This is http://www.essayz.com/a8911171.htm Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay Click HERE on this line to find essays via Your-Key-Words. {Most frequent wordstarts of each essay will be put here.} ========================================================== %PROFOUND EXPECTATIONS GUIDE CONSEQUENCES DECISION 891117 Consequences are not determined uniquely by the nature of our decisions and actions. Consequences follow equally from our most profound expectations. Our less profound expectations may guide our decisions and actions, but it is our most profound expectations which guide the consequences of our decisions and actions. If we profoundly expect that the consequences of our decisions and actions will be personal and communal disintegration, such disintegration tends to be the consequence of whatever we decide to do. If we profoundly expect that the consequences of our decisions and actions will be progress towards personal and communal integrity, such integration tends to be the consequences of whatever we decide to do. If we expect conformity to prescriptive standards of behavior (along with expecting alienation in association with failures to conform), then we most profoundly expect personal and communal disintegration to be the consequences of our decisions and actions. Our most profound expectations guide the consequences of our expectations of conformity. If we accept personal and communal disintegration as the natural consequence of failures to conform, we more profoundly expect such disintegration than we expect genuine conformity. The expected disintegration becomes to us the natural consequence of the natural and healthy refusal to conform to coercive behavioral expectations. Consequences are not determined uniquely by the nature of our decisions and actions. Consequences follow equally from our most profound expectations. Our less profound expectations may guide our decisions and actions, but it is our most profound expectations which guide the consequences of our decisions and actions. If we profoundly expect that the consequences of our decisions and actions will be personal and communal disintegration, such disintegration tends to be the consequence of whatever we decide to do. If we profoundly expect that the consequences of our decisions and actions will be progress towards personal and communal integrity, such integration tends to be the consequences of whatever we decide to do. Within purely objective relationships consequences can be anticipated reliably in terms of purely objective considerations. Within reflexive relationships consequences are led as much by reflexive considerations as by objective considerations. It is unwise to anticipate the consequences of reflexive decisions and actions in terms of purely objective considerations. In observing objective relationships from a distance it is not important to distinguish between anticipations and expectations. Within reflexive relationships it is difficult to distinguish the difference between anticipation and expectation. Within reflexive relationships anticipations often become expectations which guide in major ways the course of events. Within reflexive relationships anticipations do not alone determine the consequences of decisions and actions. Reflexive relationships are more subtle and difficult to understand, than are objective relationships which are observed from a distance in ways which seek to minimize the consequences of being participants in the relationships. To be wise, and to understand the consequences of our participation in reflexive relationships, we need to be aware of the profound differences which exist between the detached anticipation of an observer of objective relationships, and the influential expectation of a participant in a web of reflexive relationships. (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================