the nature of human values
o b j e c t i v e
- understand that values are formed from external and internal drives of an individual
- explore one’s own value system
a r t i f a c t
health
enjoyment
independence
integrity
personal development
personal accomplishment
wisdom
location
security
family
friendship
creativity
loyalty
community
service
expertness
wealth
leadership
power
prestige
What did I do today? Ha! How much time have you got? I woke up at 6am to work out, followed by a two-plus hour wake-up ritual, worked a nominal but financially providing number of hours, then went for an 8-mile run along the river paths. Huh. I guess that didn’t take as much time as I thought.
My sister is staying with me while she’s in town, so we did what siblings do: a little secret-drinking and more than a little giggling/judging. We watched The View at some point which mostly resulted in outrage – hypothetical god, I love a good outrage. But I’m getting side-tracked…
I often defer to a personal motto when explaining my life/decision-making processes to folks: I treat every day like I’m camping. As a rule I try not to let an excessive number of rules into my life – health/fitness being the major exception – and, you know, the whole rule about not having rules.
I’ve spent a lot of time rejecting propriety and actively unlearning value systems endemic to society, my family, friends, folks I know. Though ultimately futile — it’s unknowable whether or not successful– I’ve never found it beneficial to compare my experience to another’s – which goes a long way to explaining my top five priorities (as defined by the glossary provided).
I’ve been on the receiving end of a decent amount of marginalization in my life which I suspect goes a long way towards contributing to the pursuit of independent thought and individual interests. It comes easy when folks remove you, in so many ways, from the collective experience — treat you as “other.” I feel like in these circumstances things go one of two ways: you either become defined by that experience or you embrace it and redefine yourself, beliefs, and values. If you follow the first route, you fall victim to external values. If you choose the latter, you begin choosing yourself and your experience above all else.
r e f l e c t i o n + f u t u r e g o a l s
Being forced to rank priorities from a predetermined list was very revealing. I have considered myself to be an independent thinker for most of my life, but this exercise really illuminated that I value personal, internal drives above all else. In a lot of ways it served to confirm long-term suspicions: if push came to shove, I would forfeit personal relationships to comply with personal values and integrity. As my list indicates, yes, mostly I want to be healthy (because no one’s really happy when suffering ailment) and to enjoy, but a large part of that enjoyment (and mental health) stems from establishing boundaries between what I am and what others expect of me — and not compromising that.
That said, I found my explanation of those priority selections equally revealing — perhaps hinting just as strongly at external drives. A large part of why independence and establishing a sense of self became important to me was a result of not being included in the external. It allowed me to begin questioning the world around me, and myself, at an early age. Because I was marginalized and only included peripherally in community value systems I had to establish my own, and never felt compelled to be what someone else wanted or needed of me.
As may have been demonstrated over the course of this term, I have fairly strong opinions, but maintain a simultaneous understanding that beliefs are ultimately silly. There’s always seemed something sort of, for lack of a better word, stupid about believing things. That said, I expect the future of my values to continue evolving — feeling equally as strong about whatever set of beliefs replaces the former, and being equally willing to let go of those beliefs when the next set of silly arises. It’s an interesting duality between intellectually understanding meaninglessness and still choosing to “make things special” (Dissanayake) in spite of it.