Is it accurate that you can believe what you want?

Sure. People think they have certain personality traits that they don’t have, all the time.

Evidently

Always thought Dr Phil was a Kumquat !

I’m just totally lost. I have good intentions, but I don’t know how to properly address people who perceive themselves, as something different…

I don’t know what to do, to respect their mindset…

I believe so, but not all imaginations or mindsets are the same, and we are more than our conscious minds making such a choice. There’s also the rest of our experience outside ourselves. But we have an awful lot of freedom to believe and think and be many ways. Much more than many people realize.

Sure, you can believe whatever you wish as long as you don’t hurt yourself or others.

But don’t expect people to accommodate your beliefs. You can think yourself a kumquat, but you don’t get to sit in my fruit bowl.

You can think of Dr Phil as an authority on psychology (he isn’t) but don’t expect people to take you seriously.

Can you really believe anything you want? Try to believe that you are a kumquat. How far did you get? We construct models of reality to determine what we expect to happen, which in turn affects how we behave. If belief difference does not result in behavioral difference then it is insignificant.

There are cases where different beliefs exist only at a linguistic level. For example, what does it mean to believe in God? In the U.S. or Canada, how does a Christian’s behavior differ from that of an atheist? Mostly just different language and ritual. And don’t tell me that Christians are more charitable, which is bunk

You can believe whatever you want. That doesn’t make you right, or accurate.

Like that guy who died this weekend when his homemade rocket crashed. He believed that the world was flat. That didn’t make him right.

I agree with Doc Phil on this one. As long as you don’t force me to call you a kumquat, I don’t care what you believe or call yourself. If it makes you feel better thinking that you’re a kumquat, I say go for it

You can believe what you want. It doesn’t necessarily make it so.

Kumquat?
Brand name of 4 ply tissues?

People believe they are handsome or beautiful, charming, witty, polite, tough….any number of traits. They may be nothing like they believe. So yeah, you can believe whatever you want.

^^^^ Actually whiskey makes you believe all those things

Beer goggles is a well known . . . !!

My mom always said the biggest mistake in life is that people should be forced to see themselves like others see them and not the fantasy they create in their head and the world would be a better place

This kinds of leads into I can no longer believe in God, even though I really would like to.

Sometimes, the way to treat people who believe something that is false, is assume it to be true when dealing with them. Accept their reality.

@Dutchess_lll From m perspective, you wouldn’t willingly believe something false, would you? therefore, I’d classify you as a believer. An agnostic, but a believer. Or you wouldn’t be concerned about it.

My faith came about because the Resurrection of Christ seems like it had to have happened or Christianity would have never started, under those circumstances, at that time. But I’ve also known lifelong Christians to become skeptics or follow other religions.

You can, sure. So long as you’re not harming or harassing anyone, think believe whatever you like.

That said, I’m not sure why you take “Dr. Phil” seriously, or believe him to be anything but a huckster.

@Yellowdog no. I don’t believe in God, period. He is not real and you are right. I will not willingly believe in something that is not real.
Some people don’t understand why I can’t just ‘switch back.’

@Yellowdog “From m perspective, you wouldn’t willingly believe something false, would you? therefore, I’d classify you as a believer. An agnostic, but a believer. Or you wouldn’t be concerned about it.”

Sounds like the Muslim insistence that everybody is a Muslim whether they accept it or not.

@Dutchess_lll You said you’d LIKE to believe. Why would you want to believe in something false?

I liked feeling there was something bigger than me and who could help me. I would like to believe it again but I can’t because it just isn’t true.
I don’t know why that is so hard to understand.

I’d like to believe, because I’d like it to be true…

Right. But it’s not true. I really would like to believe unicorns exist too.

You might like it if unicorns DID exist,

—but I don’t really think you’d want to believe in unicorns if they did NOT exist.
Would you?

I’ve found that when things do NOT exist, it is better not to believe in them, because it leaves more to the imagination / fantasy.

Dutch. Unicorns do exist. Big foot, has stable full of them.

I believe in extraterrestrials. There’s more evidence of that, than any deity.

Bigfoot and unicorns are not quite the same category.

Bigfoot is a parazoology creature, like the chubacaba. Some believe they exist but they are more related to regional folklore and legends and sometimes extraterrestrials, There is a lot of pseudo-science and fakery, regardless as to whether they are real or not,

Unicorns are more like dragons and Santa Claus. They may have had a basis in classical mythology but are fantasy creatures.

Religious figures, real or imaginary, are figments of current beliefs

They don’t exist either, but I’d like to believe they do.

Unicorns exist in literature and cartoons.

@Yellowdog . There are plenty of people who believe in Big Foot…

As for Unicorns. I have seen mutations, in plenty of animals. There may well have been a horse, with some type of horn at one point.

I never said no one believes in Bigfoot.

There are a lot of parazoological beings, local ape man legends, lake monsters, etc that have not been proven to exist. My point is, they are a separate category for fantasy creatures.

A deformed goat or ibex may have at one time been thought to be a unicorn, but goats and rhinoscerouses are not unicorns in fantasy literature

My point is. Many beliefs, are based in misunderstood facts…

Or not even facts, but mythological stories.

Ok. I can go with that.

Or on Star Trek.

I believe in Q.

I disbelieve most of Star Trek after The Original Series.

My grandfather once told me that you can do or be anything if you just put your mind to it.

I want to be a giraffe.

You’re entitled to believe that you want to be a giraffe.