TABLE OF CONTENTS:
II. Artifact Two: What is Art for? Essay Assignment
III. Artifact Three: Food as Art
IV. Artifact Four: Personal Adornment Essay
V. Artifact Five: Enjoying Horror Research
VI. Artifact Six: Creative Spirituality Reflection
VII. Artifact Seven: Art, Games, and Technology Research
VIII. Artifact Eight: Mural Assignment
OBJECTIVES:
• Understand that values are formed from external and internal drives of an individual
• Explore one’s own value system
ORIGINAL POST:
Family
Friendship
Enjoyment
Loyalty
Integrity
My top five values are family, friendship, enjoyment, loyalty, and integrity. My typically actions on a daily basis are relatively in line with my top five values. I value integrity and loyalty in the people around me and in myself more than any other characteristic. I strive to make sure the company I keep has those qualities everyday. During the school year I am away from my family but I have grown really close to my two older brothers in recent years. I should call my parents and sister more often so that my daily actions would be more consistent with my values. Lastly, more than any of my other values I should spend more time cultivating my friendships than I currently do on a daily basis. I live with my long-time girlfriend and because I love spending so much time with her I spend a lot less time with friends than I used to.
I believe that people’s beliefs are more a result of nurture than nature, and so I believe I “inherited” (learned) a lot of my belief patterns from my family. I was raised in a religious family and so a lot of religious values were instilled in me. I am no longer religious but a lot of those same values and beliefs influence me still today. I am fortunate enough that I do not have any particular goals that I have yet to achieve. Most of the things I have set my mind to I have been able to accomplish. My next goal that I am working towards is to become a homeowner after I graduate.
REFLECTION:
Explore one’s own value system
The life values assignment helped me explore my own value system. For the most part I felt that I already knew what was important to me, however, I think the most useful part of the assignment was discovering whether or not your values match up with your daily activities. In my case, most of my values were evident in my daily activities, except that I should spend more time with my current friends and make more of an effort to make new friends. Since completing the assignment I have spent more time with one of my best friends in Eugene by playing basketball on the weekends. I have also become better friends with people I work with.
Understand that values are formed from external and internal drives of an individual
In my assignment I said that I believed that most values are a learned or inherited as a product of an individual’s environment such that values are formed from external drives (nature). I still believe that to be the case in the majority of values, but I think there are internal drives the form values (nurture). For example, although my brothers and were all raised in extremely similar situations we are all different from each other and we have different values. I think this is indicative of internal drives. Hunter Lewis said, “…We might still be controlled by the influence of genes on our underlying personality, or alternatively, by peer pressure, by the relentless demands of the society in which we happen to live” (Lewis, 1990). Lewis points out that while it may be impossible to determine exactly what shapes us, our values and our actions, it is likely that there are many factors, internal and external. I should have explored my own internal drives more in the assignment. The best way to identify internal traits or predispositions that have helped shape my values may be to compare myself to my brothers. For example, I have been told by parents that I was naturally more social than my brothers, which is reflective of my value of friendship. This assignment was very useful in learning and understanding that values are a result of external and internal drives.
FUTURE:
My values will continue to change throughout my life as they have done already. To me the most important lesson of this assignment is that what my values are may not be the most important thing, but ensuring that what you do on a daily basis supports those values is absolutely paramount. In the future I will try to remember that lesson.