You Practice What You Believe and You Believe What You Practice
Discussing beliefs or leaps of faith is not an academic idea after all, all workers each day make many leaps of faith in risk. That’s what the word ‘risk’ means, you make a move and don’t know the outcome. Such is the essence of fallibility.
When we look at people rioting in the streets against a government, we are witnessing the actions of beliefs. When you believe something, you move. If you are not moved by your beliefs then they are just as set of ideas and can be easily jettisoned. However, when we talk about beliefs we are talking about deep held commitments to many things that all; drive a view of the world. All beliefs are shaped and formed through complex processes over time, as is indicated in the map below.
Thid map, shows just how complex belief formation develops and is sustained.
So, when we observe people in their work, we are witness to what they believe.
Similarly, if we hear people state certain language, we are listening to what they believe.
Similarly with symbols. This is why hate speech, Nazi symbols and salutes are banned and illegal.
All these indicators should then lead us to validation of belief through testimony. This is what happens in the court system. For example, if a court determines that someone believes in short cuts through testimony, they will be held accountable to their beliefs. We discussed this recently in our series on Justice in Safety (https://safetyrisk.net/what-is-justice-in-safety-video-part-two/). You can believe all you like about work, health and safety but ultimately it will be a court that decides the validity of those beliefs.
You can believe anything you want and those beliefs reveal your worldview.
Whether that worldview or those beliefs reflect reality is only determined over time and against evidence. But, I can have belief and faith in my football team as much I like and even if they lose the final, I still have belief and faith in them.
I can have faith and belief in my children, even after they hurt me or reject me, such is the nature of faith and belief.
It’s one of the most challenging things in living to questions one’s beliefs. This rarely happens without Cognitive Dissonance – https://safetyrisk.net/change-in-safety-and-cognitive-dissonance/.
You can believe workers on the ground are superior to academics, or you can believe that academics know nothing about down to earth practical work. I guess you would have to have a conversation with such a person and get to know such a person, to find out if those beliefs were real. Most often this is not how Safety forms beliefs.
Prof. Robert Long
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