I just thought that the rigidness with which one holds his values and beliefs journeys through three phases in his life.
The first is when one is young and mindless, at that time the beliefs are not fully formed and there is no solid base on which they can be he supported, to put it simply, at that phase we don't yet know what to believe and we are not very strict about it either.
The second phase of a thinking mans beliefs is when he starts growing up and develops critical thinking, at that time we all try to solidify our beliefs and values, it looks as a parallel effort to solidify our own existance, so we try to have firm beliefs and (at least the sane of us) try to back them up with logic and reason.
The third phase is, I think, When someone realizes he is almost done if not completely grown up, this is the point at which we realize that more and more of our values and beliefs are a matter of negotiation and context sensitive.
If there are more phases to come, I do not know. Maybe the next phase is the "I am close to death, the hell with beliefs and values, I want just to live my life". Maybe this is the last one, only time will tell!
P.S: I read somewhere something that sounds much classier in Greek than it sounds in English, is goes like: Don't be a prisoner of your beliefs,do not try to solidify them as you deny yourself the chance to grow. Wise words I say, it must have been someone in the third phase described above... or maybe a next one.
