What do you believe?

I’ve listened and watched it so many times. Someone states what they claim to believe. They say something like everyone has value. Or they state that children are the future. Or that education is important. Or a whole host of other claimed beliefs.

And then when you watch what people do, their actions do not match with their stated beliefs. Often, their actions are in direct opposition to their stated beliefs. And their actions comes through in what they do, how they treat other people, themselves, and the rest of creation. It comes through in how they vote and who they align themselves with ideologically and theologically. It comes through in how their resources are used as well.

I have a working hypothesis about humanity based on observation related to this. I haven’t done any official study on this. So maybe I’m completely wrong. Maybe it’s just an observation of what I witness in South Central PA. Maybe it’s partially true and partially false. I don’t know and I don’t know how to test the hypothesis out.

My hypothesis is this — what people state is their belief is not really their actual belief but rather an aspirational belief. It’s something they wish was true, but recognize as not being true. It’s something they want to believe.

If you want to know what someone actually believes, watch what they do. Our actions reveal our actual beliefs. I remember reading that our core actual beliefs drive our actions and that we will not violate those beliefs except in rare occasions in which our lives…