When is a belief system a Mental Disorder?

Thus says the OP. The poster mentions such items as belief in witchs and the belief in a 6000 year old earth. The poster wants to know when such a belief can be labelled as a "mental disorder."But there is also the belief that life has some objective meaning. Anyone who believes this is suffering from a delusion of grandeur which is a classic symptom of paranoid schizophrenia. Since my mother back in the day was a full-blown schizophrenic, I have some experiential knowledge of this disease. I mention it as an example of the BRUTALITY of life. We can be brutalized by insanity but that is but one of many ways that Nature can brutalize us. All these ills that flesh is heir to is due to the fact that we are FLESH which evolved in that hit-or-miss fashion described as the combination of natural selection and mutations. Besides birth defects and other imperfections with which we are born, there are all manner of diseases and accidents that come our way from time to time. We can be as prudent as we like, but we cannot avoid the brutality of life for very long. It might come naturally or it might come as a result of the sorts of actions we as natural creatures like to partake in such as war and murder and torture. In America, murder is rather common as compared to Europe. The Europeans are more dramatically efficient: they prefer genocide. The Americans have been fond of killing off entire peoples also, but we have done it rather haphazardly and gradually: we lack the dramatic flair of the Europeans.The history of brutality on the part of nature and ourselves is due to the fact that life is accidental and meaningless. Our climb from slime left us with grave imperfections.This is why I say that our lives are meaningless, brutal, and short.This message has been edited by robinrohan, 02-19-2006 12:49 PMThis message has been edited by robinrohan, 02-19-2006 12:54 PM

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There IS objectively speaking NO inherent meaning to life if it all derived from biochemical processes.

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You have no way of knowing if that is true or not.There IS objectively speaking NO inherent meaning to life if it all based upon carbon.There IS objectively speaking NO inherent meaning to life if the sky is blue.There IS objectively speaking NO inherent meaning to life if it all E=MC2.See? Silly.This message has been edited by schrafinator, 02-19-2006 02:05 PM

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Think in terms of "formal purpose."

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Well, ok, but...how does acceptance that all life is carbon-based logically progress to "life is meaningless, brutal, and short"? (I am particularly interested in your objective definition of "short" in this context.)I mean, unless you are trying to say that the ToE even has a "formal purpose", which is even more nonsensical. It's like saying that gravity has a "formal purpose".

Of course evolution has no purpose. The only way we could have a formal purpose is if we were made by a being who had something in mind when he made us. Nature made us: it had nothing in mind. Nature has no mind. We are here for no particular reason. Therefore, life is meaningless--in the objective sense.As far as life being "short," the term is admittedly relative. Compared to mosquitoes we live a long time. Compared to redwood trees, our lives are very short. Compared to geological measurements, our lives are like the timespan that a bubble exists.But one can also speak of shortness of life in other terms. Think of all the time one spends preparing to do something. And think of all the time in which one is too old to do something {or you have some other impediment). The amount of time that might be thought of as our "prime" is a short portion of the full extent of our lives.

Robin,I think the whole concept of "meaning or meaningless" is subjective in the first place.I don't think there is any such thing as an objective meaning of life whether you believe in god or not

But then we would be slaves, or perhaps even unconscious zombies. Now that would give you a real reason for your nihilism.

That sounds like a question you should have with your parents. What did they have in mind when they made you?

The parents are just assembly-line workers. Nature made us.

Formal purpose is not subjective. It's the only kind of purpose that's not.

I'm not so sure that is accurate for sentient beings.My parentsm for example made a concious decision to create me.

The parents cannot "make" the child in the sense of forming it into anything they like. Nature formed us.

There are many factors that go into forming a child. Many of them are concious decisions of hte parents. The woman I choose to marry and have children with has a huge effect on what my children will be like. This is something I directly effect through concious choice. In addition the upbringing provided by parents has a strong influence as well.

I'm talking about the design of a human being. We were "designed" by nature--mindlessly.This message has been edited by robinrohan, 02-20-2006 05:34 AM

Well, it seems that in the near future we may actually be able to do some of the design ourselves through genetic manipulation. It does seem that being able to choose your child's sex, hair color, etc. may be on the horizon.

Oh? We're supposed to assume that your parents met and mated totally at random, regardless of their individual mate preferences; and then had absolutely no input into your rearing and education?If I were to go to my mom and display the total lack of credit she deserves for me being who I am that you've just displayed in regards to your parents, she'd slap me silly. Maybe it's different in your family. If it is then I'm very, very sorry for you.