When I was born, I was given a baby-blanket (blue), and a teddy bear. During childhood, I developed the belief that these two entities protected me, and even clung to those beliefs (although in a much less fully believed fashion). The presence of these two items, even though they really did nothing more than sit in my closet, did help to calm me in times of stress… Yet, I knew there was no possible way that a square piece of cloth, and a piece of cloth sewn into the shape of a bear (stuffed and buttoned with eyes) could affect the world. It was the ritual involved of taking the bear out to talk to it that I found to be more effective. During the childhood, the bear even developed a personality (that is, my imagination developed a personality which I then applied to the bear) that allowed me to take action in the face of a great amount of fear (such as fighting back against bullies as a child).
I am not so much worried about people’s particular irrational beliefs as I am what they might do with those beliefs. It worries me that some people use their irrational beliefs as a basis for actions that are not in accord with reality in any way shape of form.
However, it might be the case that some people might be able to use an irrational belief, or a tool based upon an irrational belief) in order to find a more rational actions to take. That may sound… well, wrong, but I give the case of my bear (and the blanket, it was personified as a blue-bat until it was stolen in 1999) as an example of the fact that it can happen.
Edit: From the PoV of How can I make my beliefs more accurate, the bear helps in doing this by giving me an internal dialog where I allow myself to more strongly challenge my assumptions than I would if it were just me (I understand the contradiction inherent in that comment) making the arguments to myself (i.e. I am splitting myself into two personas)
Re: Irrational Beliefs.
When I was born, I was given a baby-blanket (blue), and a teddy bear. During childhood, I developed the belief that these two entities protected me, and even clung to those beliefs (although in a much less fully believed fashion). The presence of these two items, even though they really did nothing more than sit in my closet, did help to calm me in times of stress… Yet, I knew there was no possible way that a square piece of cloth, and a piece of cloth sewn into the shape of a bear (stuffed and buttoned with eyes) could affect the world. It was the ritual involved of taking the bear out to talk to it that I found to be more effective. During the childhood, the bear even developed a personality (that is, my imagination developed a personality which I then applied to the bear) that allowed me to take action in the face of a great amount of fear (such as fighting back against bullies as a child).
I am not so much worried about people’s particular irrational beliefs as I am what they might do with those beliefs. It worries me that some people use their irrational beliefs as a basis for actions that are not in accord with reality in any way shape of form.
However, it might be the case that some people might be able to use an irrational belief, or a tool based upon an irrational belief) in order to find a more rational actions to take. That may sound… well, wrong, but I give the case of my bear (and the blanket, it was personified as a blue-bat until it was stolen in 1999) as an example of the fact that it can happen.
Edit: From the PoV of How can I make my beliefs more accurate, the bear helps in doing this by giving me an internal dialog where I allow myself to more strongly challenge my assumptions than I would if it were just me (I understand the contradiction inherent in that comment) making the arguments to myself (i.e. I am splitting myself into two personas)