RE: People don't kill people. Ideas do │Steemosophy 4/4 │
I personally don't see thinking or beliefs as prisons. While thinking is something we certainly can't stop doing, I'd rather picture it as the engine for our lives. Much like the heart, which allows us to function, so too does the brain allow us to develop, to further that functionality and direct it towards what we believe is our goal. Yes, believe, because we can in no way know for sure what that goal should be, or will be. It is belief that shapes that goal, that self-dictated destiny we strive to fulfill.
It may be true that our genes, our environment and many more things we have no control over are what dictates our beliefs, but there is no life without them. To see them as a prison is to see life as a prison. I'd rather not hold that belief, for it will make me a prisoner for life.
Great post! I love seeing others share their views and values on philosophical topics! It's something I myself love to do as well, and steemit is a nice platform to get some ideas out there and the discussion going! Upvoted!
You are right. Viewing your beliefs as a prison would make life a prison, and in the end - make you a prisoner for life.
And I actually think that we are prisoners for life. But let me explain in which way I see it.
Thinking is inescapable, our thinking is susceptible to beliefs, no matter how scientific or rational you might think you are. In fact, the thoughts regarding your scientism is a belief in itself.
When I say that we are prisoners of certain beliefs, I don't necessarily mean it in a bad way, I only mean that every belief has certain implications. To use a programming analogy, I think of it roughly along the lines: if belief x is present, then manifestations y are possible. And this is the "prison" I'm talking about - the possibilities and limitations of different beliefs
And since thinking happens all the time, and beliefs are arising from it, I believe we are "prisoners" for life, in sense that we will always be bound in certain ways by our beliefs. But this doesn't make our life bad in any way. In fact, I think some people have amazing "prisons", giving them a freedom that is desired by many.
What is your opinion here? Do you think that there are beliefs that don't impose any limitations on us, consequently making ourselves free from the "prison" that I used in this post?
Well, you're completely right in the sense that if belief x is present, then manifestation y is possible. I don't think there are beliefs that don't impose any limitations. I can't possibly believe someone can become invisible with the power of a magical stone, o that communism can work, for example, and I think I have a rather "open minded" outlook on life. What you may find, as you say, is that some beliefs allow for more manifestations than others. Being a neo-nazi won't ever let you fully enjoy the wonders of jazz or practice judaism, it limits you more than, say, being agnostic.
What I believe, however, is that we aren't bound in place by those beliefs, we are those beliefs, and those beliefs change and evolve as we experience new things, react to new stimuli. I'd accept calling them a prison if, like robots, they were unchanging and set by someone else. Being that they are born from ourselves as we are born from them, I don't really feel it's accurate. They're not an external force, like the dogmas of a hardcore Christian family may be for a child, but something that grows with us.
It may simply be a matter of perspective, to be honest.