What I Value: My Own Reflection

In yesterday’s post I wrote about taking time and space away from the world somehow and reflecting on what we value. For me yesterday’s post served as mental preparation, setting up my brain with questions to work on while I go about my day and into the night. This is the thing about brains. Sometimes the best thing you can do is input what to work on and then get out of the way and let it do its job. Another day I might write more on that topic and other life lessons learned during post-concussion syndrome therapies but for now, back to my reflection. My brain must have been busy while I slept last night because I woke up this morning and thoughts were coming at me. In no particular order other than how they came to me, below are the values I wrote down:

I value:

*All creation and gifts from the Creator – As a human being I am entrusted with higher reasoning ability (supposedly) to care for everything that comes from the creator and cause the least amount of harm possible. This includes all human beings, no exceptions. I value honoring human dignity, the inherent value that comes from being a fellow human being, free from judgment based on arbitrary measures created by people who tend towards the desire to feel superior to others.  Creation is a gift in and of itself, but creation has gifts to offer as well. All the separate parts of creation, including humans, have their own unique gifts that contribute to a whole system whether it is the ecosystem, solar system, or community.

*Trust – Trust means the other person will do what is right even when no one else is watching. Once we have learned not to trust someone because of their deceit or bad behavior, it is practically an insurmountable mark of integrity to recover because the activity is by nature hidden from view.

*Truth – This word gets bandied about all the time in ways that do not always meet the definition of truth. A person’s truth is who they really are as a human being on the inside: their self-identity, their history, experiences, etc.  On the macro level, truth is absence of exceptions, indisputable fact, the essence of what something IS. I compare it to scientific law that started as hypothesis, an educated guess, and all possibilities of the hypothesis being false have been eliminated. Only then can it be considered a law of science. The bar is high.

*Love – given and received.

*Joy – not happiness from things but a deeper state of self. For me, it mostly comes from doing exactly what my God has created me to do. I believe we all seek joy but money cannot buy it.

*Peace – not just absence of conflict but peace that comes with a situation that values and dignifies all involved. I also value a deep inner peace when my head and heart agree. I notice this peace most after I have struggled with inner conflict. Neither the head nor the heart, or parties involved are squelched.  All have come to an agreement freely.

*Justice and Right – Again, two words that are bandied about so much I wonder if we really know exactly what this looks like in its fullest form except in our imaginations. I think I have pieces of it such as equitable opportunity to become the person we are created to be. For this to happen everyone’s basic physiological, psychological, and social needs are met and humans are free from all forms of abuse. Laws are based on agreed upon principles and apply equally to all persons regardless of any identifier or socioeconomic status. Consequences are equitably consistent taking into consideration a violator’s resources. Those with scarce resources and overabundance of resources pay according to their means. The point of consequences is to deter criminal behavior (effectiveness of which is debatable) and make right what and who they have harmed.

I want to make it clear that there is nothing wrong with having more or fewer resources. Money is a humanly created object which means it will be messed up. However, a lot of injustice happens when using a scarcity mindset.  This leads to humans hoarding resources because their inner brain fears not having enough. From a moral community perspective, a mindset of plenty would yield better overall results and loosen our tight grip.

Other blog posts on this site address moral reasoning, determining right and wrong decision making. From a moral perspective, “right” avoids as much harm to others and self, not OR self but AND self. I believe a foundation of recognizing human dignity and the gifts creation has to offer.

So, having established personal values, where do we go from here?

Please feel free to comment, message me and/or pass this blog on to people who might find it interesting. Thanks for reading!