This post is not about Evolution, nor is it about the existence of God. It’s safe to say that I, as a 21 year old university student, will never solve that dilemma (and neither will you, mystery visitor). I want to clearly and wholly write about my view of the state of belief and how it’s viewed by people these days. There’s my mission statement + disclaimer.

There are two states of being that our minds rely on. The first is the concrete world where we use our physical senses to evaluate our surroundings. The second is the formless state where physically undefinable things, such as ideas, hopes, dreams, etc lie. Belief exists in the realm of the formless and we all possess beliefs. When you believe something, there is no imperative to introduce evidence to “prove” anything. A belief is really just a container for what we see as the truth of something. I believe that vegetarianism is a fad. I might believe that because I see a lot of young people choose that lifestyle, but I really have no proof. I know that vegetarianism is a fad. Sorry, but even I can’t prove that statement.

That example outlines the fundamental difference between believing and knowing. We cannot prove our beliefs by saying that we know something and vice versa. I’m free to believe that Jesus turned water into wine, but I can’t say that I know that. How would I know that? The answer is that it’s impossible for me to ever know, even based off of the content of the Bible. The Bible is a collection of beliefs and it’s often demeaned because of this. Yes, there are people who believe that the Bible is a firsthand recount of “actual” events that “really took place”, but it is impossible to ever confirm that since the Bible is not a firsthand source. Is it wrong to believe in it then? No.

Humans believe all sorts of things. We believe in aliens, reincarnation, karma, Heaven, true love, time machines, and countless other things that are very real to us in our minds. Belief isn’t a horrible thing at all. I believe that the saying “”People who live in glass houses should not throw stones” is a good reminder for me to look at my own life before judging someone else’s. Beliefs are what allow us to bring our perception into the formless realm without feeling the need to explain ourselves. They’re something that we’re comfortable in asserting without explanation.

The trouble begins to stir when we try to rationalise and prove our beliefs. I can’t prove to you that God exists. I can tell you though that I’ve had times in my life where that belief has helped me through problems. Belief is part of who we are. We can discriminate in which beliefs we want to choose to accept, and which not to. When dealing with abstract things, it’s impossible.

I must duly stress that discrimination against abstract beliefs is not acceptable and even borders on hypocritical. The only time that the challenging of beliefs is acceptable is when something physical is being disputed. If someone told me that they believed that atoms didn’t exist, I would help them to understand that they do.

In the end, we all believe something. Some of us believe that our parents love us unconditionally, others have their own reasons as to why that’s not true. It’s never down to us to dispute a belief though.

– Unrelated Note –

What is up with people replying to their own “Leaving” topics in the Sandbox? If you’re leaving, you’re doing yourself an injustice by being totally unable to walk away.

In my spare time, I really enjoy looking at the feedback on the RSBANDBUpdate! podcast page on iTunes. Expecting to see a list of podcasts when I typed “Runescape” into the search engine, I noticed that there were songs for purchase by a certain artist named “Bubsa”. It had to have been a mistake, but song titles like “Varrock, Varrock” and “Hit Me With Your Abby Whip” definitely solidified my biggest fear– that someone actually made a musical album dedicated to Runescape.

Nervously, I decided to listen to a few of the samples to see whether or not someone did this as a complete joke or if they had some modicum of talent along with an insane obsession with Runescape. Let me say this here and now: it was completely entertaining. All of the songs are parodies of hit songs like (”Dance With Me” by Justin Timberlake, “Bohemian Rhapsody” Queen, just to name a few). The album is obviously a joke on the various aspects of Runescape and it does have a weird charm about it.

The album isn’t just merely a joke though, despite its silly lyrics and rather lewd cover photo (NSFW, or if you’re scared of seeing an almost completely nude male dancing in a crowded pub). For every song purchase made, Bubsa has vowed to donate the proceeds to a range of charities. He is not only willing to subject the world to his mediocre singing skills, he even goes so far as to run nude in the London Marathon. What a guy!

I probably missed the clue train on this since he’s been known quite well for over a year, my excuse is that I never visit Tip.it. Either way, I think I would prefer listening to this over the garbage MIDI songs that Jagex seem to put out by the dozen.

Sources:

RuneScape Reloaded - Parodies for RuneScape (available at the iTunes store).

Tip.it forum topic (apparently Bubsa got banned for having “changed” and being not nice to other members of the forum).