Yes, it includes all of our beliefs. But even though most of our beliefs must be true (given the success we have in coordinating our behaviors using sentences to help us get what we want), the problem is that saying so suggests no way of figuring our which ones are true and which ones are false. Our situation is always such that we already have beliefs and we need to determine which ones are earning their keep in guiding us to successful action and which ones to drop. The only way we have to make that determination (true or false) is the practice of coming up with arguments for believing what we do and of defending our beliefs against counterarguments. What we don’t need in making that determination is any consideration of the radical skeptic who, for no good reason, wants us to prove that we are not in The Matrix and that all of our beliefs are false and perhaps is likely to also claim that science never proves anything. Given the success we have with scientific contributions to making our lives better, it must be true that most of our scientific beliefs are likewise true whether we have a way of convincing the radical skeptic about which ones those are which are actually true. By I see no reason to worry about such a person since the radical skeptic is the sort that is not even sure she exists. Nothing ever constitutes “proof” to such a person.
By the way, you keep saying that you are not allowed to discuss revelation? Are you sure? I can’t see why you shouldn’t be allowed. If you know something that we don’t know I hope you please tell us. Don’t hide your light under a bushel.
Before you said it was most of our beliefs, now you say it’s all. Would you please elaborate on that?
It’s a violation of forum rules to discuss private revelation. I’m sure. I could be suspended or banned for doing so (I would probably be banned because I’m obviously aware of the rule). I don’t really want to discuss it anyway - what I would wish is that you could feel what I have felt and if you haven’t felt it, you won’t understand. I wouldn’t understand if I hadn’t felt it.
One thing that bothers me a bit about your post is that you seem to think that belief in something gets us what we want. I don’t understand. This may seem like a weird question, but do you think that getting what you want is the driving force behind your beliefs? Is scientific research always geared toward manipulating the environment in order to obtain what we want? Is faith in God something we use as a tool to get what we want? You seem to be speaking from a philosophical stance and it’s hard for me to understand what you’re saying because I’m not any sort of expert on philosophy. My field is behavior psychology although I can see that the two disciplines can overlap in some cases.
I will be honest here - I have a real problem dealing with my belief that I exist and it’s all because an anaesthesiologist didn’t do his job properly. It’s my understanding that a person isn’t supposed to dream while unconscious during surgery. Of course I could be wrong about that. But general anaesthesia does some weird things to me, especially when it’s administered in a sloppy manner by someone who should know what he’s doing. During surgery I dreamed and my dream was just as real as what is really real or at least it seems that way to me. I was walking down a street I knew very well and just as I stepped off the curb to cross a street, just before my foot hit the street I found myself on a gurney with my foot caught on a door. It was a horrible experience because it was like being taken from one clear reality into another in a split second. I’ve had plenty of surgeries and this hasn’t happened again. I haven’t dreamed again (that I can remember) and becoming conscious is a slow process, especially for me because I’m one of those people who has problems coming out of anaesthesia. Something went wrong during that first surgery and I blame the anaesthesiologist.
Ever since then I’ve had anxiety disorder and panic attacks during which I don’t believe I exist; not really. I have no identity, I know I’m dying and at the same time I don’t even think I’m alive. It’s hard to explain but it’s very uncomfortable and it got to the point where I couldn’t function. I was hospitalized but it didn’t help. I’ve been on medication for years and it’s somewhat under control, but if I start to think about my existence or infinity or many parts of what I would term philosophy, I can guarantee you that I will go into a panic attack.
Maybe I’m in a unique situation here. It has certainly changed my ideas about existence and identity and I know that it’s abnormal. So I’m probably not the person to even be discussing these things. Maybe I grab onto scientific method because it’s clear, it’s there, and I understand the rules. My belief in God is in a different category. Does that make sense? I do believe in God but in a different, stronger way than the tentative beliefs I have about every other aspect of my life, including the simple belief that I exist.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I closed my eyes for one second and opened them to find myself in a completely different place. It’s happened once and it affected me so strongly that I still honestly believe it can happen again. And that is very, very frightening to me.
