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.

So, I haven’t written in a very long time in here. I just honestly haven’t had much to say about anything. A lot of it has just been because I’ve been busy in the real world with work and university. The other half of it is that I’ve been sort of detached to what’s going here. Whenever I do happen to visit the forums to do my mod stuff, I just feel overall uninterested and even annoyed at some of the stuff that’s posted.

It’s not the uninterestingness of the posts that’s getting to me, it’s how people are acting. There are two types of personalities that are surfacing on the forums and it’s genuinely tiresome. The first type is the “I’M LEAVING BECAUSE SO-AND-SO DID THIS AND SAID THAT”. Get over it. We’re not your parents and we’re not going to go get back that toy shovel that the neighbourhood bully stole from you.  Half of these posts are just people who, I feel, are in desperate need of the attention of online strangers. People on this forum just want to talk about normal stuff to normal people. We don’t need to hear that you had half of your intestines removed (and how you subsequently were able to make it back to the forums to post about it 18 hours later).  Cut it the hell out.

The second type are the people who, as Brad eloquently said once, are so insecure that they need to argue about every little thing to everyone. News flash: No one thinks you’re funny or witty because you manage to write a sarcastic reply to anyone who posts on a topic.  You may think you look elite because you’re showing your awesome brain powers by putting people down, but you end up just making yourself look so pathetic. These people are such social rejects, that they can’t even get along with people online. It’s sad, just stop acting like this.

I like coming to RSBANDB and I never see myself leaving anytime soon. I just hate how I used to really like talking to all of the members on a normal basis (hell, I even had a lot of you on my MSN). Now, I just feel like people are dividing themselves into two groups. The first group consists of normal people who use RSBANDB as it’s supposed to be used. The second consists of people who come to the forums just to act like morons and start fights where there are none. This community has gone to crap because of this. I hate having to be strict and tell people to be nice to each other as if they’ve never learned how. And worse? When I ask some people to follow the rules and I get met with a) a sarcastic reply b) a sarcastic PM.

I’m frankly just tired of engaging any contact with anyone on the forums and because of this and I don’t know how long it’s going to take to change.