Values

Individuals act and behave according to their VALUES. These values are personal and individualistic and are neither good or bad, they are simply values. These values are judged to be good or bad based on some form of morality.

Our society, culture and family will often impose values onto the individual and these are seen as what we are expected to value or what we should value. What we are expected or should value is what I call our adopted values. Adopted values are not good enough to guide our actions, they often create conflicts between what is expected of us and what we truly value.

We often see this CONFLICT with young teenagers going through what is often described as the "rebellious" years. They are looking to discover their OWN VALUES and are confronted with what is expected of them. We need to own our values, it is not good enough to act on what is expected. These 'rebellious' years are individuals finding their OWN values.

When we judge values as being good or bad, we are judging the values based on a sense of MORALITY. Morality is itself a set of values that is often forced on the individual. Morals only have worth when the individual can truly OWN the set of values that compose the morals. Morals are worthless when they are forced onto the individual.

CONFLICT - SHOULD VALUE VS TRUE VALUE

It is when we see the hypocritical actions from adults and authority figures that individuals searching for VALUES become lost. Look at all the abuse from individuals that are in a position of authority - priests, doctors, teachers, judges, police, parents and every other sector of society. This doesn't include the adults that say one thing and does another.

When you are a young person looking for your own values and you observe how everyone says they value one thing, but acts in another way, what kind of conclusion can one draw?

The conclusion that is often reached is that VALUES ARE WORTHLESS! Without our own values we have no way of steering our Life. We only value what is immediately good to the self. We often turn to drugs, alcohol, sex and other immediate satisfaction to our self or at the least acceptance from others in our immediate group. WE BECOME LOST!

FINDING OUR TRUE VALUES

I believe that at our Soul/Spirit level we all have a set of Values that we support and want to live by. Finding these TRUE values takes some work of 'Soul Searching'. To find these values we need to put aside what is expected or what we should value. In order to find this we need to ask - WHAT DO I VALUE? This means we need to put to work our EGO, in a productive manner.

I know that some will disagree with the use of EGO and the centering of the self but it is a necessary and productive step. Without establishing what "I" value nothing else really matters. It is only when we have established what I value that we can properly incorporate our 'Social values', 'Cultural values' and even 'Family values'. Without the I value these other values have no worth.

When we have established our I values and incorporate the other values we can start to set our Life on the course we want our Life to take (our Life Path).