readrevelation.org

I believe all humans choose their beliefs. Of course, I have chosen to believe this. This belief I have chosen influences the way I live.

For instance, I meet some who seem extremely intent on convincing me of something they believe. They try to persuade me that they are right, and have the only truth about the matter, and that anyone who disagrees is WRONG, and obviously not bright or possibly LOST.

Well, I observe that most of the things people try so hard to convince others of are not touchable, tasteable, or visually present. Even if they were touchable, tasteable, or visually present, I still believe people choose what they will believe.

Perhaps you know someone who has always believed something and you think they believe it simply because their parents believed it or their society encouraged it. I still believe these people, at some level, choose either to believe as parents and society teach or to research and choose other beliefs.

How that influences the way I live has to do with how I try to convince others of my beliefs. I believe the best I can do is share my beliefs and how I came to them. I choose to let go the need to "make" them choose the same beliefs as I have chosen.

Further, I figure my lifetime isn't long enough to read all the material that may be written about this or that commonly-held belief. Therefore, I must choose. Once I have chosen what I will believe, then I choose to read and think and talk about whatever will feed that belief. This means I will seek out associates who choose to think and talk about similar fodder.

I do believe it is important for humans to believe something, so important that most people do develop some set of personally-chosen beliefs.