There are many ways to skin a cat as they say, many way to get to the same point. Everyone has a set of conscious or unconscious values that come together to build a framework that drives movements. Most spend less time thinking about their value system than talking about what they value.
People are very quick to tie themselves verbally to a position such as a religious doctrine or political leaning without actually investigating both the depth of it, alternatives or more importantly, how they currently interact in their life and what they are willing to change in their actions.
What do you believe, and what do you do? A truly held belief system cannot conflict with action as if it is truly believed, the value system is developed to enact it. Technically, a real believer could never break their belief until such time the belief has been proven false or unworthy of adherence. At this time of course, it is no longer a belief.
In my opinion a value system is inseparable from the actions of a person as the system is at the core of action itself. For example, a person can believe in equality of the sexes but, if they act out of accordance with this, can they really say they believe as it is not strong enough to change their behavior to live it.
If one really wants to understand their own value system, they need to get out of the concept of it and into the movement of it. The concept of values and beliefs is in the mind, in thought and the thoughts are a story told that often is biased by preference and ideals. The actions are movements that are based on the sum of all the components of the body. Although actions can be faked for an audience, the body can never do what the body cannot do, regardless of what one believes the body can or can't do.
There is a purity in action that is impossible in thought and words as most of the drivers within it are involuntary. That is not to say, they cannot be developed nor deteriorated through lack of use or misuse. Attending to the behavior of action can uncover a whole range of information that points to values within.
This would likely be true in understanding others too as watching the behavior with experience, one can infer what is going on in the head. Like a brain scanner that lights up sections of the brain when some process is undertaken. However, with more and more online behavior, are we losing the ability to read the body?
Spend enough time paying attention to enough people and behavior patterns can be extracted to predict how a person may act or react to different kinds of stimuli. This would be some of the idea behind understanding a culture. A culture is not what a book says the culture is like, it is how society functions in the day to day world. The values of a culture as a whole can be inferred from the actions of a culture as a whole. The individual values however cannot.
Individual actions are unique to the individual and even though one can claim membership of a particular group, nationality or culture, the variation of values within can be immense. A group claiming to be peaceful does not mean every member within is, a culture of charity does not mean that greed is non-existent.
I see that this conflict between what is said and what is acted is a major cause of suffering for an individual as there is a constant misalignment between reality and expectation. It can be disappointed in someone when they ay they will do something and then fail to perform. How does it feel to see that in the self?
Many do not however see it, but they do feel it. When the body acts independently of the mind and reacts in ways contrary to how it is believed it will, it is still noticed, even if it doesn't immediately come to conscious awareness. It feels bad in experience, uncomfortable. Not physically necessary, mentally. When the mind comes against actions of the body that it believes are not in line with its values, the mind suffers.
How can I belief this is true of myself, if my experience tells me it is not the way I act? It is akin to virtue signalling to the self but knowing that you are doing it. Believing one is not a murderer while simultaneously killing people is a difficult position to be in and if viewed from externally what would one think? If someone 'truly' believes they are not a killer while killing, an observer would assume they are psychologically broken as their two positions are obviously in conflict.
So, why don't we apply the same objectivity to our own belief systems and contrast them against our actions? I would suggest it is because we do not want to know. Do not want to admit that we are flawed in our thinking or do no want to change our actions to come into line with what we believe we believe.
The idea of looking into the mirror, being the change is often just a concept thrown around to signal awareness and morality but, rarely applied practically. And it is in practice that matters, not belief. We are not our actions but our actions point heavily to what we hold as values and how we enact them.
A loving husband and father who beats their child while drunk may believe they do it out of love, is it true? A soldier who kills for country can believe it is to protect their own values of peace, is it true? A woman who believes she fights for equality while generalising the actions of men, is it true?
I don't know what is true or untrue but for me personally I have found the more I explore my behaviors and beliefs, the more conflict I find and upon the discovery, change can take place. Sometimes it means changing the action as the belief is a better position, sometimes changing the belief as the action is the better. Over time, I find that my mind suffers less and perhaps, just maybe I cause a little less suffering to those with which I interact.
I can't speak for what is truly in the mind of others but can infer by comparing their words to actions. Which is more telling of the value system do you think?
Taraz
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