I didn't say that Brysing encouraged lying to children. I said that appreciating the Cottingley Fairies as an expression of imagination, was a lie that children told themselves and told others. Even the creators of the photographs didn't believe it themselves, because they had to make the paper cutouts. That's why I said that, in the particular case put forth, it was deception and not imagination.
I put forth no personal attacks. We're just sharing our differing opinions on a particular event/case, aren't we?
But the rest of us have a right to disagree with uninformed opinions.
Or even express different opinions that are equally informed without one necessarily having to win out over another. (Not what you were doing, Hadit, I know; that's what I was doing.)
Hadit that's all fine and dandy, but if it's the age of maturity the person should still be allowed to imagine what she wants. However, if it's age 20 or old like 40 yeah that's fine to. The thing is, is this person imposing the beliefs of that on you or anyone else? Did you have to point it out? If not, that's fine just leave it be, I completely understand your point, but we must not be rude and state that they shouldn't believe in this. Were human.
Also Wings, I know what your saying, the way you say it though and the others make it seem like an argument, also I wasn't addressing you specially, I never said a name did I? I'm not trying to be ride, but I am trying to make a valid point. Bottom line, at any age we should be able to imagine and believe what we want, I don't care if you agree or not but we mustn't state that we can't believe this, then we would be just as bad as the orthafox religions and people. Whatever age it may be, yes we should mature but we can still feel things are real and true. My opinion.
Actually I am merely saying....you cannot state that a belief is real or exists. You can believe it all you want, but to say that is true for everyone else is wrong.
What that is doing is creating dogma. I say they may or may not exist, I do not say they exist, no discussion, game over.
at any age we should be able to imagine and believe what we want, I don't care if you agree or not but we mustn't state that we can't believe this, then we would be just as bad as the orthafox religions
Not necessarily. There was another post where I did a breakdown of the false paradox of tolerating intolerance, and I think this is similar.
The thing is, the truth is important. Honesty, integrity, and authenticity is important. Communication is important, too, so if you say "I believe this" then you should expect people to also say, "I believe something else."
When we state, "I don't believe this and so neither should you," that is certainly oppressive, but that doesn't automatically mean that we should remain silent (or worse, accepting) if somebody expressly believes in something that is harmfully untrue.
If it's a belief that is true to somebody and does no harm, such as... say, a belief in ghosts that allows a grieving widower to make the shift to living life to the fullest again. Of course I'd be a horrible jerk to say, "Ghosts don't exist!" I must recognize the personal significance and the obliquely empirical effect.
If that same belief in ghosts becomes oppressive, for example, if I want to move into a nice house that somebody believes is haunted, and they keep nagging me not to do it, or to move out, and then after I've lived there a few months they accuse me of breaking down their belief system by living there happily and proving that there's no ghost... uhh, excuse me but I'm not going to change my whole life just so that you can preserve your precious paradigm. That's when I can say, "You can't keep believing that because I'm not going to move out just so that you can keep believing that!" And if they cover themselves in a bedsheet and make woo sounds outside my window, then that's going to get oppressive to me . I cannot respect belief taken to that extreme.
That's the difference. Do you understand my viewpoint, now?
As Hadit has said,this thread has gone off line, but that's what conversations and discussions do, is it not? About children knowing what is real, and what is not real. At one time my family had a real good laugh at me! My three year old daughter was sitting on the staircase, obviously pretending that she was on a bus. I sat beside and asked, "Can I come on your bus?" She looked at me as though I was crazy! She said, "It's a staircase, Dad!" Lesson, children do not like adults to join in their games!
To get back on topic, I believe that nymphs, faeries,and others are real. They are beings associated with nature. Nature exists so why wouldn't they exist. I agree they are not those creatures you see in movies.
