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Imaginary Friends

Samantha Rinne

Resident Genderfluid Writer/Artist
We often see atheists talking about religious beings as imaginary friends.

But what if we've got it backwards? What if God is the only one real, and the physical world and all the people in it are imaginary?

How would you go about proving that you're not a schizophrenic hallucination of a disturbed God? How do you prove you're real?
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
We often see atheists talking about religious beings as imaginary friends.

But what if we've got it backwards? What if God is the only one real, and the physical world and all the people in it are imaginary?

How would you go about proving that you're not a schizophrenic hallucination of a disturbed God? How do you prove you're real?

Solipsism is a philosophical position than cannot be refuted. it is, however, nonsense.

if you consider the physical world to be imaginary, then I wonder about what you mean by the term 'real'.
 
We often see atheists talking about religious beings as imaginary friends.

But what if we've got it backwards? What if God is the only one real, and the physical world and all the people in it are imaginary?

How would you go about proving that you're not a schizophrenic hallucination of a disturbed God? How do you prove you're real?

In my view, God is the only one real, we are imaginary (Berkeley's Idealism).

We can not prove that we are real or exist in any way or that anything else does outside of our experience, and no one else can seemingly access our actual experience, we can't even prove anyone in our experience has an experience of our own or anything is looking through their eyes at all ever. So all we have is that there is experience, and I say it is what I call God that is truly experiencing it and whatever is producing it is what I call God, and so God is the only thing alive, everything else is imaginary, like you said.
 
Yet, its mainly irrelevant or makes no major difference, since we can't control anything with our own minds much, we just have to play the game as best as we seem able to, even if we are being played, it plays out the relatively same regardless.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
We often see atheists talking about religious beings as imaginary friends.

But what if we've got it backwards? What if God is the only one real, and the physical world and all the people in it are imaginary?

How would you go about proving that you're not a schizophrenic hallucination of a disturbed God? How do you prove you're real?
Drop a hammer on your toe.

Drop a hammer on your imaginary friends toe.

Study the results. Submit for peer review.
 

MNoBody

Well-Known Member
Yet, its mainly irrelevant or makes no major difference, since we can't control anything with our own minds much, we just have to play the game as best as we seem able to, even if we are being played, it plays out the relatively same regardless.
however you do seem to be quite in control of your mind when typing all those epic posts,......kudos, salut, I am typing impaired in comparison.:)
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
We often see atheists talking about religious beings as imaginary friends.

But what if we've got it backwards? What if God is the only one real, and the physical world and all the people in it are imaginary?

How would you go about proving that you're not a schizophrenic hallucination of a disturbed God? How do you prove you're real?

IMO, one has to trust the perception of reality provided by our senses. Don't really have another viable choice. The rest is academic.

Lots of possibilities of what is true but even though not greatly reliable the only evidence we have is that provided by our senses.

If we let go of this then not only your scenario but an infinite number of possibilities can be imagined as the truth.
 

Yazata

Active Member
We often see atheists talking about religious beings as imaginary friends.

But what if we've got it backwards? What if God is the only one real, and the physical world and all the people in it are imaginary?

I think that many/most religious traditions believe that God is somehow more real than phenomenal reality. Even the Buddhists and Jains, who don't have a monotheistic God, believe that our concepts of reality are badly misconceived and that ultimate reality, understood properly, is very different than we think it is.

The Advaitists among the Hindus seemingly believe that God is the only true self and that our division into separate earthly selves is an illusion of some sort. So my individual self, the unseen seer behind my eyes, is actually God, perceiving things through this particular tiny individual pin-hole. And all the others simultaneously.

The neoplatonists seem to have believed that ultimate reality is an indescribable and incomprehensible One, that emanates through various stages such as a cosmic mind, Plato's forms as ideas in that mind, and so on down to us, the ideas and awareness instantiated very imperfectly in a world of flux and change. Each stage of emanation is a bit dimmer and less real than the one above it.

I believe that Isaac newton personally believed that space and time, along with all of their contents, were what he called God's "sensorium", God's field of vision one might say. But since there is nothing apart from God for God to perceive, God's imagination might be better.

How would you go about proving that you're not a schizophrenic hallucination of a disturbed God? How do you prove you're real?

It's a similar question to philosophy's "brain-in-a-vat" speculations. Essentially, it's about radical or global skepticism, in which we doubt the reality/truth not only of particular things, but of everything. I don't think that there's really any way to refute such speculations. Anything that we appeal to to pull ourselves out is part of what is being questioned.
 

MNoBody

Well-Known Member
1 CSiOdvySAcJTGcTkKv_wiw.jpeg
45.jpg

empathy bridges that gap of individualism.
[break on through...to the other side....compassion is the vehicle]
:)
 
however you do seem to be quite in control of your mind when typing all those epic posts,......kudos, salut, I am typing impaired in comparison.:)

It is probably due to years of practice and repetition, building up stamina, by typing lots, typing on messenger programs since I was pretty young, maybe around 13, having to type fast in games and then in live chats, and then also in typing in forums like TOTSE very early on and large documents. So, I am able to type and think at around the same time and speed, so what I'm typing is as soon as I think it or speak it in my mind, so its very direct and fast, and then the style I use is very unfiltered, very unedited, meant to imitate or be identical to whatever is occurring in my mind as natural speech, and then repeating this throughout a year, year after year for now maybe 2 decades or so. Plus it is my primary mode of communication to the outside world, whereas in real life I don't have opportunities to communicate much at all (though I'm good at talking and talking a lot, because my brain is used to talking for all this typing, which is the same or very close to my actual speech).

So, its all about practice. There are things I wish I had practiced or continued to practice more or not fall out of practice in besides casual typing, since I can make music and artworks really quickly as well and used to do that a lot too but haven't now for some time (especially since moving to Canada and losing a lot of my equipment that I had grown accustomed to using for the practices).

I also wish I had been habitual and had developed a lot of ease and stamina in things like exercise, but instead I got chubby when my metabolism slowed down after getting a little older.

Regardless, one can pretty much at any age (though it may seem somewhat difficult at first) start practicing just about anything, repeating it, doing it a lot, and it becomes easier, faster, stronger, and like second nature, like it was always in place.

I didn't even have a really proper computer or any opportunity to type lots until I was around 13 or so anyway, and then I didn't have a modern sort of phone which I ever typed on until after I was maybe 30 or something close to that anyway, and with just one single finger (my thumb I think?) I am able to type at this same speed that I am using with all my fingers, to express myself in the same way. All my DagonVarunaMitraApolloZan username posts on this website and my activities on many other websites for some time were typed extremely rapidly with just my thumb.

I also learned how to use my mouse only to make very detailed art in MS Paint (a simple drawing program on the computer), so human beings can have a lot of neuro-flexibility to learn things quickly and become really good very, very quickly, so long as they feel enthusiastic about it, or a need, and they keep doing it repeatedly or even almost non-stop or with a high frequency.

I think I can only type as fast as I can think or as fast as speaking or the words occur to me (or nearly the same speed), and I don't focus on trying to be fast necessarily, just trying to be authentic, accurate, spelling right, remembering the spellings, and being really fluid and sincere in my expressions.

It has also basically made it so that entire lectures can build up very easily while I'm typing like this.

One other issue which irritates me a little though is not being trained or comfortable with prose writing, since I could with this talent be able to write entire books or novels in just a day or even a few hours overall, but when I write prose it just annoys me so much, most especially when I know what is going to happen and just stretching it out or wasting time seemingly. When I've done the best music making, drawing, or even fictional story writing, it seems to be when I myself don't even have much of a plan or know what is going to come about, which makes it sort of hard to get started though or to get to writing as soon as some vision occurs of what I might want or lead to, so its difficult to find that right balance where I have an idea but also don't know anything about it or where I'll go with it or what will happen.

I hope that I'll be able to overcome these things so that these abilities might be put to some extra uses and also potentially financially benefit me somewhat as well.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
When fools compare various entities to "imaginary friends" it isn't deserving of any attention, frankly. That's giving them far more credit than the deserve as their comparison is little more than an infantile jab that demonstrates a failure to understand much about what they're referencing.
 

MNoBody

Well-Known Member
It is probably due to years of practice and repetition, building up stamina, by typing lots, typing on messenger programs since I was pretty young, maybe around 13, having to type fast in games and then in live chats, and then also in typing in forums like TOTSE very early on and large documents. So, I am able to type and think at around the same time and speed, so what I'm typing is as soon as I think it or speak it in my mind, so its very direct and fast, and then the style I use is very unfiltered, very unedited, meant to imitate or be identical to whatever is occurring in my mind as natural speech, and then repeating this throughout a year, year after year for now maybe 2 decades or so. Plus it is my primary mode of communication to the outside world, whereas in real life I don't have opportunities to communicate much at all (though I'm good at talking and talking a lot, because my brain is used to talking for all this typing, which is the same or very close to my actual speech).

So, its all about practice. There are things I wish I had practiced or continued to practice more or not fall out of practice in besides casual typing, since I can make music and artworks really quickly as well and used to do that a lot too but haven't now for some time (especially since moving to Canada and losing a lot of my equipment that I had grown accustomed to using for the practices).

I also wish I had been habitual and had developed a lot of ease and stamina in things like exercise, but instead I got chubby when my metabolism slowed down after getting a little older.

Regardless, one can pretty much at any age (though it may seem somewhat difficult at first) start practicing just about anything, repeating it, doing it a lot, and it becomes easier, faster, stronger, and like second nature, like it was always in place.

I didn't even have a really proper computer or any opportunity to type lots until I was around 13 or so anyway, and then I didn't have a modern sort of phone which I ever typed on until after I was maybe 30 or something close to that anyway, and with just one single finger (my thumb I think?) I am able to type at this same speed that I am using with all my fingers, to express myself in the same way. All my DagonVarunaMitraApolloZan username posts on this website and my activities on many other websites for some time were typed extremely rapidly with just my thumb.

I also learned how to use my mouse only to make very detailed art in MS Paint (a simple drawing program on the computer), so human beings can have a lot of neuro-flexibility to learn things quickly and become really good very, very quickly, so long as they feel enthusiastic about it, or a need, and they keep doing it repeatedly or even almost non-stop or with a high frequency.

I think I can only type as fast as I can think or as fast as speaking or the words occur to me (or nearly the same speed), and I don't focus on trying to be fast necessarily, just trying to be authentic, accurate, spelling right, remembering the spellings, and being really fluid and sincere in my expressions.

It has also basically made it so that entire lectures can build up very easily while I'm typing like this.

One other issue which irritates me a little though is not being trained or comfortable with prose writing, since I could with this talent be able to write entire books or novels in just a day or even a few hours overall, but when I write prose it just annoys me so much, most especially when I know what is going to happen and just stretching it out or wasting time seemingly. When I've done the best music making, drawing, or even fictional story writing, it seems to be when I myself don't even have much of a plan or know what is going to come about, which makes it sort of hard to get started though or to get to writing as soon as some vision occurs of what I might want or lead to, so its difficult to find that right balance where I have an idea but also don't know anything about it or where I'll go with it or what will happen.

I hope that I'll be able to overcome these things so that these abilities might be put to some extra uses and also potentially financially benefit me somewhat as well.
holy shirto_O .... us typing impaired are not worthy ....LOL
hope it works out....like robin williams he took his alleged disability and turned it into comic gold....well, sometimes he nailed it....
 

shunyadragon

shunyadragon
Premium Member
We often see atheists talking about religious beings as imaginary friends.

But what if we've got it backwards? What if God is the only one real, and the physical world and all the people in it are imaginary?

How would you go about proving that you're not a schizophrenic hallucination of a disturbed God? How do you prove you're real?

There is no possible way to 'prove' subjective claims such as above, it is contorted logic.
,
 

MNoBody

Well-Known Member
it just occurs to me that this whole forum may be seen as a place that doesn't really exist [people a hundred years ago would think us all bonkers to talk of such a place] where we talk with "friends" who are what, as substantial as a daydream in essence..... if the battery dies or the connection is lost then where is it..... if the data gets corrupted and is "lost" then where is the proof of all those years of effort and time served/spent?
.......o_O
 
holy shirto_O .... us typing impaired are not worthy ....LOL
hope it works out....like robin williams he took his alleged disability and turned it into comic gold....well, sometimes he nailed it....
What was his disability? Reading disability or something? I sort of remember something being mentioned. Yeah, I hope that my being able to write lots can give people hope that whatever people want can likely be achieved with lots of practice and repetition, so long as a person is able to do it at all, they can become really good at it or fluid with whatever, effortless like.

There is a tremendous value also in practicing extension expression, which is basically that you become really good at being vocal and vocalizing, with formulating your abstract thoughts into readable and repeatable or explicable language, and I have seen that with exposure to me, people might tend to end up loosening up their freedom of expression, increasing how much they write and express themselves, and also feel a lot better about being genuine and less pent up and closed off and interacting with someone else genuine. Its like people have been locked up for years not feeling free enough to really go for it and talk and let it all out, and then I come along and they see someone else doing it and they sort of start revving up and giving it a try more and more and at least report to me occasionally that it has really helped them feel like more whole people and more comfortable in the world and everything, even to become more likable overall.

I remember this one girl who used to be so shy and strange, and after exposure to communicating with me and trying to keep up and not giving up, she became one of the most charming talkers who could totally express their complex thoughts and ideas and feelings (I also talked to her lots on the phone for hours, which gave me practice as well holding conversations in my voice without any issue at all).

When I watch films and things at home, I am luckily in the company of people who I can make comments and jokes to about what is being seen, so that also keeps the mind very sharp and constantly producing material or things one can say which also has a pleasurable reaction.

If necessary, people should develop "imaginary friends" like Tom Hanks in that one movie, so that they keep up their language and thinking skills.
 
it just occurs to me that this whole forum may be seen as a place that doesn't really exist [people a hundred years ago would think us all bonkers to talk of such a place] where we talk with "friends" who are what, as substantial as a daydream in essence..... if the battery dies or the connection is lost then where is it..... if the data gets corrupted and is "lost" then where is the proof of all those years of effort and time served/spent?
.......o_O

Ghosts talking to ghosts, humanity died off long ago, and now the simulations only repeat! AHHH!!!
 
When fools compare various entities to "imaginary friends" it isn't deserving of any attention, frankly. That's giving them far more credit than the deserve as their comparison is little more than an infantile jab that demonstrates a failure to understand much about what they're referencing.

Yeah, most people who call another person's God or Spirit they refer to an "imaginary friend" are probably just trying to be meanies, as you basically pointed out.

I probably think it, but I might not say it!
 

MNoBody

Well-Known Member
Ghosts talking to ghosts, humanity died off long ago, and now the simulations only repeat! AHHH!!!
stuck in loops ....creatures of merciless habit and instinct locked away in the sub-conscious [inaccessible] [S.T.E.M'ed ..to use a recent tv series theme]
artificial life imagining it is real, because it "feels" real, but never really "feels" [certainly any "other" perspective other than their own is utterly alien to them, which they struggle to understand]..... this place is indeed very odd...curiouser and curiouser indeed
 
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