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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tyler Do'Urden" data-source="post: 300904" data-attributes="member: 4601">It's not really that amazing.  Children are encouraged to believe in these three beings as part of a cultural mythology that helps socialize children just entering the Piagetian "con-op" stage of development.  At this point, children no longer believe that they can order the world around through magical wishes- so they need to create a pantheon of "magical beings" to do it for them.  If they aren't introduced to them by their society, the kids will just create their own- has anybody here had imaginary friends when they were growing up?  I remember what happened after my parents debunked Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Faerie- I merely created my own pantheon of imaginary aliens, giant robots, talking animals, mad scientists, city-sized starships, forest-dwelling goblins, magic rituals, and weird cosmological conceptions- much of which was inspired by Star Trek, David the Gnome, and Carl Sagan.  If you don't give a kid beliefs, he can create his own!  The only reason that Santa Claus and his ilk are perpetuated is because they create a common mythos among children that helps them bond as a group- similiar to mythic/conformist religion.  I was often shunned by my peers because I didn't believe in the same things they did- I was off in my own world of whimsy, which didn't conform to theirs.  Not that I think this was a bad thing... I've grown up to be far more independent minded and free-thinking than most of my shee.... er... peers...As for my own religious beliefs?  Well, I haven't formally taken vows yet, but I'm considering becoming a buddhist.  Even though I don't believe in literal interpretations of reincarnation, the bodhisattvas, the six realms, the deities, etc... the ideas of nirvana, sunyata, and liberation make sense to me, and the psychology of Abhidharma, Dzok-chen, and Mahamudra makes Freud, Jung, and Maslow look like schoolboys...</blockquote>

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