Suppose you could change your desires. Would you choose to abandon your desire to believe in (whatever) God? How about if it turned out to conflict with success in your other values?
Life with less-conflicting desires may be more effective or pleasurable. Maybe it’s possible to have a mystical belief that retreats from actual rent-paying rational world-modeling, and only modifies your values and personal interactions. I’d still worry: am I now taking an irrational path toward satisfying myself, because of unquestioned beliefs about how I should behave?
In other words, just because it’s hard to measure and know myself, I’d be wary of holding unquestioned beliefs about who I am and what works for me, especially if those were unduly impressed upon me by others in my youth. I think it’s possible to hold wrong beliefs about what your desires are, and I think religion encourages it.
Suppose you could change your desires. Would you choose to abandon your desire to believe in (whatever) God? How about if it turned out to conflict with success in your other values?
I can change my desires. But to actually do so requires a desire to do so. These meta-desires are tricky buggers and one wrong step will wreck havoc with the whole system. I don’t feel like outlining everything; I just want to point out that my particular case is not as simple as desiring the wrong thing.
In other words, just because it’s hard to measure and know myself, I’d be wary of holding unquestioned beliefs about who I am and what works for me, especially if those were unduly impressed upon me by others in my youth. I think it’s possible to hold wrong beliefs about what your desires are, and I think religion encourages it.
I, on the other hand, feel like treading carefully anytime something as dangerous as desire is used to apply sweeping changes to a belief system. Pulling the word “God” out is going to put a suspiciously God-shaped hole in my belief system. The first thing I am going to try is finding something else God-shaped and plugging the gaping hole in my suddenly crashing worldview. Instead, I find it easier and more successful to chip parts out of the map and replace them with better chips. I’m not in a hurry and I’d rather see things replaced with Correct stuff instead of merely Better stuff.
I am not trying to say your advice is invalid but I know just enough of myself to see red flags popping up all over the place. It is possible my red-flagger is completely whacked, but if this is the case I should start working on my red-flagger.
Suppose you could change your desires. Would you choose to abandon your desire to believe in (whatever) God? How about if it turned out to conflict with success in your other values?
Life with less-conflicting desires may be more effective or pleasurable. Maybe it’s possible to have a mystical belief that retreats from actual rent-paying rational world-modeling, and only modifies your values and personal interactions. I’d still worry: am I now taking an irrational path toward satisfying myself, because of unquestioned beliefs about how I should behave?
In other words, just because it’s hard to measure and know myself, I’d be wary of holding unquestioned beliefs about who I am and what works for me, especially if those were unduly impressed upon me by others in my youth. I think it’s possible to hold wrong beliefs about what your desires are, and I think religion encourages it.
I can change my desires. But to actually do so requires a desire to do so. These meta-desires are tricky buggers and one wrong step will wreck havoc with the whole system. I don’t feel like outlining everything; I just want to point out that my particular case is not as simple as desiring the wrong thing.
I, on the other hand, feel like treading carefully anytime something as dangerous as desire is used to apply sweeping changes to a belief system. Pulling the word “God” out is going to put a suspiciously God-shaped hole in my belief system. The first thing I am going to try is finding something else God-shaped and plugging the gaping hole in my suddenly crashing worldview. Instead, I find it easier and more successful to chip parts out of the map and replace them with better chips. I’m not in a hurry and I’d rather see things replaced with Correct stuff instead of merely Better stuff.
I am not trying to say your advice is invalid but I know just enough of myself to see red flags popping up all over the place. It is possible my red-flagger is completely whacked, but if this is the case I should start working on my red-flagger.