Foolish Consistency?

:surrender::surrender::surrender:

Contradictions arise out of the mind's inability to resolve the dynamic nature of reality with its dualistic-&-static models of-it.

No one has, within their subconscious, contradictory beliefs. One's true beliefs are subconscious and manifest in action. Actions are not contradictory because they are fully manipulations of the phenomenal world, which is without paradox and always dynamic, flowing, becoming. The statement of belief is an operation of the exterior persona of the individual, and results in a perception, an abstraction, which, when pitted against the phenomenal reality of that person's beliefs (ie, that person's actions which stem from subconscious activity, re-routed to awareness through action) may arise in contradictions simply because that individual's imagination is weak, escapist and makes projections about reality which are inconsistent with reality.

Contradictory beliefs are a problem of language, perception, self-alienation and de-realization.

Please clarify this oracle by way of the example I gave earlier.

1 and 2 are a symptom of language, a construct of the individual's desires to appear a certain way publicly, ie the building of a persona. The persona is a construct of the individual's abstract projections of that individual's interpretation of himself within his environment (think of Heidegger's Dasein).

Assuming that your friend lives in America: (this assumption comes from the contextual clues of your post) Your friend's belief that "We have a moral duty not to exert unprovoked military power overseas" is not an Actual belief in that it does not align with phenomenal reality and only exists as an abstract projection of the persona, created with language. This is because she actively participates in a society which is bred to propagate an imperialistic Empire, and her active participation in this society negates #1 as a belief. This 'hiearcarchy' of beliefs shows that certain 'beliefs' are not beliefs in the Actual sense in that when one compares that belief with the reality of the situation, an inconsistency arises. Inconsistencies are not a given in nature; in fact, they do not appear in nature at all, but instead appear when our conceptualizations of reality fail to match reality in a proper way. This is made possible only through language and the construction of the exterior abstraction: persona. In other words, #1 as a belief is not an Actual belief about the justification of military action, it is a self-serving 'belief' utilized within the creation of a persona, as a means of societal, sexual, or political advancement of the self. Her actions in this case show that her Actual belief, stemming from within her essence and not filtered through the persona, is that the duty to sustain the immediate comfort and safety of herself and those that she cares about, is a duty that far outweighs the duty presented in #1. If she Actually-believed #1, this belief would manifest in her withdrawal from society to live life secluded in a cabin somewhere in the wild, growing her own sustenance.

As it stands, #1 and 2 are not beliefs so much as constructions of the persona, such that she may align herself within a certain societal catagorization that best suits her ideal of herself.

So you're saying that all Americans who participate in society believe in imperialism? This sounds like a reductio ad absurdum of your own claim.

What you truly believe is betrayed by your actions.

Everything else is an abstract construct of the persona, meant to fulfill your Absolute-Ideal of yourSelf as an Absolute Being.

Society--"the public"-- is an ideal of an overSelf. One's place within society, to a great extent, determines that person's ability to fulfill lack, or to fulfill need. This is a basic operation of sentient life. One creates one's persona, as a function of societal advancement.

The true Self is in fact a process of becoming, betrayed in every second, by every manifest action.


I'm not saying every American believes in Imperialism, I'm saying that if you live in America and have a belief about imperialism, it is not an Actual belief but a construct of the persona. This is because this belief is abstract and has no actual effect on reality. Your Actual belief, in that case, is that you are entitled to comfort and safety while others suffer.

People frequently regret or feel shame at actions. Some parts of a person's beliefs are revealed in their actions, but others are not. Actions are not all that there is to a person.

The regret or shame that you refer to is, again, a function of the persona in that the persona has absorbed the burden of socio-political expectations exerted on an individual, and the inconsistency that arises as a result is, again, from a failure of the individual's abstract projection to dovetail with reality. The Ideal created by the socio-political climate is an abstract construction, and the 'shame' arises only when one's true Self (actions) is shown to be inconsistent with the Ideal expectations exerted upon that Self. This happens simply because one loses a sense of belonging, which is #3 in maslow's hierarchy of needs.

You are correct in saying that a person's actions are not all there is to a person. As I have stated, the human brain simplifies dynamic reality into static models thereof, and these models may or may not be consistent with reality itself. There will always be a gap between our abstractions and the true nature of reality, but those conceptions that are closer to the Actual nature of things are better than those that are not. The construction of a persona involves a person's conceptualizations of the Self, and the beliefs espoused by that persona are abstract notions, constructed by language, meant only to secure that individual's persona a safe niche within society.

We are organisms, and all of our mechanisms for interacting with and dealing with reality, arise out of a process of survival. We react to our environment, and we have particulararly 'sophisticated' ways of doing such compared with the rest of the animals. However, this does not mean that what we say is part of reality. What we say is an attempt to model reality, such that we can use ourSelves to manipulate it. The persona is a sophisticated survival tool.

Hi,

Do you think there is some way to look at it other than being a problem? I don't think we should be so hard on ourselves for what amounts to a very common occurrence in our lives.

Rich

It is a problem because what it reveals is a fundamental issue of manipulation, control, desire for order.

When one's perception of oneself is controlled by ideological factors (socio-political norm, cultural zeigeist, etc.) one is ripe for ideological slavery.

He who is intellectually free may remain a prisoner, but at least he is no slave.

But this may not be an issue. All this seems to be a very natural aspect of human and universal behavior (habit). A child has random blocks and seeks to manipulate them and create order, maybe by stacking them. A bricklayer may have a bunch of bricks and assembles them to build a wall and then a house. The mind may be simply, as a matter of living, ordering chaos. Just as a thing to do.

Just a thought.

Rich

If that..........

Like being consistently impolite. That is something that can become very mechanical after a time. Sometimes, it pays to try something different, even if it is inconsistent.

Just a thought.

Rich

Changing opinions is one thing, incoherence is another