I thought there was basically magic coming out of a wall outlet. When I discovered the truth, I was literally shocked. That's not a tongue in cheek answer, either; it's a true story!
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I mean, if you don't really understand how it works, electricity basically is magic.
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Extra story:
When my son was very young, just walking, not talking, I went to replace a light bulb, I was stupid and didn't unplug the lamp, and he managed to stick his finger in there. Ended up with some burned fingers and was very unhappy for a while, but overall he was ok.
Like father like son?
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That if I flexed and yelled hard enough I could shoot energy beams from my hands. Thank you Dragon Ball Z for making my childhood full of weight training (◠‿・)
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That being intelligent, diligent and ethical would lead to success and happiness.
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If the old timey stories are to be believed, happiness is gained by having less to worry about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOeOFroflS4
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I subscribed to that philosophy up until about 15 years ago and live accordingly but I now consider it a matter of perspective. I'm not convinced that it applies to things like food, medical treatment, contact lenses or spectacles, transport, social contact or meaningful contribution to society when your reference point is zero. Poverty is also very different amongst other impoverished people, where there is a sense of fellowship and shared struggle than it is in one of the world's richest cities where people have an extremely selfish and judgemental attitude and don't believe that bad things happen to good people.
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I know there has to be something simpler but it's not really coming to the front of my mind right now so I'll setle for this:
Enthopy. I didn't really knew what it was despite having heard the word a few times untill I was like 23 and had to read a specific book for college, needless to say properly understanding what the whole "end of the universe" was about was world-shattering. How I managed to learn the laws of thermodinamics without learning about entropy I'm not really sure.
Oh, I remembered a simpler one. When I was a kid (like 3 or 4 years old) I assumed the sun and the moon were roughly the same size because they looked that way, untill my mom explained me that the sun was actually much larger than the earth and it was just farther apart.
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I thought the moon is following me around when walking to my grandma's house.
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I honestly thought racism was relatively rare in the United States in modern times, until the populace proved me wrong not too long ago.
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people can't be so ignorant, it's the 21st century
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While in the course of human history a lot of terrible things have been done in the name of religion, religion itself is not inherently evil or good (or naive as you seem to imply). For many people it provides a moral framework that helps them be good people. Only when we let religion slip into the hands of demagogues it brings to surface some of the worst things in human nature.
Also I'm not sure religious people are actually convinced of what they believe. They believe it because they want to believe it because if THIS is all there is, what's the fucking point?
Just look at the mormons. Some things they believe (like Jesus Christ being reborn in America and living with the native Americans) may appear somewhat eccentric to real christians yet they are among the most polite, friendly and helpful people you will ever meet.
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or naive as you seem to imply
i'm not implying anything, i'm plainly stating that's 100% ignorant to believe in something and have no proof to back it up.
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy.
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For many people it provides a moral framework that helps them be good people.
We don't need a religious framework for our moral. And I also think it just doesn't work that way. Bad people are bad, even if religious. Good people are good, even without religion. I think a person's moral is defined by their character and education.
It becomes pretty clear if we think about how religious behave nowadays and how they behaved many centuries ago. Our understanding of moral has changed since then, and so have the religous people. Their moral framework should theoretically be fixed, thanks to the existence of divine guidelines (like the blble). But if anything in their book doesn't hold up anymore and becomes immoral, it gets dropped. Their framework adapts to current standards, not the other way around.
I absolutely agree with you that many religious people probably don't really believe in their god. For instance, if people really believed that god exists and their have to live by the bible, then they should avoid lies at all costs. Yet people lie. A lot. I just can't believe they'd really do that if they believed they would anger their lord and maybe even risk hell with this. ^^
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Back when I was ~10: Real magic actually exist but they are just cleverly hidden from us muggles... thanks J.K.Rowling!
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Ah, many a child got inspired and optimistic after reading books. Such a wonderful tool to create thinking adults. Too bad people avoid them of fear of "having to read".
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This got dark pretty fast. But sure. There are individuals who don't need a reason.
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When i was young, i thought I could make items move or make them work with the power of the brain.
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I mean, in theory, when you move something with your hand, it's still using the power of your brain.
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You can become anything you want, as long as you work really hard and put your heart into it.
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It's hard to find something that actually shocked me. When growing up, I always experienced the world to some extent. Different ideas, philosophies, etc. came over time. You might think there are truly virtuous people out there, for example, but then you will run into a moment where someone who you deemed truly virtuous had some noticeable issue that proves the contrary. But that won't change your entire viewpoint, unless you really never really believed it or it was something very personal and drastic, in which case it's just irrationality. If in our current world (obviously can't predict the future) you get shocked by anything like that, then you either never truly paid attention (which means you never cared enough to get shocked) or you had something very personal happen (which shouldn't matter since anecdotal evidence shouldn't change your views enough for that).
But I definitely used to think that there was "evil" out there. As time has passed, it's become more evident to me that there's literally always a reason for things. A murderer just doesn't get the urge to kill. There are socio-economic reasons, past life experiences, mental issues, access to things, etc.
Some things will make more sense than others, when examined, but even then that just shows that a person was easier to "trigger" into that behaviour.
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A lot of comics, cartoons, animes and movies titles i read and saw on my language when i was little were not translated correctly. So a lot of names is just names they think would attract more people here. Like Rogue from the X-men is "Vampire" here. So i learned a lot of stuff when i learned a little bit about english.
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Learning a new language (unless somehow forced and will not be used) always opens new doors.
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As a child i believed in equality and higher powers.
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I used to believe that religious fanaticism was a thing exclusive to ''the hot countries''.
As I grew up I see it everywhere.
So far the only thing exclusive to them is (perhaps) the bomb vests, but in the world of today I'm not too sure about even that anymore....
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When politicians or military say they care theyr soldiers,but is not true because they make them work in places with risk of get tumors cancers etc. for eternit or other dangerous for health materials,is a very lie and i very hate this,and i really mad about this too.
And i think all countries and all governs must to united work togheder for create places or weapons for military that is not make sick,because is absurd that someone must die only because him sleep at place with eternit because govern order him to do and never tell to him that place is dangerous.
i very mad this.
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I guess that one thing which took me years to finally accept as false was my notion that if you are nice to people they will treat you well in return.
It was a brutal, repeatedly shocking learning process.
Damn. This is a profoundly depressing thread.
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Yeah, somehow turned that way. But there are nice and funny examples too.
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someone has already mentioned "adults know what they are doing"
I think for me the real shock was when I had a teacher that just did not like me. I tended to be a fairly studious kid, probably quiet. And I had some experience of bullying by other kids (what kid does not), nothing serious or long term. But towards the end of my primary schooling a new teacher started and wow, what a shock. I never told my parents and lucky for me she was pregnant and left after about 4 months of that year. The next teacher was normal (lol)
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Please comment?
sry folks I had an eyelid surgery to take something out and was under compression bandage for the last day, couldn't even look at the screen with my other eye... have just a regular eyepatch bandage now so it's a bit easier to read but shouldn't strain my eyes yet... I'll probably read and respond to most of the messages here with time, thank you all for posting.
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