2007-08-23 07:05:53 · 51 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There are a number of reasons. Here are the top few:
1) They were indoctrinated in their youth.
2) They haven't much education.
3) Psychologically, they need to believe in something external for a moral yardstick.
4) They fear death and therefore need to believe that there is more than just the roughly 80 years that we live.
5) It is easier to just believe something than to rigorously pursue a scientific understanding of the world.
But whatever the reason, watch your words and your actions: do not be disrespectful of people just because they happen to follow a particular religion. If you do, no matter what you say, you will find that people will not be accepting of you and your ideas, just as you find them.
2007-08-23 07:16:29 · answer #1 · answered by swimeveryday 4 · 3⤊ 3⤋
(This is my own line here: people spend the time listening to these songs, some make sense some don't : Reality Sucks)
Here is your answer (in this song)
Nowhere.. . Fast! R.E.M.
Fury In The Slaughterhouse
Reality sucks.
O.k. maybe you know it better
Oh oh reality sucks
Nobody helps you to make it feel better
Oh oh reality sucks
And youre a dropout that stays away
Might be that evil took over
Oh oh reality sucks
Youre getting to old now
To cause a stampede
Oh oh reality sucks
So youre boozing your life away
Youre blown your brain away
Reality sucks
Oho reality sucks
Now you see your life has passed you by
Oh oh reality sucks
You took a shortcut
Through the junkyard of life
Maybe thats why reality sucks
Now youre boozing your life away
Blowing your head away
But dreams didnt make your day
cause reality sucks
Oh oh reality sucks
Reality sucks
2007-08-23 07:55:37 · answer #2 · answered by Davinci22 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First off, as an agnostic, I do not like these generalizations that all religious people are nuts or "delusional". Just because there are a few bad apples in the bunch do not make them all bad. Just like you don't fight fire with fire but water because you'll just get fire.
Religious people have as much right as you, who sounds Athiest or of another religion, to worship as they please so long as they do not intervene on your rights to worship or not worship as you please.
Religious and spiritual people focus more on the spirit than the reality you claim because they feel the afterlife to be more real and eternal than a short-term mortal life. And they want to get on good terms.
Obviously you would accuse someone who is Buddhist or Hindu, or perhaps meditates of being out of touch with reality, would you?
Sociology, while I hate most of it, does make a point: To be healthy, you must be healthy spiritual, mentally, and physically.
You sound lacking in the spiritual part, and your ignorance shows some lacking in mental, so it won't be too long until the physical catches up with you and maybe you'll be too far out of reality to even care.
2007-08-23 07:15:21 · answer #3 · answered by wk_coe 3 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Well, there are differing degrees to which people live in self-delusion. One doesn't have to believe in God (or any religion for that matter) to be delusional.
I guess the answer that most applies to what I interpret as the nature of your question is that people believe in God out of fear of death. We want to think that we will see our loved ones after they parish from this earth, and we also want to think that our "souls" will exist after we die. I don't believe it, personally, but I think that's why others believe.
2007-08-23 07:14:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well, I wouldn't really say I'm a "god believer" but I definitely know I don't like living in reality. I habitually form a complex fantasy world around myself to keep myself entertained and help prevent myself from having to think about unpleasant crud that I can't really do anything about anyway. Then, when I get bored with my fantasy world, I start over and make a new one.
The real world is generally boring and unpleasant. The only good thing about the real world is that it occasionally gives me an interesting inspiration for my fantasy world.
Personally, I believe no one really lives in reality, we all build up fantasies about things around us to help us cope and make us feel better about ourselves and our situations. However, I think most people do this without being aware of it. Since they are doing it unconsciously, they make the mistake of thinking that certain elements of their world-view are out of their control and can't be seen in a different and better way.
They also don't realize that if they have grown unhappy with their current self-imposed paradigm, they are perfectly free to change it. So, they are trapped being miserable.
Worst of all, a lot people actually let other people design their world for them! That's as stupid as expecting to be able to move well if someone is controlling your limbs like a marionette. They actually let other people dump all sorts of worthless crap into their fantasy worlds that will make them miserable, and they don't realize that they can throw it out any time they want to.
Frankly, humans can't even see reality. Reality is made up of a bunch of sub-atomic particles and photons whizzing around, bouncing off each other, and being attracted and repelled by invisible forces. But, that isn't what we see when we look at stuff. Our brains actually build the first level of fantasy onto an incomprehensible world for us! From there, we can add on whatever we please!
2007-08-23 07:32:22 · answer #5 · answered by Azure Z 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
None of us live in self-delusion, do we? And we all believe we know what reality really is. Like "truth" is not objective, but personal. Truth is a "personal truth" and reality is personal aswell.
2007-08-23 07:57:59 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Which believers are these? The Mennonites; the Amish; people of the Ghost Dance; the Hopi; the Tlingits? Which? This is exactly the kind of arrogance that so many believers and non-believers object to.
I apologize for bluntness, but can you see why people my object to how you have phrased your question?
HTH
Charles
2007-08-23 07:17:59 · answer #7 · answered by Charles 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Death is a reality, and being prepared for it isn't self delusion, it is being wise. God believers know that they will be judged by God when they die, so they are living their life so as to pass that judgment, which is also a wise thing. Unbelievers, on the other hand, don't accept that God will judge them when they die, so they can't be ready for it and will fail.
So consider the consequences: 1) Pass the judgment = go to heaven (= eternal life); 2) Fail the judgment = go to hell (= torment ).
2007-08-23 07:21:00 · answer #8 · answered by Bad bus driving wolf 6 · 3⤊ 3⤋
i really take exception to this. Just because I believe in God does not mean Im self-deluded. I know about reality, I had four kids, a disappearing husband and no job for long enough to have a dam good grounding in 'realism' . Im getting really fed up of people generalising about believers as airy fairy do gooders with no sense of reality. I think most people like insulting believers because they think none of know how to tell them to f**k off.
2007-08-23 07:12:33 · answer #9 · answered by jeanimus 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
You mean why do they want to live in what you consider to be self-delusion, rather than what you consider to be reality? I suppose because it suits them, but of course they do not consider it self-delusion, any more than they consider your way to be "reality."
As Robin Williams said: "Reality! What a concept!"
2007-08-23 07:10:15 · answer #10 · answered by auntb93 7 · 6⤊ 1⤋