Most people think that their deeply held values are the result of rational choice, but reason often has to do little with the way people form values

It is indeed difficult to ascertain if deeply held values of people are strongly grounded in reason.However , It will be helpful if we analyzed one of the deeply held values and and try to discover the rationale, if any.If we happen to find at least one deeply held value that is held by people in a society to be of sound reason, we can draw significant conclusions.

Let's start with one deeply held value that stems from religion.For thousands of years , the people of India who have been predominantly Hindus , have avoided the consumption of beef. It is a deeply held value and slaughtering the cow is a sacrilege in their religion.With the current exposure and globalization , it is often surmised that the "avoidance of beef" has no logic. It is even labeled as a superstition and a passe custom.This assertion is backed by the claim that the Hindu religion has no clear injunction and reason stated about the consumption of beef.But , let us look deeper.

Treating the avoidance of beef as a deeply held value, If one would look at the basis for such a value, at least one reason seems obvious. Hinduism being a pacifist religion discourages the consumption of meat.The cow as a part of the rural and urban household in ancient India supplied the home with milk and milk products. Its waste is used as fuel and manure and cow urine was used as a medicine today and patented for its medicinal properties wherein nursing mothers are provided a concoction of the same called "Panchkavya" even today. Slaughtering an animal that provides the household with so many benefits would have just seemed ungrateful, cruel and immoral. It is well known that many Englishmen in their pig-farm do not name the pigs and just number them.They are known to say naming them makes it hard when slaughtering them.Hindu household that often named the cow with names of Goddesses like "Lakshmi" ( the Goddesses of wealth and prosperity ) could have found it inconceivable to kill the animal.

This may not have been the only reason. Agrarian societies in ancient India might have noticed that amount of grain expended in rearing livestock as opposed to sustenance in vegetarian food is many a time greater. This is a very strong reason to opt for vegetarian food.It is wise to have the cow provide for the household than kill it and lose steady supply of milk.It is wise to use the bull in the field than kill it.It it were an older bull , that could not plough, it seemed again immoral to the peasant who saw the years the bull had toiled in his field.

Another reason could have been the Indian climate.The fat content in beef is highly unsuitable for digestion and weather of the subcontinent makes it a poor choice of diet.As for the taste buds, India has a cuisine with spices that is known to make food as tasty with or without meat.When so many reasons pile up against the case of beef , It is not surprising why the people of India chose not to consume beef.

When we started with the deeply held value, It might have seemed to exist without a reason.It might have made many of us scoff at such at such a value.However, as we can see with the reasons presented, it is definitely not deprived of logic.We also realize that we cannot generalize and write off all deeply held values as "irrational".It is indeed appropriate to treat each deeply held value at its own merit and try to analyse its reasons before arriving at a hasty conclusion.

Summarily , all societies from civilizations have value systems that stem from religion.It is necessary to for the present generation to be curious to understand the root if the values and try to ascertain its rationality.