I am curious ...

[TyrianQuill]

 
With your faith and belief system in mind, how do you reconcile the many other varied faiths, with yours?

How much (what percentage) do you think faith and belief system effects experiance?
 

[cliffy1]

Those are two loaded questions. For me, faith and spirituality are very personal experiences and what the next person believes is irrelevant to me, unless I see that it would be of potential harm to others. That is why I take a stand against the self righteous fundamentalists whose judgmental condemnation of others can cause emotional and psychological harm to those who may be in a fragile emotional or mental state because of some form of trauma in their lives. Their modus operendi is to prey upon those people like psychic vampires. Most that come to accept these fundamentalist beliefs have been recruited during similar circumstances and like abused children grow up to become abusers.

In my understanding of cosmology, we experience life exactly the way we believe it to be. Belief has everything to do with our experience. If we change our beliefs, we change our experience. Suspend belief and endless possibilities open up. Beliefs not only colour our experience but also restrict them. If you are an atheist scientist, for example, there is not much room in your life for magic and miracles. Not the magic of the illusionist but that which Life offers on occasion. The mind that is restricted to logic and intellect will always dismiss miracles, looking instead for a logical explanation instead of just reveling in the wonder of it.

Many of the religious will miss out on events simply because there is no room in their belief system for those events to occur. For example, I have had unexplainable experiences in a aboriginal sweat lodge that most Christians would say were the work of the devil because they could not accept them for what they were, first because they would never go in the sweat lodge because of conflicting beliefs and second, because if they experienced some of what I have, they would have no way to process it through their belief system. But because I do not have a belief system, I am open to experience miracles even among evangelical gatherings or with practitioners of pagan Wiccan rituals as well.

[steven lloyd]

 With your faith and belief system in mind, how do you reconcile the many other varied faiths, with yours?  

There is one God. There are an infinite number of ways to understand God. No reconciliation necessary

[1nick]

How do you know that?

[TyrianQuill]

 
Thank you all who answer.

Yes, I realized when wanting to ask these question that they could be considered loaded questions, but I worked at forming the questions to be as non-interpreted and non-insulting while still being open to the widest range of people as I could.

I am curious about peoples’ faith and belief systems and I do know it is held to be a private matter by quite a few, so, working out how to word the questions was an interesting task in deed.

I much appreciate your answering, again thank you.

[grammafreddy]

 
With your faith and belief system in mind, how do you reconcile the many other varied faiths, with yours?

There is no god. That makes everything much simpler. I don't need to reconcile anything.

How much (what percentage) do you think faith and belief system effects experiance?
 

Do you mean effects or affects experience?

If you mean affects experience, then how your parents believed will more than likely (better than 75%, I would guess) become your belief system. The various religions do this on purpose to grab hold of young minds early in life, teaching parents to bring their children up under the doctrines of that particular religion. The more fundamentalist the beliefs, the stronger the hold on people's minds. Religion can be a very powerful "mind-altering drug" and can be a very dangerous thing.

[Captain Awesome]

 
With your faith and belief system in mind, how do you reconcile the many other varied faiths, with yours
 

I don't think there is a need to reconcile anything. Some people choose to live life differently just like some people choose to wear different type of hats, and that's fine with me. What works for me might not work for everybody, and that's also fine with me.

[hellomynameis]

 
With your faith and belief system in mind, how do you reconcile the many other varied faiths, with yours?
 

Naturally. By focusing on our common humanity, needs, desires, the benefits of cooperation.

[fluffy]

With your faith and belief system in mind, how do you reconcile the many other varied faiths, with yours?

No reconciliation required. Live and let live.

How much (what percentage) do you think faith and belief system effects experience? 

More to the point might be : "How does experience affect faith and belief ?" But I see what you're getting at, you're wondering whether spiritual beliefs may affect the way we perceive the world around us? I would say yes, but would have a hard time assigned a percentage value to it. Maybe you could elaborate a bit.

[5VP]

Those are two loaded questions. For me, faith and spirituality are very personal experiences and what the next person believes is irrelevant to me, unless I see that it would be of potential harm to others. That is why I take a stand against the self righteous fundamentalists whose judgmental condemnation of others can cause emotional and psychological harm to those who may be in a fragile emotional or mental state because of some form of trauma in their lives. Their modus operendi is to prey upon those people like psychic vampires. Most that come to accept these fundamentalist beliefs have been recruited during similar circumstances and like abused children grow up to become abusers.

In my understanding of cosmology, we experience life exactly the way we believe it to be. Belief has everything to do with our experience. If we change our beliefs, we change our experience. Suspend belief and endless possibilities open up. Beliefs not only colour our experience but also restrict them. If you are an atheist scientist, for example, there is not much room in your life for magic and miracles. Not the magic of the illusionist but that which Life offers on occasion. The mind that is restricted to logic and intellect will always dismiss miracles, looking instead for a logical explanation instead of just reveling in the wonder of it.

Many of the religious will miss out on events simply because there is no room in their belief system for those events to occur. For example, I have had unexplainable experiences in a aboriginal sweat lodge that most Christians would say were the work of the devil because they could not accept them for what they were, first because they would never go in the sweat lodge because of conflicting beliefs and second, because if they experienced some of what I have, they would have no way to process it through their belief system. But because I do not have a belief system, I am open to experience miracles even among evangelical gatherings or with practitioners of pagan Wiccan rituals as well.

Excellent statements!!

I've been in heated debates with Roman Catholics who believe that Jehovah's Witnesses are satanists.

How utterly and ironically twisted is that?

To deny another is to deny yourself...

[TyrianQuill]

 
Again thanks for replying and yes the wording of the questions was deliberate.

I carefully chose the word “effect” as a verb instead of “affect” as a noun or verb as experience can be taken as a moment in time, but moments are ever constant and I was referring to isolated moments of experience.

I was asking if anyone thinks that their faith and belief system “brings or has brought about experience”.

Interesting answers thank you, so what I am gathering is (I think) that most of you consider your belief system as being subjective, meaning you regard it as something from inside out instead of from outside in, or am I wrong in this interpretation?

The reason I am asking is, it is a concept that is not much referred to in regards to faith.

Does one see/regard their faith as something subjective (they see as being something from within themselves that is unique to them), or, do they regard their faith to be objective (something that originates outside of themselves and is unchanging ubiquitous and impacting all), a subtle but profound difference.

[fluffy]

I'd be interested in hearing what sort of meaning you are applying to the word "faith" when you say "faith and belief system". There are some important distinctions between the two in my mind, i just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing. Like "spirituality" and "religion" the two need not travel hand in hand.

[steven lloyd]

 I was asking if anyone thinks that their faith and belief system “brings or has brought about experience”.

Actually, it has been my experience that has brought about my faith and spiritual belief system.

[5VP]

Does one see/regard their faith as something subjective (they see as being something from within themselves that is unique to them), or, do they regard their faith to be objective (something that originates outside of themselves and is unchanging ubiquitous and impacting all), a subtle but profound difference.

For me, faith is comprised of both the subjective and objective...

The paths to faith are as varying as there are souls on this planet but in the end, faith is inherently faith and can exist regardless of any belief structure (religion).

Even those who profess no faith or choose to deny other's theirs, can have faith that, after all is said and done, we all have death in common...

[Queen K]

Life and death bookends what happens inbetween. And what exactly happens in between is a complex mix of nature/nurture/experience and inexperience.