My beliefs are defining me far too much.

Chagen

This is gonna be hard to explain. I feel that as I grow older and gain more defind beliefs, I am, paradoxically, being constricted to those beliefs. I feel that I'm sliding off a slippery slope into radicalism/extremism. I feel like not a unique human being, but a shallow parody of myself. I'm slowing going from just some wide-eyed 15-Year-Old boy to a Socially Liberal/Sexually Conservative Ultra-Nationalistic Free-Market Capitalist. Sometimes, I just feel too constrained by this. I feel that I'm becoming more extreme/radical every day, and that one day I'm just going to snap and fall down the slippery slope into something, be it Anarchism, Jingoism, Xenophobia, etc. I don't want that to happen. ....God, it's so hard explaining this correctly....

BonSequitur

1, you're not old enough to be 'growing older.' What you're doing is growing up (One hopes). 2, you have already fallen off the slippery slope of extremism. Climbing out is part of becoming an adult, but  as an American, it's your choice to skip that bit, or any other bit, and remain a man-child for life.

TheConductor

I wouldn't call you a conservative when it came to sex, a snob, but not a conservative.

As for the main topic; don't worry about it. It's natural for people who have such domineering familes to go through a process of worrying about how their beliefs are over taking them. Just relax and rethink them all. Which bits do you ACTUALLY believe in and which bits are you just spouting because you were TOLD to believe them?

InsanityAddict

Your teen anxieties long for the safety of a coherent worldview, and a coherent sense of self. Spoiler: you're never going to find it, learn to live with the uncertainty and amibiguity of life.

glennmagusharvey

Nah, Chagen, your hopes and desires define who you are; your beliefs are just your way of justifying them.

Now, beliefs defining people way too much is what happens in the imagination of a certain other member here whom I will not name.

Khwarizmi

^ ...It's me, isn't it?  Because I was going to say, your beliefs should be a big influence on your behaviour, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Just believe what you think is true, modify your beliefs when needed, and carry on acting according to them.

If you're worried about extremism... while I'm loathe to recommend Eliezer Yudkowsky's opinion on anything, I think he had some good things to say about avoiding what he termed the "happy death spiral", which you might find useful, I dunno.

Forzare

I think I know who he's talking about, and I don't think it's you, Bobby.

glennmagusharvey

No, it's not you, Bobby.

Rottweiler

Nah, Chagen, your hopes and desires define who you are; your beliefs are just your way of justifying them.

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can
never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them?

Beholderess

This one has noticed the same about her and, well, it is giving her trouble. Lots of it.

Sometimes this one wonders if her choices are between being hypocrite or fanatic.

It seems that she became more concerned with consistency and being true to one's word that with simply being "true".Words are binding, honest ones - even more so. The Mighty Anonym gave me a useful libk about such thing http://lesswrong.com/lw/4e/cached_selves/ ; which does explain a lot

glennmagusharvey

@Rotty: Could you translate that into more typical modern informal English, please?

I think I know what you mean and I would like to discuss that with you, but your statement is just...so confusingly worded.  The verb "pretend" without a "to be" object is just one example, and other than that I cannot tell whether you are stating sarcasm or making a positive statement.

Rottweiler

@GMH: Reason is and ought to be subordinate to one's passions, and we should never pretend that our will can be subordinate to reason instead?

And I'm doing neither; I'm asking if that's what you believe.

Trash_Vortex

"I feel that as I grow older and gain more defind beliefs, I am, paradoxically, being constricted to those beliefs."

Well, don't constrict yourself, then.

glennmagusharvey

@Rottweiler: I hope that reason can subordinate passion, but I simply admit that in reality, passion frequently subordinates reason, and I adjust my interpretation of people's motives and actions accordingly.

Rottweiler

@GMH: That makes perfect sense.

The question is why and how much passions differ between people.

glennmagusharvey

That I do not have a satisfactory answer to.  Humanity ranges from the most extreme of ascetics and self-deniers to the most gloriously hedonistic crazies.  The answer may lie in psychology, genetics, development, education, ethics, religion, and more, combined.