What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

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A question posed by 'Edge - The World Question Centre' so I wondered how people would respond here. http://www.edge.org/

To (hopefully) kick things off, I will quote J. Craig Ventner's statement (he sequenced the human genome), something I also believe:

"Life is ubiquitous throughout the universe. Life on our planet earth most likely is the result of a panspermic event (a notion popularized by the late Francis Crick).

DNA, RNA and carbon based life will be found wherever we find water and look with the right tools."

Well I believe that there is some form of life after death, how do you prove that? You cant prove anything when you're dead. I like to think that you move on somewhere after you've had life as opposed to just rotting away into nothing and be done with it.

Although I have seen no reasonable proof of this, I also believe in ghosts and poltergeists. Living carbon matter cannot be the only things that occupy this planet, or even this universe, there has to be more, some things that maybe the human eye cannot and will never be able to see.

I believe in God and a pretty extensive spirit world - though I don't think it is terribly mystical - I think it is just an alternate dimension . . . but, still, I've never been there so that has to be a belief in something I can't prove . . .

Practically nothing. I don't believe in Love, I believe in pheromones and hormones lasting a certain amount of time. I don't believe in Religion, I believe in Lies, Deceit, and Weakness associated to it. I don't believe in God, I believe in the Big Bang--Science. I don't believe in a Pure Heart, I believe in Personal Gain.

I believe I'm a very cynical person. I also have the one belief in hope, though, that maybe one day I'll do something great, and rise above a normal lifestyle.

I don't want to do good things, I want to do great things.

I believe that Satan is Good, and God is Evil.

I already stated this in Justice.

Your name is the absolute truth.

I believe that Hale_bopp might still have a secret crush on me.

Is Life throughout the Universe or not. We have not gone that far yet. We have not even proven Mars has had Life on it yet for science has not proven it.

I do not believe in any divine beings or spirituality or psychic energies.

Just matter + energy, though it has some pretty amazing combinations.

No, science has not yet proven that life exists elsewhere in the universe, but I believe it. It is not something that I will personally ever be able to prove, but there is a growing body of evidence in favour of life being common, and I sincerely hope that concrete evidence will be found before I die.

I have had a keen interest in this most of my life (a 'special interest' or obsession?). I have watched the received scientific orthodoxy change from "we must accept that life is such an unlikely accident that it may well have occurred only once in the universe," to the position we are now at, where very few scientists would put themselves on the line and say that the earth is the only oasis of life in an otherewise sterile universe. I always found this the most nihilistic and depressing story, and never believed it, despite being deeply interested in science. Of course, scientists tend to be constitutionally conservative, in the main.

I also believe that Blanford is only kidding.

I believe that life is ultimately worth being part of.

No, I'm not kidding.

Too true. Though I cannot prove it I believe that the universe is self-sufficient, and matter is the only stuff of magic which inheres in all the rational processes in the universe. Matter defines itself, and there is now enough hard scientific evidence to prove it.

The things I believe, that are impossible to prove...

I believe that the being or force known as God exists.

I believe (and hope) that human existence does not end with physical death.

I believe that animals probably also have souls and are somehow aware of the being we call God.

I believe that Jesus existed, was crucified, and returned to his friends and family in some earthly form after his death.

I believe that all of the above beliefs, while not provable, are justifiable.

Furthering that, I also believe:

There is such a thing as objective truth.

Morality is absolute. People and circumstances are not.

One can speak of moral relativism, but not live it.

Because there is objective truth, this also means that some religions are more correct than others. We can acknowledge that there are truths in all religions, even profound truths, but they cannot all be equally true.

Humans are not intelligent beings. They are instinctive beings with intelligence. The intelligence is purely optional.

Humans are tribal beings. We are meant for the space of comfort found between two or more individuals, but not the cold space between two bricks among thousands.

Everyone is on a personal quest for meaning, god, spirituality, or what-have-you, whether they know it or not.

Some believe but claim not to, others claim to believe but do not.

Intellectualization has never brought happiness to anyone.

Material success alone has never brought happiness to anyone.

And along these lines: No one pursuing happiness has found it while doing so.

A good story or moving piece of art will contribute more to the advancement of civilization than any thesis, critique, scholarly essay, report, equation, theory, or statistic.

The sight of a naked body or the frank depiction of a sexual act is far less of a threat to the well-being of a young person than the numerous examples of stomach-churning violence, wanton destruction, misogyny, and media-induced paranoia that are condoned in the popular public sphere.

The quality of art is never determined by the medium or the subject.

All fiction is autobiography and all autobiography is fiction.

There is no such thing as originality.

It is a sin to arbitrarily kill animals.

It is a sin to drink diet soda of any kind (if the regular variety is available).

It is a sin to watch a remake without seeing the original.

It is a sin to eat at a fast food restaurant when visiting another country.

It is a sin to burn a book (unless you're freezing to death).

It is a sin to destroy art (censorship counts).

Before you click on "reply" or "quote", I don't care if you disagree with me on any of the above points, and I'm not interested in reading your post if you intend to critique or argue against them.

Last edited by Thagomizer on 05 Feb 2006, 2:44 am, edited 2 times in total.

Oh no, THAT was what I was leaving out of my confessions! DIET SODA!! !! !

Yes, I'm quite enjoying being alive so far as well. I think I'll continue on with this little biology experiment known as "me".