Do you decide your beliefs, or do they decide you?

Positive beliefs are based on how you happen to the world in ways you choose.

Negative beliefs are based how the world happens to you in ways you don’t choose.

It’s the classic argument of… Seeing is believing vs. Believing is seeing.

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bijouxbroussard · F

Actually, how the world happens to you in ways you don’t choose is reality, regardless of how you react to it. Although deciding not to be defeated by the negative parts does tend to work in one’s favor. 😉

Reject · 26-30, M

@bijouxbroussard That is reality, but reality is also subjective. What you choose to believe might be seen as false by others, but if it’s true to you, then that’s all that matters. That’s why people can happen to the world in ways they choose.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Reject Mine has been a different life experience, but I’m aware that some can choose to see things that way.

bijouxbroussard · F

@Reject

reality is also subjective

I had to mull this over because I strongly disagreed. But in fact it’s the core of the divisions I’ve been seeing in my country for awhile now.

Reality for a man is probably not the same as for a woman, based upon general life experiences.

In Western countries, reality for a white person probably differs from that of many people of color. Even now.

Reality for a heterosexual person is probably different than that of someone from the LGBTQ community.

And so on.

Reject · 26-30, M

@bijouxbroussard Yes. Any two people can experience the exact same thing. Let’s say the smell of freshly baked brownies. That is reality, yet these two people might have very different views on that smell because it’s subjective. One might say it smells good, the other might hate the smell as weird as that sounds.