i have a question.

[Glorious Amok]

what's the difference between believing and make-believing? is there a difference? i'm sure there must be, but i guess i'm in a headspace where they suddenly seemed like two different names for the same thing... what do you think?

[Lightning Rod]

I don't believe that I am a believable authority on this subject
because my beliefs have both blessed and doomed me, I believe.

Some people will believe anything, Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny
or that the evil Bin Laden is under their bed.

Look at advertising. You can really make out on make-believe.
You can believe what you want but believe me when I say

Making believe is the very art of creating. Belief exists
and then it buys a suit of clothes called reality.

[Doreen Peri]

i don't know the difference between make believe and real, oGloriousOne... but i wrote this poem about it, circa 2001? no, earlier than that...... or it's about something else... beats me... i can't remember what any of my poems were about *smile*... but there's a little story that goes with this. It has to do with my daughter, now 11, who was about 7 at the time and her friend who was a year older. I told them that if they took the maple leaf and tore it in half and made a wish and truly BELIEVED the wish would come true, it WOULD... And so they did. But guess what? They thought the maple leaves were called "Make Believes".... heh... Thus the inspiration. "And so it goes"- Kurt Vonnegut... So, without further ado, here's the darn poem.... whatever it means, it means and if you truly BELIEVE it means something to you, then it does and if it doesn't, if you MAKE belive it does, it would honor me and humor me

------------
make believes

i'm swimming
in the words now
and i don't know how long
i've been here,
smooth dreaming
in the exotic space
of groves,
anaesthetized
by how my soul
jackknifed into
my nature,
whole,

my goal
simply to arrive

blanketed by
the embrace of now
since that's all there
really is, you know,
that's all there really is,
and so

i watch the elms
make
make believes
and maple leaves
turn up,
awaiting rain,
and i run barefoot
on the gravel
once again.

funny where the mind goes
in its travel
knowing yet
not knowing
where it's been.

.....eradicate my fortune,
.....steal my guilt and loss,
.....overcast my doubts with dawn,
.....glaze my lips with gloss.
.....let me speak of make believes,
.....maple leaves to wish,
.....warm my soul without control,
.....in an off'ring dish.

i'm darting in between the trees,
a butterfly, wings snatched,
the catch
a putting down
inside an album stored,
a later date of fate, perhaps,
since time can't be ignored.

.....the smell of pride
.....has lenses wide
.....in zoomed photography,
.....now framed and named
.....like light which plays
.....analysis of me

don't lecture me.
there's nothing new in nature.
squirrels still search
for acorns to adorn
their nests
and tests
of time
bring love still
to my breast.

there's nothing new.
i'm still the rapture
of my blue.

.....up in the trees
.....there are make believes,
.....and maple leaves, my hopes.
.....so sticky in the truths i know
.....of dreams which slide on slopes.
.....i'm swimming in the wording now,
.....i'm floating on wish
.....i study me
.....and all i see
.....upon a petri dish

[Glorious Amok]

wow, that is an incredibly beautiful poem. whole images were moving in my head along with the maple leaves and the rains.

what a glorious myth-understanding your daughter has made!

[magicmystery]

simply put Making-believe is what you really wish
at times you could make yourself believe

I know... Doreen writes some real hummmmdingers...

I am still waiting for her to revive the sonet about
flying into the fire of love.
I am really hoping that she did keep that one
before being banished from the Kingdom of Pip by King Ron.
I have been a Long time fan of hers.

Sherry

[Lightning Rod]

I read that maple leaf/make believe poem before I ever met doreen

I made believe and here I am.

I'm a long-time fan of her's too

[anniefay]

wow! great question... and good replies.

when discussing this idea i think i need 3 words...

believe... are things i have complete confidence in. e.g. i believe in my daughter, her talent and her future. she is an awesome woman with much to contribute. i believe she will make a contribution to her world.

make believe is something i do when i just let my mind go and get lost in idle daydreams. it's sitting in my recliner and looking around me and thinking how i want to fix up my home... if i win the lottery, if i had the money. it is just pure fun; delightful fantasy. but when i went out and bought paint, brushes and redid our spare room to turn it into an office my fantasy became reality, because I believed i could do it. it's nice when that happens

know is what i know absolutely. i know God and that He is a integral part of my life. i walk with him and talk to him. He is not fantasy... he is absolute reality. of course, there are the naysayers who blatantly tell me that i live in a fantasy world where my faith in God is concerned. but that doesn't really concern me. becaue i KNOW god. just like i know there's air in the world around me... and day follows night... and some people will groan outload when they read this.

isn't variety wonderful?

[mtmynd]

believe is something you innately know

and

make believe is something that your conditioned to believe or make yourself believe...

would you believe that..?

[dttype]

I believe the difference between "believe" and "make-believe" is that one of them has the word "make" and a hyphen.

Seriously, "believe" is what Republicans think when they see a pro-Bush commercial. "Make-believe" is what the folks who created the commercial did.

[mnaz]

Yes...

We have a winner!

dttype, you nailed it!..... Great answer!

[hester_prynne]

I think believe is closer to an accepted reality, whereas make believe is a more authentic reality.
for example, I believe that I am talking to other people right now via the computer, but I'm also making believe that you are all naked at your computers too. Make believe is so much more fun!

[Doreen Peri]

*bump*

[panta rhei]

believe:
to trust in / know that something is true

make-believe:
to allege / pretend / fake / simulate / play that something is true

[judih]

make believe

put all your ideas and preconceptions aside and pretend as if you are going along with a 'belief'

believe

believe me - open your heart and trust me totally - bring along all that you are and surrender yourself to this.

i believe
all of me and all that i can call myself has faith in this thing, this belief