Ardsgaine said:
Being uncertain when you have good reason to be uncertain is fine. It's being uncertain as a policy, regardless of how much evidence is offered to support a conclusion one way or another, that is a problem. That's the type of attitude that frustrates me so much about people today.
Again - being uncertain does not mean disregarding any evidence that you may be presented with. You can lean strongly towards a certain viewpoint, and put that viewpoint into practice in your every day life without stamping your foot down and saying that it is DEFINITELY the right viewpoint and not accepting any others. You're assuming too much about what being 'uncertain' entails. I do not disregard any evidence in support of any conclusion. If I did I would walk around like an open, empty shell without any guidance or templates influencing the way I live my life.
As for that being what frustrates you about people - you must not be that frustrated as most people in this world hold some kind of belief or another.
There's nothing wrong with me saying I can't understand quantum physics. In that case, I'm just confessing to a limit of my own intellect. It's saying that something is, in principle, beyond the comprehension of humankind that I have a problem with. How would you know that something was beyond human comprehension.
When did I say that I KNEW it was beyond human comprehension? I DON'T know. How would I know? Do you understand the concept of not picking a side? Not choosing black or white? I merely
present it as a possibility. One which doesn't have to be believed in at all.
Why would you suppose that, because you hadn't figured it out yet, no one ever would?
I DON'T SUPPOSE THAT NO ONE WOULD EVER FIGURE IT OUT. So now you're either telling me what I think, or filling out the gaps with your own
assumed ideas. Quite the contrary, I have a lot of faith in the progression of human awareness and understanding. And just like we became aware of things we didn't know of before, in the past - the same is most likely to occur in the future.
No, in truth, you're not open to possibilities, precisely because you believe that you should keep an open mind. That means you will never settle on any particular belief, meaning that you are actually closed-minded towards all beliefs. None of them can be the truth, because all of them have to be "possible".
No. You are confused. Having an open mind, does not mean that you cannot absorb all the aspects that there might be to one particular belief, without actually believing it. Which basically means that you can take into account all the things you have learned, without fixating yourself on 'definite' answers you see before you. Quite the opposite to your notion of 'closed-mindedness' which seems to imply you simple turn away at the slightest hint of a belief system and not take in any of it's values. I cannot see how it is better to believe in one thing, closing yourself off to endless possibility all around you. Than to consider everything there is ABOUT a certain perspective, therefore gaining the same amount of insight into it, without limiting yourself to further suggestion.
Of course I am open to possibilities. If I wasn't, then NOTHING would influence me at all - and I'm talking about everything from deep philosophical theory, to the simple comment of a friend.
Except the viewpoint that one must be open to all viewpoints. Anyone who decides that one viewpoint is in fact true, is doing something wrong, according to you.
Really? And how have you come up with this little insight into my psyche? At no point did I say that anyone MUST do anything. This is merely a discussion that presents different people's suggestions and musings, which no one has to adopt if they choose not to.
Wrong.
Anyone who decides that one viewpoint is true, is NOT doing something wrong, according to me. I respect and accept that people have beliefs. You have again, assumed that because I do not hold any myself, I apply my way of thinking to everyone else and judge them by the way I choose to conduct my own thoughts. Please refrain from telling me how I evaluate other people, because - in truth - you know jack all about what I do.