Pretty section of conentt. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently quickly.

Robbie Lindauer 1488

People, generally, do not choose their first language. We do not choose who our parents are, where we go to school, etc.

We don't even choose what we'll eat for the first few years of our lives.

Some people never get to choose where they live, who their spouse will be, or what books they will read.

Even those who DO choose which books they read only do so within a range - they can only read the books with translations available in the languages they read.

Many humans "think for themselves" - we make up ideas for ourselves (they may or may not be "new" in the sense that someone else has also thought similar things). But these too are limited to the kinds of things that humans think as humans - and these thoughts are likely to be different than what we would think or be able to think as dogs or angels.

Dogs probably don't think thoughts that we would verbalize with more than two small words. Angels can probably conceptualize aspects of reality that we can't imagine at all.

So there are constraints on what we think, what we can believe. We can only "believe" things we either learn by reading or have come up with ourselves. Both activities require time and effort which, for us, is limited.

Within those constraints though, there is a further question. Having come up with a given idea by creativity or learning, can we choose to accept or reject it.

Some beliefs are pretty obviously forced on us. For instance, if someone shoves a blue placard in front of our faces, we're hard-pressed to NOT believe that its there. We may say things like "it's imaginary" but the tendency to act as though it is there is very hard to avoid.

A second level of beliefs "simple abstractions from immediate knolwedge of things around us" like "I'm at my house" are similarly hard to characterize as "chosen".

A third level of beliefs "Abstract beliefs" where sensory data doesn't help us with decisions at all, seems to be made up mostly of predominant trends in the society in which we live - thus most Irish Nationals are Catholic, most Indians Hindu or Muslim, most Americans "protestant". For that very small segment of the population that bucks these trends (typically less than 20%) they choose their beliefs, for the most part, from competing sub-trends in their own societies (e.g. Libertarians in the USA or Tibetan Buddhists or Anarchists or Nihilists...). Finally a very, very small group of people in every society are unclassifiable within that society (that is, they have ideas that the predominant group of people in their societies don't recognize at all). These people tend to be outcasts in many ways, unable to function within society at large.

Do we choose which of these classifications we belong to? For the most part, no.

People seldom self-reflectively decide on which beliefs to have - they simply have them the same way that they believe that they'll need to eat sooner-or-later. It's just what they believe.

When people -do- self-reflectively decide on which beliefs to have, their choices tend to be so limited by time and familiarity that they choose something familiar and obvious.

So -within a very small scope - people can choose what beliefs they have, but have an overwhelming tendency NOT to do so.

Robbie Lindauer

Deepak Kotecha 1806

Yes, humans have free will, and therefore, we are free to choose. However, what our inclinations are will probably be tempered with whatever environment is during our early childhood. As young adults on, it is tempered by our disillusionments and our own experiences. For example, as young adults in college, one is continuously exposed to science, and that becomes more the reality. However, away from such constant exposure, one learns that science is not the complete answer by any means, and one searches for more. If moving life experiences occur, such as witnessing occurrences that are not easily explained away with science, one starts to search for a higher consciousness. This is where the search for the Ultimate Truth begins. The roads are varied, and the names are many, but they all lead in the same general direction. It is still free will, the ability to choose, which will determine which path to follow and what name to use in calling Him.

Susan Thomas 1445

We choose our beliefs on most levels if we are "free to choose." What I mean by that is that some people are in a position in which they are unable to choose a different belief because of restrictions of their current belief. For instance, a Jehovah's Witness is not "free" to choose any other spiritual belief than what they are told by the Watchtower Society. Sort of a "brain-washing", if you will. Now that's not to say that they didn't originally choose to be a part of that religious organization but that they are so deeply imbedded in the beliefs of that sect that there is no longer a "free choice" to make for themselves, even when presented with "evidence" that contradicts their current belief. This is true of any type of cult.

Unknown Brain 1548

I have known many people who were raised in a Muslim home and are now Christians. Likewise, I have known many people who were raised in a Christian home who are now agnostic. Basically, people believe what they want to believe. If they choose to keep the religion they were raised with, it is because they want to.

Alexander Baggett 1750

In short, Yes!
You can choose your beliefs but I would say childhood and such gives you kind of a foundation of beliefs which you can later choose to keep or reject.The real trick is to fully be aware(know) of all your beliefs, as not all a person's believes are conscious. Not everything learned(belief formation) was learned through verbal or written means.Often its those that fall outside of that category that are hard to be aware of.

If you wanted to believe whatever you want, you could. However the thing you are trying to believe may be in conflict with other things that you already believe, meaning your mind might reject it, so you may need to do a bit a of clearing of your subconscious mind. Basically, If I wanted to believe that I could fly, I would first have to alter or get rid of or in some way resolve every belief in my subconscious mind that is in the way of that of that. So all those times I saw someone jump and fall to the ground or something of that nature, as well as what I have learned about gravity would be in conflict with that . Usually hypnosis or subliminal messages or meditation work well for that kind of thing.

Matt Phillips New Brain

people choose their beliefs some of the time, but the way they choose is determined by their upbringing.
Some people are raised with beliefs that they never challenge. This is probably because they never see any reason to believe that their beliefs are worth challenging. These people choose to keep their beliefs, but really they don't choose to have the mindset that makes it so that they don't want to change their beliefs.
Some people change their beliefs, probably because they notice something that doesn't make sense to them from the standpoint of that belief. Another person might not change their beliefs when presented with the same information, and this is a choice on both of their behalfs, but neither of them chose to be the person who made decisions that way. They were raised that way and or born that way.
It is a question of nature vs. nurture, in some cases it is one, in other cases it is the other, but in no case is it anything that could be called "Free Will".

Unknown Brain 1212

Yes people choose their beliefs.

Louis Ayensu-Mensah 1665

Everyone chooses the things they believe in. for some people, it's through faith and for others it's through science(those are pretty much the only reason why people believe in certain things). The reason why anyone belives is anything is based on a certain amount of bias. The big bang theory vs creation. Creation is simple and pretty straight forward but there's no actual "evidence" which makes it tougher for some people to believe in it. The big bang theory does have it's basis in science but even with that, there is no actual proof that things happened the way some scientists presume it happened. Let's face it, how accurate can you get if most of your answers are bases on guesses to begin with and you're trying to explain something that happened billions of years ago if it's accepted that "homosapiens" or humans, have really not been around that long with reference to the age of the universe.

So to answer it again, people do choose what they believe in based on things that are presented to them about whatever it is that they're thinking about believing or not beleiving in

April Drake New Brain

I'm going to get slammed for this but oh well. We were made by God to serve and worship Him but it is our choice if we do so our not. He gave us a mind, He gave us a free will. I have not always been a christian but that was from my own choosing. When God found me I wasn't looking for Him or even cared about Him at all. I was blessed to witness a real miracle. From that point on I knew what was true. Not by a feeling or emotion but what was fact. At that moment I chose to follow Him. But I chose, no one made me. So we do choose what we believe.

Unknown Brain 1353

You can choose your beliefs, only if your open to them