Trust (glossary entry)
The word trust is usually taken to exist in belief, i.e. the mental or intellectual part of the mind:
trust n. firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or
strength or someone or something.
-- New Oxford American Dictionary
But trust, as used in these pages, also includes a sense of security (or lack of such a sense) that can exist without any explicit belief (cognitave awareness). In other words, I consider trust to be a phenomenon that can exist in each of the levels of reality.
"Types", "Categories", or "Facets"
As outlined in the gaining trust article, trust can be roughly broken up into types or categories, illustrated by example:
- You have physical trust if you're confident that you won't suffer physical harm: for example, physically-trusting a person might mean you're confident they won't punch you.
- You have emotional trust if you're confident that you won't suffer emotional harm: for example, if you're confident a person won't "make fun" of you in a humiliating way.
- You have intellectual trust if you're confident that you won't be deceived or otherwise disadvantaged by knowledge: for example, if you're confident a person won't lie to you about something important.
Trust can be broken up further into many subcategories or individual facets, corresponding to all the different things that might conceivably happen in the given situation. Usually one is not thinking of more than a few, several, or at most a few dozen possibilities, because there are far too many to consider individually. Usually one will have a general overall feeling of security or insecurity that sort of averages together all the
In Others and In Self
A sense of trust in another person is usually built up through a history of observing that person's behaviour and comparing to one's own core values. See the gaining trust article for more.
Trust in oneself is built much the same way (by observing one's own behaviour). Usually the "comparing to one's own core values" is happening, even if one isn't thinking about what those values might be.
Core values pertaining to trust involve traits like commitment and confidence. Much care should be taken in evaluating such qualities. Simple or simplistic definitions are pitfalls, as we'll see here:
Commitment
As this comic illustrates, "commitment" can be driven by ego or reinforced by ignorance, and this often gets in the way of one's success.
Confidence
As this comic illustrates, overconfidence often results from inadequate awareness or a failure to think about the situation, and prudence is often blinded by ego.
A More Robust Basis for Trust
After being "fooled" by false confidence, foolish commitment, and other similar behaviours, one usually learns to apply more robust standards, incorporating qualities from all of the mature archetypes.
See also dedication, empowerment, gaining trust, and ownership.
Philosophical Trust
The word "trust" is often used to refer to an abstract or philosophical type of "love", as in this example:
These people have my unconditional love, trust, acceptance and respect, because even though I do not know how they will behave, I give them the opportnity to do the best they can and then offer any support or help that I can offer and which they will accept.
There is more on this in MCV07, Be Unconditional.
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2015 Dec 05.
s.27