“I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.” (Romans 7:17-20 MSG)
Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that results from the incongruities in your beliefs and behaviors. Here are a few examples: You think of honesty as a core value, but you lie sometimes. You love animals, but you eat them, too. You believe that climate change is a serious crisis, but you continue to contribute to the problem. You know that smoking is bad for your health, but you continue to do so.
We want to do good, but we don’t really do it; we decide not to do bad, but then we do it anyway. Our decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Deep within us, we sense the dissonance of incongruency. What do we do when our desires and our values are misaligned?
Most of us find ways to justify what we want to do even when they are contrary to our beliefs. This may take some mental gymnastics. The more we rationalize and prioritize our desires, the more pliable our values become. We hide our behaviors if we feel guilty or embarrassed. This may reduce the discomfort of public scrutiny, but it does not mitigate the sense of dissonance and shame we feel deep within our soul.
(Continued in the next post...)
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