What is it you believe?

[Vraith]

People of higher intelligence do not succeed at anything other than standardized tests or trivia contests more often than people of more average intelligence. Often times, people with IQ over 160 typically have a more difficult time because either they also have emotional or behavioral problems or they cannot relate to "normal" people, sometimes at the cost of reduced functionality in the real world.

Also, vraith, my dad always liked to remind me about that Mark Twain quote saying there were three kinds of lies.
(except, ironically for this context, he misquoted it slightly - as "three kinds of liars.")

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

On the first, H...yep, I believe that is true [even if it is a statistic], though IIRC the middle is off-set ever so slightly to the higher side [just a few points, about 5-ish, I think?]

On Mr. Twain...he also said something like "If I were an idiot, or a congressman...but I repeat myself." I love that one.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

On the first, H...yep, I believe that is true [even if it is a statistic], though IIRC the middle is off-set ever so slightly to the higher side [just a few points, about 5-ish, I think?]

On Mr. Twain...he also said something like "If I were an idiot, or a congressman...but I repeat myself." I love that one.

hrm...yes, something like that. A limited sample size skews on the high end.

Many of Mr. Twain's quotes are both entertaining and insightful.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Remeber the old adage 'An ounce of lie can save a ton of explanation'. There is truth in this and to state an obvious point, there are indeed times when to lie is not only the right, but the *morally* right thing to do.

There's a good bit of truth in that adage...

My husband just pointed out to me that when I get in situations where 'an ounce of lie would save a ton of explanation,' I usually either offend people, or cause the conversation to get really reallly awkward.

(aren't they just the cutest normal distributions you've ever seen?)

Yes, they are. As long as the sample size exceeds 30, any distribution you find will essentially be the normal one.

That statement... it's insufficiently-specified.
Anyone who didn't already know what you meant would likely come to believe something false...

You meant that the distribution of the mean of that sample would be essentially the normal one.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

(aren't they just the cutest normal distributions you've ever seen?)

Yes, they are. As long as the sample size exceeds 30, any distribution you find will essentially be the normal one.

That statement... it's insufficiently-specified.
Anyone who didn't already know what you meant would likely come to believe something false...

You meant that the distribution of the mean of that sample would be essentially the normal one.

I stand corrected. It has been 15 years since I last studied statistics.

[Cambo]

A while ago I was watching George Carlin ramble about Time and I realised I could forge a very accurate metaphor for my personal beliefs about God using Time. This is gonna get pretty philosophical, but here goes.

We tend to think about Time purely in terms of its measurement, because that is what is most useful to us. We need the pattern of days, hours, weeks and years to organise our lives, and that's fine, but that's not really what Time is. These measurements are fairly arbitrary divisions we create, based mostly on celestial events (the passage of the earth around the sun, and before that the shifting of the constellations). Remove the Sun, remove the heavens, remove the observers of the Sun and the Heavens, even remove events or sequences of any kind, and you've got....eternity. Which does not exist independently of all the sequential events that give Time meaning to us. Those things happen within eternity. Everything that ever happens is a piece of eternity.

My personal belief: I think eternity is conscious and self-aware, and that is God. And humanity and everything else are pieces of that consciousness. God does not create us or act upon us: we simply arise from God, as the celestial events arise from the matter of the universe. And we are a part of God as a second is a part of eternity- an arbitrary division, distinct only due to perspective.

[peter]

This is the true 'mind before matter' belief of the ancient mystery schools that has the Mind or Word as the primary existence followed py a 'pecipitation' of all else that follows in a 'descending' sequence of spiritual through to material. Matter if you like is the final precipitate in this chain but is essential in the creation of, well....us, so that the Creation may be observed and thus given true Existence. What will follow in thier teaching is a gradual return to the Idealism and intimate connectedness of former times, as before when we were not imprissoned within the confines of our own skulls. ie a return to Oneness with God.

[Menolly]

Peter, your description sure sounds like a description of the Ten/Eleven Sephirot (סְפִירוֹת‎) of Kabbalah to me.

[Orlion]

I believe I'm thirsty

Also, it appears as if Menolly is correct on Peter's description, though I'd throw in a dash of Gnosticism/Hermeticism as well.

[Menolly]

As I have said before, in formal worship I am most comfortable in a traditional Jewish setting. However my own personal beliefs are immensely panentheistic (not pantheistic) as well. I am not well versed in kabbalistic teachings, though. But what little I have read tends to resonate for me.

[peter]

Exactly Menolly - The idea of the 'Secret History' is that Hermeticism, The Cabbala, Gnosticism, Shamenism and many other now sidelined belief systems all drew on ancient knowledge of the descending (and ascending) hierarchy of Mind through Spirit to matter and of the essential 'oneness' of the Creation. This was given in the form of initiatory Knowledge to adepts of the Mystery Schools, initiations that involved the symbolic death and subsequent rebirth of the entrant into the 'true' nature of being. (nb This about exhausts my understanding of the idea, which is at best in my case gleaned from the reading of a few questionable books ).

[Morning]

I believe in myself.

[peter]

Risky!

( )

[Morning]

Less than believing in anyone else

[sgt.null]

I believe in time as an abstract

[Orlion]

I believe... I'm thirsty!

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

I believe the children are our future.

[Linna Heartbooger]

See.. now I want to involve a tune and be like, "I believe I can fly!"

Then I'd be like, "and don't anyone tell me differen--- AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

[Orlion]

See.. now I want to involve a tune and be like, "I believe I can fly!"

Then I'd be like, "and don't anyone tell me differen--- AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Then I could stand aside, shaking my head in disapproval, and tell Vraith at my side: "It's a shame... if she had called Geico, she could have saved 15% or more on car insurance for that car she just landed on..."

[Avatar]

It's my firm belief that it is a mistake to hold firm beliefs.

--A

[peter]

I believe that mankind will achieve immortality.

I believe that we will achieve omniscience - and that the nature of reality, of being, when we have complete knowledge and understanding of it, will transpire to be above and beyond anything our current cognitive architecture is capable of accomodating.

I believe that the passage of time will be demonstrated to be illusory as will 'change' of any kind. What Is simply Is.

I believe we are the eyes through which the Universe sees itself, the ears through which it hears itself.

I believe we are truly the brightest young thing around.

I believe we will look into the face of God and see our own faces reflected in his Image.