

Because I’m a Pragmatist.

From wiki:

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality.

No, that’s nonsense. You may as well start quoting Deepak Chopra. The basic foundations of logic chop your view apart

Why do you think so?

You are 100% accurate but many here don’t seem to understand basic logic as much as they love the mental masturbation of philosophical pondering

That’s called post hoc ergo propter hoc. It’s a fallacy, and precisely why you can’t use faith as any form of rational thinking. It is what you want it be, therefore nothing in the end. There’s no way around faith being total bullshit.

Yours is a bad faith argument (we know this is true by virtue of me saying that it is true), therefore it can be dismissed.

Bye!

I am under no obligation to address bad faith arguments, especially confused and easily dismissed ones. Bye.

So what defines our potential? The Bible? Mein Kampf? Scientology? You? Whatever ideals you’ve assimilated , the fact of Human potential is the potential to destroy life on the planet and while I’d say that’s pretty stupid, it’s certainly not weak.

The intellectual problems that come with asserting an objective reality are myriad but I’m happy to continue the discussion at a leisurely pace. William James said that he didn’t see how a philosophical club or society would be possible when it takes so much patience to define terms and understand the others. If you have the time and patience, so do I.