What can change the nature of a man?

In this context I'd define it as core personality and values. Do they change, or do they manifest differently in changed circumstances?

(The thread title is a quote of the central question of Planescape: Torment. I wasn't trying to exclude anyone.)

The question assumes a universal answer, to which I say, there is no universal answer, find the right person, the right circumstances and you could use them as proof of just about any possible outcome.

Torment hit it pretty well on the head. Conflict uniquely changes the nature of every human being, that is true. For better and/or for worse, extreme stress of body and/or mind in particular has an impact on the human psyche, but it's what people believe that changes them. And that doesn't necessarily mean religion, it doesn't even necessarily mean faith. It can be as life-changing as one human being standing before another, putting their body between a cudgel and its intended victim or something as simple as a young woman choosing to wear jeans instead of a dress. All these little beliefs shape a person's world.

Beliefs are what people battle for and rail against on a daily basis. Everything from the anthropocentric concepts of duty, compassion and integrity to the fundamental place of a roiling mudball in the greater fabric of the cosmos. Change the belief of the man, change the nature of a man. To turn a coward into a hero, a bully into a protector, a critic into an advocate, what it takes is largely the sentiments of a person's own experiences. Since man is an inherently emotional animal, his experiences rely almost entirely upon an emotional component.

It's why compassion in a community is so highly prized, a happy people can sculpt entire worlds in subtlety and style where an unhappy one would simply, leadenly and wastefully destroy. It's why one of the very first examinations when treating depression is to have a person reevaluate their thoughts and thus, their behaviour. Thought manifests experiences and experiences manifest thought. Change the experiences, change the beliefs and thereafter, change the nature of a man.

Ah, okay. I see where I went wrong. I didn't mean to imply that I was talking about universal core values common to all human beings, but rather the values that form the indentity of a particular individual's identity. I am theotherjosh and I believe in (for example)

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person
  
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations
• That cats make better pets than dogs

and all my other beliefs are built on the framework of this core.


People change, but I'm asking how deep the change goes. People act differently under different circumstances. Do different reactions indicate a different manifestation of the same values under altered circumstances or do they indicate that those core values themselves have been fundamentally altered by the circumstances?