Coherence and Solidarity

These twin proposals of thinking, feeling and acting in the same direction and treating others as one wants to be treated, are so simple they might seem simply naive to those accustomed to complications. However, behind this apparent innocence there is a new scale of values where coherence is placed at the highest level; a new morality for which the type of action is not a matter of indifference; a new aspiration that involves being consistent in the effort of giving direction to the human events. Behind this apparent innocence is a wager placed on a truly evolutionary direction in personal and social life rather than one that leads to disintegration. Today we cannot count on the old values that once gave cohesion to people who held together in a social fabric that, day by day deteriorates because of mistrust, isolation and growing individualism. The ancient solidarity between the members of a given class, association, institution or group is increasingly being replaced by a savage competition that leaves unscathed, neither the bonds of the couple or the family. This process of demolition will not see a new solidarity arise based ideas and behaviors of a world that has vanished, but because of the concrete need that each one has to give direction to their own lives thanks to which they will have to modify their own environment. If that change is to be profound and true it is not something that can be brought about by the imposition of external laws, or through any kind of fanaticism but only through the power of opinion and the direct exchange of points of view between those that are part of the environment in which one lives.

 Coherent behavior

If we could think, feel and act in the same direction, if what we did was not in contradiction with what we felt, we could say our life has coherence. *We would be trustworthy with ourselves though not necessarily trustworthy for our immediate environment. We must obtain the same coherence in relation with others, treating them as we wish to be treated. We know that there can exist a type of destructive coherence as we observe in racists, exploiters, fanatics and the violent, but there incoherence is made clear in the relations they have, because they treat others in a way that is very different than what they desire for themselves. 

This unity of thought, feeling and action, this unity between the treatment that that is asked for and the treatment that is given are ideals that are not realized in daily life. And that is the point. This is about adjusting our behavior around these proposals, this is about values that, when taken seriously, give direction to life, not withstanding the difficulties in faced in trying to realize them. We should understand the objective as one of gaining ground over time. Even though our actions do not, at the start, coincide with them, here intentions do count – above all if those actions are sustained, improved and enlarged upon. These images of what we are trying to achieve give firm references that give direction in every situation. What we are saying is not very complicated. It wouldn’t surprise us, for example, if a person orients their life toward achieving wealth, even if they knew in advance that they wouldn’t achieve it. In any case, their ideal gives impulse to their actions even though it doesn’t have quite the results they wanted. Why then, could one not understand that although our age may not favor thinking, feeling and acting in the same direction,  nonetheless those vital ideals could give direction to human actions?