but becuase they don't know the difference fall into religion?

Um, no, I don't think so.  But I am not sure if I understand exactly what you are asking.

Could you explain where you are coming from a little more fully?

What I mean is: we see nowdays close to 4000 different religions, so to say people are looking for God is a little "simplistic". What God? Which God? are questions that don't neccesarely have a good answer. So are people really looking for God or for spiritual fulfilment?

If it is spiritual fulfilment, then it's a different issue, seeing as it stands opposite to materialistic fulfilment, and therefore we can call it "Idealism".

Idealism is the philosophical theory that maintains that the ultimate nature of reality is based on mind or ideas. It holds that the so-called external or "real world" is inseparable from mind, consciousness, or perception.

I was wondering if anyone feels that what we need is spiritual fulfilment, and that's why we see the decline of religion today, seeing how other systems such as idealism are more cable of explaining our need to perceive the world in a different manner.

I think what people are looking for is something else out there. They are afraid to be alone. If there is a god out there, then they are not by themselves.  And religion is declining because people are starting to realize that no matter where we look, we are always alone anyway. That if there is a god , he/she is too busy to bother with people.

That is a pretty dismal view. Very nihilistic.

Hi living in the future.  People are different and at many different levels of understanding.  Some people's spiritual needs are best met in church, some on a mountain top, some in enlightenment seminars, etc. 

I don't think there is one "best" way for everyone, but I do think all of us are drawn (eventually) to getting to know our spiritual selves.

Here is my idealistic view of life.  That someday there will be a world where it doesn't matter what I or you believe.  That we can meet on the street and say, hi, you believe in a God, that is nice, go in peace or hi, you don't believe in a God, that is nice, go in peace and that the word but becomes obsolete.

LB

Only the broken-hearted idealist can become a cynic.   Mark Clifton

I can't find the answer to your question, Living in the Future...  But so far I've only looked in the past.

To me, spirituality is experiential. And the explanations we have for spiritual experience continuously evolve, as our individual and collective knowledge and wisdom evolve. This, I think, is the principle of Process Theology: theology as a continuously evolving process.

Well, as a "beleiver" in Chaos, it is part of my doctrine that beleif is a tool, and beleif makes things real. So in that view, people all are totally idealist. They need something to beleive in, so they start to beleive, and then it is real for them.

- Jaron

Love that image, rishi.

That is Heaven.

PS I like your quotes,  my brother (sister?)    :)

I misunderstood livingthefuture's question.  I thought the question was that anybody who identifies as some kind of theist, even atheist, is an idealist.  I believe idealism and theisms are different perspectives with some overlap.  Most of the people I know with strong beliefs about God, including atheists, are not idealists, just people looking for some frame of reference for understanding their lives. 

I just reread your definition of Idealism -- I didn't realize there was a capitalized idealism.  I prefer to define idealism (deliberately lower case i) as making living by one's principles and values more important than other kinds of success.

This is what I think.  Religions or Beliefs can be ideology and they can also be practical and they overlap, of course.  We can sway too far one way or the other leaving us devoid of creative growth if we lose ideology and too far into devastatingly unsupportable means of survival ( the carbon based automobile, exploitation of  the environment because we have to support the "real world" ( read theory of )  capitalist expansionist democracy  . . . ), if we get too "practical".  Of course the irony is that by being "practical" we become redundant ideologues.

I dont' think there's a black or white on this but we do know that to shut off the creative juice is to lose our ability to deal sensitively and wisely with each other and the environment.

"Dream on little dreamers, dream on. The world is not what you  think it is, it's just what it is."   - Greg Brown

I think we perceive reality as we believe it to be, especially concerning our relationship with others.

Can you tell me what is the difference in taste between beef, chicken and fish? It's very hard to relate such emotions verbaly, to others. Our perception of reality is very subjective. Idealism is not necessarily intellectual, emotions are idealistic too, and it's obvious they are controlling our perception of reality.
 

Our perception and understanding about the world and therefore God changes constantly even with our mood. We read the same text and it produces different impressions inside of us depending on the day.

My question is: if belief is a creation of the mind, involving what we add from our own perception and imagination, is it therefore an image, or an idol god??
 

An idealist, rather then clinging to a mental image, builds his life on a certain responsibility that is, in essence, non-materialistic, as an expectation of redemption from materialism. He builds this image of life anew every day.
 

Meaning, everyday he asks in his mind and heart the question "what is the meaning of my life?". The point I'm trying to make is that IMHO this attitude towards life promotes a person to grow in faith and wisdom rather knowledge. 
 

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"If one wants to give an accurate description of the elementary particle—and here the emphasis is on the word "accurate"—the only thing which can be written down as description is a probability function. But then one sees that not even the quality of being...belongs to what is described" Werner Heisenberg 

Hey Jilin, i like that quote ^_^

As for the thread, i'm not quite sure : \ i guess i'm too sleepy to really think about it XD