LilRora
Mostly formless
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2022
- Messages
- 1,349
- Points
- 153
My beliefs are a result of continuously reconsidering values and ideals I have adapted in the past and encounter in the present, and building my own based on the conclusions I draw. That makes them inherently a mix of both your options; some of them will be similar to people from my environment since there's still probably a few I have left over from childhood, though for the most part I have reached my own conclusions regarding various values and ideals - those sometimes fit into my environment, and sometimes they're starkly different.
Personally, I think all of our beliefs initially come from the environment, because as children (particularly like <10yo, more or less, though that may stretch much further) we do not have much critical in our thinking so we tend to accept whatever we're told. As we develop, however, we find that what we have taken for granted is not the entire story, and so we start to consider those issues and hopefully reach our own conclusions, potentially affirming or rejecting the original belief. This does still, arguably, come from our environment, but it is not a direct relation.
It is important to note that all of this is an individual, subjective, and error-prone process because of the limited nature of information. Doubt does not happen by itself - doubt creeps in when we learn new information that challenges our existing beliefs, which in turn encourages to reconsider them (though some people refuse to). If we do not learn and experience much of anything though, there are no opportunities to do so.
Personally, I think all of our beliefs initially come from the environment, because as children (particularly like <10yo, more or less, though that may stretch much further) we do not have much critical in our thinking so we tend to accept whatever we're told. As we develop, however, we find that what we have taken for granted is not the entire story, and so we start to consider those issues and hopefully reach our own conclusions, potentially affirming or rejecting the original belief. This does still, arguably, come from our environment, but it is not a direct relation.
It is important to note that all of this is an individual, subjective, and error-prone process because of the limited nature of information. Doubt does not happen by itself - doubt creeps in when we learn new information that challenges our existing beliefs, which in turn encourages to reconsider them (though some people refuse to). If we do not learn and experience much of anything though, there are no opportunities to do so.