Posted: Aug 22, 2015 3:55 pm
This is a more subtle question than it might first appear to be.
First if all, before anyone tries to play the "I have no principles" trick, everyone has principles, even if they claim t have the principle that there ARE no principles.
Anyway: what I'm asking this for, is to get to the varied motivations people have for developing, establishing, and then promoting life principles.
It's far from straightforward, in many cases. Many people start out as small children, and eagerly grab at what they think they understand the "rules" are, in order to avoid punishments and gain treats. Eventually, whatever they assemble using that somewhat haphazard process, becomes the "principles" they try to live by.
Many others, notice that when something is declared to BE a "principle," that it can come to have more authority, and allow them to tell others around them how to live. So they might at least claim to support a principle, only because it lets them push other people around, without ever bothering to apply the standards to them selves.
The main reason I am posting the question and making it personal, is that I have found that many people have never directly and consciously taken personal responsibility for all that they think they believe in. And it is this unconscious disconnect between a person's principles and their own lives, which leads to a ton of the most fundamental and enduring relationship problems of all kinds, for all of us.
So. Do you know why YOU have principles?
First if all, before anyone tries to play the "I have no principles" trick, everyone has principles, even if they claim t have the principle that there ARE no principles.
Anyway: what I'm asking this for, is to get to the varied motivations people have for developing, establishing, and then promoting life principles.
It's far from straightforward, in many cases. Many people start out as small children, and eagerly grab at what they think they understand the "rules" are, in order to avoid punishments and gain treats. Eventually, whatever they assemble using that somewhat haphazard process, becomes the "principles" they try to live by.
Many others, notice that when something is declared to BE a "principle," that it can come to have more authority, and allow them to tell others around them how to live. So they might at least claim to support a principle, only because it lets them push other people around, without ever bothering to apply the standards to them selves.
The main reason I am posting the question and making it personal, is that I have found that many people have never directly and consciously taken personal responsibility for all that they think they believe in. And it is this unconscious disconnect between a person's principles and their own lives, which leads to a ton of the most fundamental and enduring relationship problems of all kinds, for all of us.
So. Do you know why YOU have principles?