Spirituality Quotes Contrasting: St. Augustine vs. Paul Simon
Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.
- Saint Augustine
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
- Paul Simon
Are your standards for accepting your religious or spiritual beliefs the same or different from other beliefs that you hold?
- Saint Augustine
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
- Paul Simon
Are your standards for accepting your religious or spiritual beliefs the same or different from other beliefs that you hold?
Posted by Paul at 10:35 AM Permalink
16 Comments:
As a child I was always asking for proof - from my parents ("HOW is that good for me?" and "HOW do you know that for sure?"); my church ("How can there be such a thing as a virgin birth?" or "How can a loving God even think about limbo?"); my friends (Why CAN'T you see the fairies?" or "What do you mean, I'm weird?"); my teachers ("What exactly is gravity?" or "Prove that I will use algebra in my later life.")
Of course, there are lots of things nobody can prove and lots more things I may never experience. I believe in life (even if I can't define it to everyone's satisfaction) because I'm immersed in it. I can believe in a 'power' of some sort because I see evidence of it - in storms, in the astonishing diversity on earth, in the seasons, in growth and death. I don't believe in an all caring entity that has my best interests at heart even though sometimes I wish I did.
I would say then yes, my standards are the same for everything I believe. It's all subjective. Either I feel there's proof that satisfies me or I am convinced by what I see and experience. Whether others see and experience the same thing is not necessarily a criteria. I'll side with Paul Simon on this one.
“Either I feel there's proof that satisfies me or I am convinced by what I see and experience.”
Tuti – So by “personal belief” maybe you mean judgment?
Vishesh – Would this be more a statement about faith or knowledge?
We create beliefs and we experience the world through beliefs and which in turn shape more beliefs and so on, ad nauseum.
And Paul Simon is right. As Aniis Nin said, we see the world not the way it is, but way we are.
I like Pauline's comment on beliefs.
Thanks for the thought-provoking quotations.
But one person's meaning-making may be another's selective perception or circular reasoning...
Tuti - Oh, OK... you mean, for example, keeping thoughts to oneself to keep the peace with others.
mostly i am ignoring my own needs to keep the peace. i hope i don't get sick(er).
..Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.
- Paul Simon
maybe that is part of the cause of my pain. others hearing themselves and not hearing others.
Tuti - Haven't had a chance to visit your blog yet, looking forward to seeing more of what's going on with you there when I can --
Logic, reason and consequence govern my world(s).
Also, the words "religious" and "spiritual" cover a wide variety of perspectives some of which have almost nothing in common. Some of these perspectives stand in contradiction with science because they try to address issues that are within science's purview - for example, creation pseudoscience's critique of evolution. But there are other religious and spiritual perspectives that coexist with science, accepting its findings.
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