Axiom, maxim, I forget which
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What practically impacts your life more, what the people in your life believe or the actions they take?
It could be that your neighbor thinks stealing is wrong. This is of course something we’d all want our neighbors to believe. But what if this neighbor who believes stealing is wrong steals your barbecue pit anyway? From your perspective, what’s the difference between your neighbor that believes stealing is wrong but steals anyway vs a neighbor who feels no remorse from stealing yet claims to believe that they think it’s wrong? They might as well be one and the same from your perspective.
The main reason we place value on our neighbors belief that stealing is wrong to begin with is because it helps reassure us that they’re unlikely to steal from us or others. If they’re stealing anyway, then the belief has no real practical value.
Maybe what we think in our heart of hearts matters in some religions to God. For everyone else, it is your actions that make you who you are.
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