Right!
But, because nobody can question it,nobody can prove it.
You can’t prove faith. You can’t prove any of these things.
It’s like: “why am I believing this?”
So, is there a particular belief that you want to chat about?
Um, as far as like religion?
Could be… really anything.
Ok. Um, yeah, I can talk about... I mean...
My background is Christianity.
I was raised Southern Baptist.
I don’t necessarily believe in all the...
doctrine that the Bible teaches.
Sometimes I feel like the Bible truly limits us in our expression.
People talk about the glory and of splendor and the wonder of God.
How could it be just confined to just 66 books?
I try to experience God on a more spiritual level.
And I believe in spirituality more than anything.
That’s really what guides who I am and the way I think and believe.
I believe that there is something that is been working on my behalf in this universe.
Something that’s working on your behalf?
Yeah, it’s like something that’s guiding me.
Because I can’t fully take credit for everything that has happened
good in my life.
Sometimes, just the right place at the right time,
sometimes, it’s luck or whatever, so, how do you explain those things?
People say, “it’s God”, and I do believe that,
but I don’t believe as far as, like, the doctrine
and Old Testament.
That stuff is just like… It’s just so limiting.
and it’s so stifling.
And it’s like you can’t live, you can’t do anything.
And I feel like a lot of it is outdated.
It doesn’t really apply to the world we live in today.
Gotcha.
So, I’d love to explore your reasons why you believe a god exists at all.
First can I get a sense of your confidence that a god exists?
Let’s say on a scale from 1 to 10.
10. 10 for sure.
10, gotcha.
And, you’ve mentioned before something about how to explain good things happening
is that ,like, the main reason why or is there another main reason?
I just look at my life and my experiences.
The things that can’t be explained, the things that are not tangible.
The things that are just kind of like out there and the energies.
I believe God is responsible for all those things.
Doesn’t have to be good, it could be bad too.
It could be unexpected deaths or anything.
I believe that there is something out there that is in control of all of those things.
Not necessarily all the good things.
I believe God is in control of the good and the bad.
Ok. So would you say this is mostly accurate?
Like… personal experiences that can’t be explained.
Yeah.
Ok. And part of that is like God
had something to do with these experiences?
Yes, absolutely.
God had something to do with them?
Yeah. I would never be like “Oh, I’m gonna take full credit for that!”
because the capabilities I have, that’s God given.
Who I am, my substance, my essence,
that’s all things that’ve been given to me since I was a child.
Since, before I was a child.
So, how to explain even the way you are? Your personality.
It’s hard to explain, but I just feel like there is a reason behind I believe,
and I just give credit of it to God and his workings and…
Yeah. You attributed to the God these experiences.
- Yeah - All right.
I’d love to understand how you concluded that this is true,
that God had something to do with this.
Like I said my background been in Christianity.
I’m not sure how we all came to be today.
Like whether there’s Adam and Eve and all that stuff.
Some of that stuff, it lacks factual, it lacks logic
and I just don’t try to get into that.
I know that I’m a human and a spiritual being.
I know that I have capable of good and bad.
I know that there is something in me that aspires a life greater than myself.
As far as like my drive, my motivation, my ambition.
Those things are like… Where do we get those things from?
Where do we get our drive and motivation?
Where do we get those things like passion and like things that we care about.
How we are, our personality.
Some people being more extroverted, introverted,
Who gives us those things?
I didn’t like select those things like “This is the kind of person I wanna be.”
So all these questions about like, how we came to be,
how do we get these motivations and stuff.
I’m not saying this is the case, but if someone could explain to us both
that these stuff could happen without a God,
would that change your confidence about the God existing?
- I would be interested to hear that. - OK
I know it’s a lot of how you were raised
and your upbringing and society kind of shapes that.
- But, I believe in your inner self. - Your inner self?
We all vary. Every single person is very unique.
No one’s like someone before them.
No one’s gonna be something like that after them.
That’s why I feel like we are very authentically made and designed.
How can you explain that? Nobody, no fingerprint, nobody is the same!
No two people are alike. Even twins are very different.
Triplets are very different. So...
Ok, so if there was an explanation without the God being in it at all?
Yeah, I'll be open.
You’d be open, and if you were convinced that those explanations were good,
would that change your confidence about this?
I don’t know if it would change my confidence.
It would give me a more rounded point of view.
I’m very strong in what I believe.
I think what we believe really, like you said, guides us.
That’s a very strong thing, but I’m open minded.
I like to hear things, I like to understand more.
I would probably not sway from what I believe
but it just gives me a different perspective.
Ok. I’m trying to understand...
What would change your confidence at all?
Is there a reason that you have that if found to be not reliable
would change your confidence?
The whole afterlife aspect kind of makes me a little insecure about it.
Because I don’t know… No one knows what happens after we all die.
The heaven and hell theory and stuff like that.
That’s where I get insecure because what’s the whole point?
The things you do here on earth…
Christians believe that the things you do on earth
in your 75-80 years of life can condemn you to a permanent life of burning?
I just... I don’t know. You just burn for ever?
What is the point?
Like, heaven,and this euphoric utopian society for ever.
I don’t know about those things.
I just know that what we are here to do now.
Our lives, and us, on this earth.
I think there is purpose and reasoning for that.
The afterlife theory is what Christianity, that’s where I get insecure.
Cuz it’s like… heaven or hell. I don’t think it’s about that.
So if you’re somehow convinced that we don’t survive our deaths at all,
would that change your confidence about a god existing?
That’d be interesting, to hear about. Are you?
I mean... I know this is my interview, but are you…?
I’m looking for reliable ways to come to a belief like this.
I would say I’m very much lower on that scale, but I’m…
- OK - I’m trying to find out reliable ways…
OK. Are you just more, like, you want factual things or you want more, like...
Are you just seeking truth?
I’m seeking truth. Whatever is true.
- Ok, ok. - And I want reliable ways.
Currently I would think facts and evidence are a very solid way to come to beliefs.
Right, ok, absolutely.
Is there any evidence or facts for this belief?
- It’s faith. - Faith.
That’s the crutch in Christianity. It’s the faith element.
People are like “just have faith, just hope, just believe"
- but, faith can carry you a long way. - OK
Faith is really the basis of this religion. You have to just beliiieve!
- Ok. Just believe. - Believing in something
that you can’t see That’s not tangible.
Ok. Is this way of coming to this belief reliable?
It is, because it makes you become an optimist.
I mean, even when bad things happen.
You just kind of believe. You see things as good. All things as good.
Even the things that happen that are misfortunate.
You can take the good out of every situation.
It keeps you always connected to something. Your morale is always high.
If there is a death, it’s like “ok, it was their time”
It was their time to go.
We can see the good in their death, even though death is a sad thing.
Faith kind of allows you to live on a more upper echelon way of thinking, in living
and operating, versus being depressed and getting down into a lower state.
So it really encourages high morality.
Gotcha. So you’re saying that living a faith based life
- let you be more optimistic? - Yes.
- More positive? - Yes.
- And have a really good morale life? - Yeah. I believe so.
Faith is a powerful thing... Cuz it’s all about belief.
Gotcha. Is it possible for someone to not use this way of coming to beliefs
in general, yet be positive and optimistic?
Yeah, that’s very true.
But I would ask that person "what’s the reasoning behind it?"
If you’re just upbeat and positive, what’s the reasoning behind it?
Yeah, what’s a reason someone could give for that?
I don’t know. I would love to hear it.
I don’t know, a happy person, outgoing person. I don’t know.
Like, what’s the second best way to have optimism and living life positively
without this believe?
- I’m not sure. - Not sure?
- What do you think? - Well, in terms of being optimistic,
going back to facts and evidence, like, good things have happened in the past.
So could good things happen in the future?
- Ok. - Maybe.
But do you believe that we are just living a very…
I would like to believe that our time on this earth and
what we are doing here and our space here, has meaning behind it.
Do you believe that there is no meaning behind?
Because I feel like it’s just like we are going
through the motions and there is no meaning to life,
there is no meaning to anything we do.
How do you think someone without this belief
could get meaning in life?
Because, I just feel like… I don’t know if you believe…
first of all within yourself, you believe in your capabilities.
That… there is nothing wrong with that.
You believe that all things happen for good…
And there is nothing really wrong with that.
It doesn’t even have to be God, it’s just, if that’s your way of thinking.
I think, in all essence, it’s a great way to approach life,
but, me being fundamentally christian, I believe God gives me that.
- God gives you the meaning… - The oxygen to do that.
- Ok...
But is this true?
A lot of people believe it.
Does the amount of people who believe something relat...
It doesn’t, no, absolutely not. But… What’s true?
Good question. How can we come to true beliefs?
What is true? That’s a great… yeah. What is true?
- Truth is relative. - Truth is relative?
Yeah. Because i’m sure there is a lot of Muslim believers that believe
Allah is the… and Buddhists and stuff like that.
But I believe the truth behind it, there is one truth.
And we are all navigating our own way to that path.
- We are all navigating some truths. - To the same truth.
There is just different sifters to that. Different religions and denominations.
They are all leading to one truth.
Cuz Buddhists aren’t bad people.
Some of the scriptures that I’ve looked over, even Muslims,
some of the books of the Bible in the Coran
are the same as the Holy Bible or the New Testament.
So it’s like, what’s the truth behind it?
How did it get so switched up and so disseminated in so many directions.
There’s something. There was a foundation.
There was a start. And I would love to find that out but…
Yeah. I value truth.
I want to believe as many true things as possible,
but also as few false things as possible.
So for whatever beliefs I hold, I like to understand
what I could learn or find out to change my confidence about that.
So that’s how I kind of go about beliefs.
- Ok, so you are a truth seeker. - Yeah.
You look at facts, you look at… You read, you’re researching.
And then, the way you intake the information,
that’s kind of gonna shape…
And if there is nothing I can learn or find out
to lower my confidence about a belief, that belief seems to be at risk
of being untrue. Or I’m at risk of believing something
that might be untrue.
So, I need my beliefs to be able to be shown to be false.
They need that quality. It doesn’t mean there are not true,
but they need to be able to be shown that they could be not true.
- For you to believe in it? - To have confidence that…
to just… for them to have any value.
So you… Oh! That’s an interesting perspective.
So you believe that… Wow, I’ve never even heard that before
You believe that what you believe in, if it can be challenged as not true
that makes you feel more confident in it?
Yeah, because… beliefs that can’t be shown to be false
could be any beliefs.
- That’s very deep. - Yeah.
- Like if you just can’t… right! - Yeah.
Because you can challenge and question God, that’s ok.
I’m wondering, how could we know if this belief was false?
- I don’t think there’s no way to know, man. - There is no way to know.
- So that makes you less confident in it. - It makes it not valuable for me.
And the benefits a get from it…
Right, that’s good! That’s a good perspective.
- I would like to believe it, if it’s true. - Right.
but because nobody can question it, nobody can prove it.
You can’t prove faith. You can’t prove any of these things;
it’s like, “why am I believing this?”
You may be on to something, man. That’s powerful stuff, man.
Thanks. Yeah, just, stuff to think about, man.
Absolutely. Thank you for that. That’s really enlightening.
I never thought about it like that.
Because that’s how people feel about Christianity and like religion in general.
You could just never question, why am I just gonna succumb
to this religion if I don’t even know if there is no factual anything about it.
Like, oh, Jesus Christ and all this stuff, did he live?
And did he really walk? And Noah, is that a real thing?
Before I derive any benefit from a belief, I want to make sure it’s true, first.
Like us right now, here. This is true.
This is like facts. I’m here right now, present.
Yeah, we have ways to verify this situation, I think.
- Hopefully. - But, what you’re saying is
the fact that we cannot question some of our beliefs makes it hard…
That is a good... That is something I’m gonna take with me.
Now you are shaking me up a little bit. See?
Now you are shaking me up!
Would you say 10/10 is the most accurate spot for you to be right now?
It might have dropped a little bit. I like to think outside.
I like to think about those kind of things, because it makes you…
I believe because I was raised
and I was molded and shaped into believing this my all life.
But, what evidence do I really have?
I can look as like my life as the good things that happened,
the blessings I get, quote unquote, but what evidence do I have
that this person is really operating through me?
And I guess, until you have some experience
you will never know.
Well. Stuff to think about. Thanks Dominique.
Thank you so much, man. What’s your name?
- Reid. - Reid, I’m gonna check you out.
- What’s your YouTube channel? - Cordial Curiosity.
Cordial Curiosity? This is very cordial.
- Thanks. - Thank you so much Reid.
Thank you.
- Good shit, man. - Have a good day.
- You got me thinking bro! Thank you. - Thank you.
Wow.
Does that… Does that beat Tia?
I think that beats Tia.
Nice, nice. He is awesome.