religion and your views on your dolls.

Myself, I'm not even convinced that souls exist at all. I was raised catholic, but have very much lost my faith in any sort of higher power. Sometimes I wish I could believe in god or spirits, magic or souls... but I just can't. It doesn't make sense to me at all. To make myself feel better, I'm willing to tell myself that I believe people have "energy" that gets recycled, like reincarnation, but I'm not sure I believe it.

Being an atheist, though, I believe that religion and things of that nature are intended to make people feel better about things they can't control. If your religion/beliefs makes you happy and comfortable with the world, then as long as you're not hurting anyone by following your religion, by all means. Don't let me stop you.

Likewise, I never try to convince people that their god/belief system isn't real. It's not my business to destroy other peoples' illusions.


My atheism makes story telling a lot easier because I don't have to worry about "sinful" thoughts and I don't worry that creating demonic characters and basing them on religious canon will somehow call that demon to me. My next doll after Isar is going to be a DC Pierre that will be named after (though not really based on) the demon Valefor. The site I found that name on suggested that you not speak the demons' names aloud because that would call them to you. If I believe in that sort of thing, that would've put me off the doll idea that I am currently very attracted to. :P

 

I do not believe in the concept of souls, but I believe in the transfer of energy. I am aware that my dolls are not living organisms (i.e. undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, able to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and adapt to the environment) like humans (and yes, test tube babies ^^), animals or plants, but I am fond of idea that my dolls "absorb" the energy that is conferred to them (e.g. by the sculptor, face-up artist or by me while playing with them). To me a doll becomes more "energetic"/"lively"/beautiful the more I care for them. With some of my plush toys, it's even more so... I have one plush sheep which has been with me for around 25 years now and I consider him as a very powerful object. But still they are objects and not living things. I guess an object might never be able to cross a certain border regardless of the energy that is put into it.

 

To me, a doll is an inanimate object which doesn't have a soul of its own, but I do believe that our connection with and attraction to our dolls can imbue them with something special, even if it is our own spirit or in our own minds. They are only as alive or as spiritual as we make them.

 

Why must religion be brought into it?

Inanimate objects are not alive. I do say "doll soul" to indicate that they have a distinct personality, but I don't actually believe in the existence of "souls". (That's right, I don't believe that anyone or anything has a soul.)

 

In my religion we do not believe in an immortal soul for humans, so obviously that affects the way I feel about my dolls. I do not believe they have souls or need any special care. They're for us to enjoy how we want to.

 

Something I think the original post was trying to get at was whether naming something gives it a soul. Take some inanimate objects here: I have a Toyota Echo (a car). It has a name that was given to it by the company that made it, an Echo. I have a Fender Stratocaster guitar. Same thing. Fender named that guitar a Stratocaster. Does a car or a guitar have a soul just because it was named? I don't think so.

Now, I'm an athiest. Most people who believe in some sort of religion would argue that only humans have souls, or only living beings have souls, or something inbetween. What is a soul then? It doesn't really feel like we have a consistent definition.

Dolls are not living beings. They may look human-like, but they are not alive. Is it wrong to name them and give them a personality and talk to them even if they're not alive? I don't think so. People talk to inanimate objects all the time. The best example I can think of is I see people yell at computers when they aren't working all the time.

 

Ho boy....This is a difficult conversation...For one I'm Pagan (please no one preach their religion down my throat for it) and I have a firm belief that everything around us has some sort of energy.

But do I believe a doll has a spirit? I honestly am unsure....Because until I get a doll in my hands it's just that a shell....But as I've heard before: "To give something a name is to give it power." Give your dolls a name your giving them a bit of power. The energy and love you have for them pours into it.

Personally I don't want to give too much into my views because personally that is my business and my business alone....That and whilst I haven't been here long I don't wanna get chased off by people telling me off about my religion....I know it's likely forbidden but I don't wanna tempt anyone.

 

Arashi Uchiha, no one on DoA is going to comment on or criticise your religious beliefs - members' religions are off-topic for the forum, as are other controversial topics like war and politics! Feel free to be yourself!

If it helps, you're certainly not alone in your thoughts. Many other members believe that by loving a doll, that gives the doll energy and a life-force of a kind. Many others haven't decided...and many others still, don't believe dolls are anything other than people-shaped resin.

 

Thank you Jescissa. I had read the rules but on other forums even mentioning it got me pretty much kicked in the arse outta there.

I definitly respect that many other members feel the same and I'm quite glad that this place is just full of nice people and thought prevoking debates.

And seeing everyone's views is a nice idea.

 

It seems to me we are talking alot about personal beliefs here, so I'll tell you personally I am a Christian. I also have a mild obsession with names. I'm usually pretty good about checking out the meaning of a name before I even name a doll. I don't believe that it gives the doll any kind of soul, although I've found that if you have the meaning of a name, it oftentimes gives insight into the character of the person.(That's what sparked my interest) I wanted the same to be true of my dolls, so I looked up names by meaning and gave them names that fit with the character I imagined for them.
In all my research I have never found anything that states that a name will draw a demon to a person just because they said it aloud. I don't doubt that there are people that believe that, and I know that there have been times when I do something I know is wrong strange things happen, but that doesn't mean that it happens to everyone.

 

I always find it fascinating that many so-called 'hard-core' atheists (or skeptics) tend to ignore me when I state that a) I'm Pagan & b) believe in science (yay, quantum physics) which c) for me explains so much of the strange around us & that d) what OUR science can explain is a scratch on the tip of the iceberg of what our scientists will understand about the world even in 100 years.
Thus when I talk about dolls (or other objects) collecting energy in some way, I'm saying point-blank that at some time science will EXPLAIN that phenomena.
Putting me a bit in the atheist camp - except I find spirituality extremely important for the psyche.

 

A 'soul' in the sense of the essence of a personality doesn't come from a name. A name, like clothing is only what is on the outside.

Therefore a doll is still what it is no matter what you call it.

What makes a doll different is how it is thought of and treated by it's owner. That is the bottom line.

 

Alright now I definietly believe my dolls have some sort of essance about them after my dream about Sanya last night. With how it was it was like she was screaming at me just to bring her home already and to stop wasting time.....And to also bring her little sister Prim home with her.

I was thinking of getting an RS Bei eventually to be a sibling for her but yeesh last night's dream was so vivid I knew it was her....

 

I am one of those calling myself an Atheist. I do borderline agnostic at times though.
For me being an Atheist simply means that I do not believe in God or Gods and find religion to be nothing but pure nonsense and evil. I does not stop me from believing in the energy that everything is made out of or that Quantum Physics can explain a lot. I stay open minded.
I have been very spiritual in the past and can not be sure that I will stay Atheist for the rest of my life.
Right now though I am keeping myself focused on what I have right before my eyes (dolls, games and artsy stuff) and the joy they bring me. Curious how a piece of plastic can make one so happy.

 

Wow. I have the exact same feeling/thought. I don't like to think of my doll having a soul because that frightens me a bit. But I really do cherish my doll, and I know she will be apart of my life till I no longer exist.

 

So perfectly stated that I cannot possibly add anything more insightful. I thoroughly agree!

 

There is nothing either inherently godly or satanic about dolls in and of themselves. Dolls are hunks of plastic (wood, porcelain, composition, paper, whatever). They have no conscious life of their own. I will allow for the possibility that a doll, like any cherished object, can develop a spiritual essence if well-loved and treasured. And don't forget the common Asian belief that any object over a century old can develop a soul of its own. No ABJD is old enough to have that problem yet, but in eighty years or so, watch out.

 

I'm sort of a skimmer, so please don't get mad that I didn't read absolutely everything, but I think my doll has a soul. Thing is, her feet get dirty. All the time. I'll clean them and then leave her alone for the rest of the day, and the next morning the bottom of her feet are all dirty again. She sits everywhere, so she's not getting it from standing in stuff. It honestly looks like she's been walking around. That's all I have to say. Call me paranoid or whatever. I'm Christian and all, but I do believe in spirits.

 

I consider myself Monotheis. I belive in God and all but I refuse to attach myself to one form or another. The part of religion that names itself is the part I just cant do. I am intrested in learning about different belief in other cultures. I tend to stay away from darker evils thought. My dolls tend to flow from every walk of like they have been everything from angels to demons. They have been egyptian gods and they have been greek goddess. I have a nice balance of my dolls now and I find they change with what I am intrested at the most. My dolls reflect the reverance I feel towards certain religious ways more then others. They are all very intresting and a joy to learn about but some stick out and mold into my own way of life more then others. I like having my dolls to represent that.

As for doll themselves I think anything can get a soul over time.Anything loved and cheristy has some thing that gives it the spark of life. I don't think they can run around and go on adventures but I think they can react in ways to postive and negative energies like we as humans do.

 

Atheism is not the same as a lack of spirituality, though. That's a common misconception, and it does get a little tiring to have to keep explaining yourself! ("I said 'atheist', not 'nihilist'!") Theists assume that just because you don't believe in a god, you have no form of spirituality about you-- that you believe in nothing, that you might as well have no soul (and, by extension, no voting rights, according to some serious wackjobs in our halls of power).

I and an an awful lot of atheists I know have very rich spiritual lives & are perfectly comfortable with our own spirituality as we choose to understand it. Your spirituality is self-defined.... it's your own personal grasp of how you & other people/creatures fit into the world and relate to each other. If you have no organized religion controlling what you are & aren't allowed to believe, there's nothing to stop you feeling like your BJD's got some kind of mojo, even if they might not strictly have a spirit/soul the way people do.

Also... many theists also do accept the fact that science & religion can coexist, that you can maintain your belief in a god while still accepting Science's explanations about the universe & how humanity fits into it; that their god works through science. Many theists don't accept this at all, of course, but that's a catfight for them to work out between themselves. If you've never watched Robert Kuhn's "Closer to Truth", he tackles this Belief Vs. Science debate every time, talking to top theologians & scientists both, and it's always fascinating. (I argue madly with the TV while I watch it, but he always throws out some searching question to make you stop & ponder.)

Does she wear black socks/stockings? That'll do it. ^^