Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with believe

The Tooth Fairy

kudzu — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:25:05 -0800

My 6 yr. old son just lost his first tooth. He now expects a "tooth fairy" because his Brittish dad told him. I'm Dutch and have no idea. Help me out to answer some of his questions. Elliot's dad and me are still very good friends, but he could not tell me more about this fairy then that she comes at night and takes the tooth from under his pillow and replaces it with a coin. So I have a coin (is 2 Euro a fair price for a tooth?), but also a son who likes to question everything now. I looked up the wiki, but it does not tell me much more. What does she look like? Why does she like teeth? How big is she? Where does she live? What am I suppose to do with the tooth? He likes to show it off to everybody, will it be gone for good? I would like to put the tooth in a ring to wear, can I only do this now after he stops believing?

I've invented a complete imaginary world. Am I insane?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:25:47 -0800

I've invented a complete imaginary world. Am I insane? Since I was about 13 (I'm 24 now) I have, over time, constructed an imaginary story that I focus on whenever I'm alone - walking somewhere, doing the dishes, tidying my house, etc - but it's not just some little silly story, it's like I'm literally living another life, or other people's lives. To make this a little clearer:

The "story" consists of not one character, but a whole family of characters, who all have their own stories (I know their names, the names of their partners, the names of their ex-partners, their best friends, their best friends' stories), their own careers, I know what they look like, where they live, I play out scenes in my head of different people each time - talking to one another, them at work, I can do it for about an hour and almost script up pages of conversations that they'll have/experiences they'll have, imagine them in interviews (the central family are all famous - I've imagined a family where three of the kids are basically the biggest movie stars in the world, and link real life celebrities to this - guest stars have involved George Clooney and Johnny Knoxville.. wtf...)

Let me just state this has NEVER been a dream. It has always occurred when I am awake. Usually when I'm slightly down (I suffer from depression, I suppose that it could be a form of escapism - I imagine myself with this perfect Hollywood movie star life, instead of my own)

I'm just wondering... erm... I've never EVER told anyone about this. Not family, friends, anyone. This is the first time I've even written about it. Is it totally and utterly deranged? I mean it's a pretty big deal. I could tell you the birthdays and eye colour of every single 'character' in this imaginary world - that's got to be about 20 people I've invented. What the hell am I doing? And has anyone else ever done this?

I'm starting to wonder if I'm all there, upstairs. And yes, if anyone asks, I'm being totally serious. This isnt a joke question.

Do I choose belief or does belief choose me?

crewshell — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 03:09:51 -0800

Is belief a voluntary action, an involuntary action or some mix of the two? Is belief a voluntary action, an involuntary action or some mix of the two?

After reading this Free Will question I remembered a similar thought that came up a few years back that I never explored.

Can I simply choose to believe something or do I not have any control over this part of my mental psyche?

More specifically: Does one choose to believe in an idea, a statement, an occurrence or is this something that happens without our conscience control?

When someone sees something so astonishing and they utter “I couldn’t believe it, even with my own eyes” could they indeed not believe it, even after experiencing it?

Another angle, if someone told you something was true, but to your standards there is no real proof or disproof of what he tells you, could you still simply choose to believe? And if you did, would you actually, truly, be in belief or would you only be fooling yourself?

Going even deeper & conversely, if you did currently have a belief and someone presents something that conflicts with your belief, would that render it no longer true or could you tell yourself to overlook such obstacle, and again still not just be fooling yourself?

Would the answers to these question apply equally to the belief of things we can see and touch (ie. the ice is cold, the car won’t start) and to things that are only thoughts and ideas? (ie. the belief or disbelief of god, that it will or will not rain, that someone does or does not hate you, etc…)

Lastly, does the idea of subjectivity change the premise of this question as well? That being, if someone believes in something that is subjective, ie. beauty, character; how does this affect everything?

I guess overall this question has to do with reality and our perception of it, but I am trying (in the essence of actually coming to some sort of conclusion and to not wind up in an endless circular argument) to give a few concessions and assume that we all are really here, that I really am typing this and that you really will try to answer ;)