People energize their lives by identifying and satisfying their own values. They develop their beliefs according to their values that are influenced by their culture, religion and society. Then the internal morality is developed which holds the ethics to determine the good and bad. Our behaviours are the final outcome that hold-up our character. Values, beliefs and morality systematically generate our behaviours. Our character is understood by our behaviours.
Every person has their own values, beliefs and morality which shapes their character. Simply, a character is a set of capabilities that allows people to achieve their potential. In other words, a character is who you are when no one else watching you. When considering Values, Beliefs and morality; Values determine how we live and how we tell the difference between right and wrong, Beliefs are assumptions or convictions we hold as true about something and Morality is about what is ‘right or wrong or what is ‘good or evil’. We can define what are the qualities of good character and bad character by using these three aspects.
WHAT ARE THE VALUES?
Values are strong beliefs about how the world should be, about how people should normally behave & about preference over conditions of life. Values frequently derive from a person’s cultural, ethical and religious background, traditions and from values held by the peer group and family. People need societal values to feel accepted and they need personal values to produce a sense of individuality. The internal values influence us in decision making during our entire lifetime. The importance of human values is that when we have some values, it becomes consciously or unconsciously controlling our actions.
Human values can be categorized in many ways. Among them, values are divided into foundation, focus and future values. Foundation values are the values that provide a solid foundation to our lives. If humans live out of their foundation values, habitually they maintain a stressful life. It will demand most of our energy to satisfy the threatened foundation values.
Focus values depend on our priorities. Our present world view decides what should be our focus values. They determine the criteria for decision making. Focus values define our attitudes towards the relationship among the others. We should pay more attention to focus values because it determines the targets of our life.
Future values represent the future that we are moving into. These values have developed the future that is not yet fully developed. These values keep us alive in our future.
Knowing our own values and practising them lead us to appreciate diversity and experience a significant life. People who are unaware of their own values always having a negative world view. Shared values are the basis of our relationships. If we value something, it will have motivated us. Then we try to believe it.
WHAT ARE THE BELIEFS?
Beliefs are something that we believe and accept as true. They are the assumptions we make about ourselves, others, and how we expect things to be. Beliefs can be affected by others and beliefs are easy to change. Our values stem from our beliefs and beliefs become the bridge over to our behaviours.
Belief can cause because of various resources. Through our own experiences or from our own experiments we come to beliefs. Naturally, human beings are inclined to their culture, religion and race. We believe in the acceptance of those cultural and societal norms. Based on education or mentoring we believe what other people say.
WHAT IS MORALITY
Morality can be defined as a system of rules for guiding human conduct and principles for evaluating those rules. Those are the decisions, actions and attitudes regarding something in between good and bad. Simply it can be defined as goodness and badness. Morality derives from the values and beliefs of humans. For a society, morality is a generally accepted standard of behaviour within the society at a point in time. Morality always has consequences as good or bad.
Ethics are the moral principles that conduct the moral theories and define what is good and bad. Our morality is energized by our attitudes towards our cultural values and social norms. Our internal morality is shown through our behaviours. Then our character is depending on our morality.
THEIR IMPACT ON CHARACTER
Values define what we should believe or not and if it is to change it according to our wish. Our beliefs construct what we should hold as true. They lead us to build our morality according to our cultural, emotional, societal background. When our morality is developed automatically we react according to what we internalized. Then it visualizes our character to others while fulfilling our relationships.
When actions and words are aligned with values, life is generally good, and we feel content, confident and satisfied. A person who lives up to the ideals of his humanity is said to have a good character. Some values help us to maintain a good character. Those values are respect, fairness, honesty and etc. You show respect when you treat others as you want to be treated and refrain from violence. You are fair when you abide by the rules and do not take advantage of others. You are honest when you refuse to lie, steal or mislead anyone. Likewise, these values help us to maintain a good character.
When a person falls below the expectation he is said to have bad character. Some values cause to have a bad character. Those values are Inability to accept setbacks, Helplessness and absence of persistence, A tendency to lean towards pessimism, Weak imagination and an inability to visualize desired outcomes and etc.
Beliefs can shape our Character, not only by influencing our own behaviour but also by influencing other people’s behaviour. To have a good character we should have positive beliefs about ourselves. For an instance, people who believe that to live a successful life they must help others, they do more generous things and that helped them to have a good character. While guilt can motivate self-improvement, shame tends to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, reducing hope and undermining efforts to change.
Behaviour refers to the way we behave by giving actions and reactions to others. Our internalized values, beliefs and morality train our behaviours which is the channel to express ourselves to the outside world. Behaviour can be changed according to the purpose and person. Usually, we consider a person with good behaviours who has polite manners and respect for others.
Every behaviour directed by the character. We can accomplish something by ourselves through developing our character. To fit into the levels of society, we need good character. Character reveals the qualities of the particular person. Those qualities make us different from others. Character equipped with values, beliefs and morality and creates an image about ourselves.
Values shape our beliefs. Beliefs develop our morality. Morality determines our behaviours. Then the nice behaviours design our character. Character reflects who am I to the outside world. Knowing our own values, beliefs and morality helps us to develop a remarkable character.