I don't believe in pixies, is there a label for me, and is that a belief system?

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Haha!
...I thought you were never speaking to me again after the 'other' thread though!
Your reply was appreciated and made me chuckle

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
Absolutely! You are an apixiest (or the cruder "Apixists" that Disraeli uses).

Linguistic arguments are even more fun than religious ones.
So let me point out that the suffix has to be "-ist".
Presumably the original form of the word was "Apixieist". In the course of time this must have been abbreviated and written as "Apix'ist", and modern usage would then omit the apostrophe. I expect the OED would confirm.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Haha excellent!

So, does an Apixist require any faith to lack belief, does the word have darker connotations, or does the term require a descriptive prefix such as 'militant' 'evangelical' or whatever?

originally posted by: Moresby

originally posted by: grainofsand
In the region of the UK I live there has been a long held belief in pixies:
en.wikipedia.org...

Before the mid-19th century, pixies and fairies were taken seriously in much of Cornwall and Devon. Books devoted to the homely beliefs of the peasantry are filled with incidents of pixie manifestations. Some locales are named for the pixies associated with them. In Devon, near Challacombe, a group of rocks are named for the pixies said to dwell there.

Indeed there are still annual festivals and rituals celebrating these mythical entities, and a decent trade in pixie trinkets and such like.
I know a couple of old folk who live in the moors and still believe they are real, although most rational folk doubt it these days.
The pixie folklore has been handed down through word of mouth for generations, but as far as evidence that is pretty much it.

Personally I don't believe in pixies because I have seen nothing in my life to draw me towards believing that they exist. I have an open mind though so if I met one myself or there was convincing evidence to show they exist then I would happily change my opinion. That is a logical position to take.

So I ask, is my lack of belief in pixies a belief system in itself, as often claimed for those who lack any belief in gods, or just rational thinking and an open mind looking at the evidence and finding nothing to draw one towards a belief?
And may I also ask what would be the label for one who does not believe in pixies, you know, like atheist for those who do not believe in gods?

Read Jacques Vallee's "Passport to Magonia". You might actually believe in pixies without knowing it. You just call them something else.

Ooh that is interesting!
Thanks for replying, just read a few reviews about the book, my order it on Amazon, nice one.

originally posted by: grainofsand
So, does an Apixist require any faith to lack belief, does the word have darker connotations, or does the term require a descriptive prefix such as 'militant' 'evangelical' or whatever?

Didn't I answer that question in my previous post?

originally posted by: DISRAELI
Once the Apixists begin aggressively sneering at and attempting to undermine the faith of the Pixists, then the Pixists will look for ways of fighting back.
One of them might work by unconsciously defining Apixism as " a conviction that all faith is wrong"; on that basis, if Apixism can be defined as a form of faith, then Apixism is being shown up as self-contradictory.

I think apixists have to be put into two camps.

Those who have heard of pixies and actively disbelieve in them and

Those who have never heard of pixies at all so simply do not believe in something they have never heard of

Now, pixists might argue that the first group have a faith that pixies do not exist, but they cannot argue that a person who has never heard of a pixie must have faith in their non-existence.

This opens up fertile grounds for mischief. You find an apixist who has never heard of pixies and inform him of the debate about their existence or non-existence. He now has to actively believe or disbelieve in them.

Let's say he continues in his disbelief, which is now informed disbelief. And, you have another convert to the faith of apixists. Does that make you an evangelical apixist?

a reply to: DISRAELI

a reply to: berenike

Cheers both, brilliant comments I can't come back with any decent lines, just chuckling to myself on the sofa, nice one!

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Haha!

...I thought you were never speaking to me again after the 'other' thread though!

I don't even remember what it was now, but I was MAD! It's probably best that I don't recall...

a reply to: DISRAELI

Hey, you're right! LOL!

Yeah, that's it!

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

So are you a pixist or apixist then BH?
Does your position require faith?

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

So are you a pixist or apixist then BH?

Does your position require faith?

I'm an agnostic apixist. I doesn't require any more faith than my a-unicornist position does.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

But there's no such thing as an agnostic apixist, everyone knows that!
Apixist is good enough, you don't believe in pixies.


*Edit*
To clarify, I was teasing, of course there are agnostic apixists as there are also agnostic pixists.

I'll have you know that us people who believe in pixies have the same legal rights as other religions. Don't you dare challenge my belief system or I'll accuse you of being racist even though you said nothing to indicate that you were being racist, à la Islam.

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: windword

So is my lack of belief in pixies a belief system then?
The majority of folk I know don't believe in them either...does that make it a religion?!

You lack of belief is actively killing my pixies! Like it or not, I've sucked into my reality, and your hatred for my pixies has real consequences for your fate, and you know it!

Of course pixies are real, silly humans!

originally posted by: grainofsand

originally posted by: Moresby

originally posted by: grainofsand
In the region of the UK I live there has been a long held belief in pixies:
en.wikipedia.org...

Before the mid-19th century, pixies and fairies were taken seriously in much of Cornwall and Devon. Books devoted to the homely beliefs of the peasantry are filled with incidents of pixie manifestations. Some locales are named for the pixies associated with them. In Devon, near Challacombe, a group of rocks are named for the pixies said to dwell there.

Indeed there are still annual festivals and rituals celebrating these mythical entities, and a decent trade in pixie trinkets and such like.
I know a couple of old folk who live in the moors and still believe they are real, although most rational folk doubt it these days.
The pixie folklore has been handed down through word of mouth for generations, but as far as evidence that is pretty much it.

Personally I don't believe in pixies because I have seen nothing in my life to draw me towards believing that they exist. I have an open mind though so if I met one myself or there was convincing evidence to show they exist then I would happily change my opinion. That is a logical position to take.

So I ask, is my lack of belief in pixies a belief system in itself, as often claimed for those who lack any belief in gods, or just rational thinking and an open mind looking at the evidence and finding nothing to draw one towards a belief?
And may I also ask what would be the label for one who does not believe in pixies, you know, like atheist for those who do not believe in gods?

Read Jacques Vallee's "Passport to Magonia". You might actually believe in pixies without knowing it. You just call them something else.

Ooh that is interesting!
Thanks for replying, just read a few reviews about the book, my order it on Amazon, nice one.

You're welcome!

a reply to: grainofsand

Well, if groups start congregating and actively engaging those who believe in pixies, it can start to border on evangelical behavior. Once buildings and symbols start to be built in the social groups name, then it begins to take on many of the same qualities as a "traditional" religion.

The human brain doesn't necessarily process "voids," or absent information. There might be a moment of impartiality at the introduction of a new piece of information.. but if we begin to explore that information at all, bias is actively introduced. How quickly the information is accepted or rejected tends to be based in how much time has been spent building specific sets of neural pathways.

Even if an individual rejects specific information, they can still dedicate just as much of their thoughts and daily life to the subject as someone who accepts it. And if the information is always approached with the purpose of confirming existing pathways, they become larger and more automatic/habitual regardless of acceptance or rejection.

Apixism becomes a religion (or a cult, at the very least) when the apixists begin to exhibit predictable group behaviors, such as hurling spiteful insults at the pixist at every opportunity and suing the pixist at the most trivial perception of social slight.

a reply to: grainofsand

Sure. Like the old testament god.

a reply to: NthOther

So a religion is now whenever perceived insults or criticisms are thrown at a group? Or when a groups bigotry is confronted?

That's like me saying a religion is whenever a group play the victim card whenever their bigotry is pointed out.....