Life Values: What are they? (Concept, List, Examples)

What are life values?

Life values are those things that a person values. They serve as a guide for him, are goals and aspirations.

The concept of “life values” is inextricably linked with worldview. The guidelines that a person has chosen for himself become a conditional prism. Through it, the actions of other people are evaluated, and one’s own choices are made.

Life values help a person decide on priorities in life. Interestingly, life values change with age. Experience gained over the years influences all guidelines.

In some situations, a person is able to completely reconsider his life, realize that it is wrong and establish other values for himself. Now they will be priorities. If this happens, the person is said to have changed. However, changes can be both negative and positive.

Let’s say an alcoholic with 15 years of experience is faced with the departure of his wife, the hatred of his children, and the loss of his job. He is not happy with this situation. He does deep inner work and decides to completely change his life. The drunkard gives up his bad habits, gets a job, and improves relationships with his family. He changed his guidelines and prioritized values such as family, career, and health.

Each person has his own system of life values. It is impossible to impose your priorities on another. But you always manage to find like-minded people, that is, those who live by the same principles and adhere to the same rules.

Life Values - motivational film

beauty

Beauty is the most mysterious spiritual value; each person understands it in his own way. If you do a survey among people, the results will be different.

For some, beauty is a bird that pecks seeds from a person’s hand, for others it is a luxurious English garden... Therefore, we can say that beauty is what surrounds us. It exists in relationships between people, in us, in others, in nature.

It is beauty that inspires to create - it encourages musicians and writers to create real masterpieces that do not lose their uniqueness through the centuries... This is a very subtle substance, and only a sensitive person can understand it.

What are the life values?

A person’s basic values are laid down in childhood. At first, the priority is given to the guidelines that guide the child’s family. In childhood, parents instill in their children the rules of behavior in society and at home. These norms and requirements serve as prerequisites for the formation of life values.

The system of life values becomes more complete and rich as you grow older. General educational institutions pay attention to the moral education of children. In addition, already in adolescence and even earlier, the child is faced with social norms.

As a result, an idea is formed of how one should behave in society, in a team. An adult person sets prohibitions and permissions for himself. He is guided by them when he makes this or that choice.

Psychologists talk about what values a person can have. Types are conditional. Each category may include several subspecies, each of which, in turn, is included in the hierarchy. Some categories come first, some come last.

Conventionally, life values are divided into universal (cultural) and individual. The first type is important for society as a whole. Universal human values are formed in the process of education in the family, at school, at university, etc.

General human priorities include:

health and life;
education;
social status;
family, etc.

More often than not, these values are important to most people. Few of us, for example, are deliberately ready to destroy ourselves or decide as a child never to start a family.

Individual life values include those priorities that are formed throughout the life of an individual. They are a consequence of experience acquired over the years. These are the personal attitudes of the individual. They are also conventionally divided into two groups:

1. Material life values. A person determines for himself the boundaries of financial comfort. This category includes everything related to material wealth. This includes housing, salary, and much more. For some people, material values become a priority. In this case, they live for their own benefit. They are called prudent people.

2. Spiritual life values. This includes everything that cannot be touched or felt. These are mental categories. This group includes attitudes towards family, health, love, etc.

The types of individual life values are always closely related and intertwined. They cannot exist separately from each other.

So, if the well-being of the family is a priority, then a person is forced to take care of its financial security. He works, gets promoted, and all so that his children and other loved ones do not need anything.

Implications for modern society

Over time, Scheler began to gradually move away from the Catholic connection, which was considered one of the defining components of the morality of society of those years, focusing on the fact that any crisis in spiritual human development is caused by the rejection of the foundations that have been formed over centuries in favor of something new, requiring the construction of moral ideals from scratch . It is noteworthy that to justify this theory, the philosopher cited the achievements of the Renaissance, which gradually lost their relevance, and were formed over several hundred years.

The crisis and ways out of it

The emphasis was on the gradual development of consumerism, which was crowding out everything moral and spiritual, which, in principle, is largely relevant for modern society. Initially, it was about rapid industrialization as one of the tools for personal enrichment and achieving maximum comfort in everyday life, while today scientific and technological progress has also been added to this industry with its impressive pace of development, pursuing the same goals.

Moreover, any attempt to forcefully limit consumerism would have a very negative impact on the development of the state economy, which is also unacceptable. That is why many scientists agree on one opinion: the only way that can distract humanity from the eternal pursuit of material wealth is to instill in society some new value , despite the fact that it has yet to be formed.

List of life values

Each person chooses his own value guidelines. Their list is extensive. In the course of life, it can expand, be supplemented, or, conversely, narrow.

Some of the landmarks become priorities. A person lives in such a way as to achieve what is most important to him. For example, a person values peace. He builds his life in such a way that he is always in harmony with himself; he avoids conflicts, quarrels, and communication. He may strive for life outside the city, in a remote area. To achieve this, he works hard to buy a house and move. One way or another, his life is determined by priority - the desire for peace.

Let's name the main values in a person's life:

family;
health;
children;
spiritual comfort;
career;
financial well-being;
success;
development;
education;
independence;
Liberty;
peace;
activity;
determination;
honesty;
self-sacrifice;
stability;
charity;
generosity;
pragmatism;
personal benefit, calculation;
Love;
desire for power;
justice;
discipline and self-discipline;
world;
order;
openness;
friendship;
glory;
traditions;
happiness;
beauty.

The list of value guidelines is expanding. A person cannot have only one value in life. There are always several of them. But some become the main one, a priority. For example, if a person dreams of power, he builds his life in such a way as to achieve it. Life values are also goals that a person strives for.

Good

Goodness is one of the most important spiritual values. It manifests itself in man’s desire to improve life on Earth not only for himself, but also for others.

A good person always strives for truth and justice. A good deed is manifested in sincerity - this is not when a person does something for gain, but when he tries to do something for another selflessly.

Kindness has always been valued, but people sometimes suffer greatly because of their sensitivity and concern for others. Kindness is a spiritual need for everyone; when we do something useful and good, we feel better, more confident, and our souls become light.

16 3

What life values are important for a person?

Everyone thinks about what is truly valuable in a person’s life. Reflection is always associated with the search for the meaning of life. A person makes a choice in favor of one category or another and strives for it.

One of the greatest values in life is human life itself. Society realizes the importance of the life of each individual. The state is developing programs aimed at preserving life. Murder and causing grievous bodily harm are punishable by law. No one has the right to encroach on a person’s life. Some countries prohibit the death penalty. Even especially dangerous criminals are not deprived of their lives, despite the gravity of the crimes they have committed.

The second most important human value after life is, of course, health. Educational work is carried out in general educational institutions and a healthy lifestyle is promoted.

In our country, every person has the right to receive free medical care. Now we will not talk about the fact that services are most often of low quality. Nevertheless, the authorities are making sure that the main values of life are included in the list of goods protected by law and the Constitution.

Such universal human value as cultural traditions is also important. Sights and cultural monuments are also protected by law. Each nation strives to preserve its traditions and passes on its experience to the younger generation. This is also a life value.

Family, peace on the planet, children - these are all the values in life that are important for every person.

True

People have a sparkle in their eyes when it comes to seeking the truth, the truth. This is a person’s natural desire to understand the world in which he lives, as well as himself. Truth is a spiritual value, it gives a person a lot - with its help we can analyze what is happening, our actions, we consider certain actions that we perform for morality and correctness. For everyone, truth has its own understanding - for one, something that for another has no significance will be sacred. Truth is what has been tested by time and experience.

What determines the choice of life values?

Life values and guidelines depend, first of all, on a person’s worldview. As he grows up, he develops attitudes that he adheres to.

The influence of the environment affects the list of life guidelines. For example, a teenager raised in a prosperous family may change under the influence of bad company. Previous guidelines will lose significance for him. Life value can change radically. If previously the child valued his parents, now the so-called friends will come first.

At this time, it is important for parents to show wisdom, maintain a good relationship with their son or daughter and help him return to his previous attitudes. Unfortunately, this does not always work out. Even in prosperous families, children become drug addicts, criminals, etc.

Thus, the choice of life values depends on many factors. Let's list some of them:

education in the family, at school;
environmental influences;
life experience;
self-knowledge.

It must also be said that guidelines in life can be formed as a result of self-development. A person who strives for self-knowledge, education, self-improvement, one way or another, chooses new guidelines and reconsiders his life.

If we take into account the fact that life orientation can change under the influence of circumstances, then we need to include it in the list of what the choice and situation depends on. For example, if a person decides to give up alcohol, he prioritizes several categories at once: health, family, work. Often a person needs to reach the “bottom” in order to realize the need to change life values.

Time

Most people use only the material value of time, caring about entertainment, gaining social status and accumulating money.

But time also has spiritual value - man, unlike animals and plants, has the ability to self-awareness, and reason and self-awareness lead to self-knowledge and save a person from material suffering.

It is important to accept the fact that time is running out, and it should not be wasted, but rather engaged in spiritual practice. People before death think only one thing: “I was wasting my time wrong,” this happens because we think about material things, are attached to material things, and it hurts us when we are deprived of everything.

But a person engaged in spiritual practice is not attached to material things, learning his spiritual nature (eternity, bliss, knowledge) understands more and more what the spiritual value of time is.

Examples of life values

Life values in childhood influence a person’s destiny. What is instilled in the family cannot disappear without a trace. That’s why it’s so important to show your children by example what to value.

If a child sees that his mother and father are caring for his grandmother and treating each other with care, then he will behave the same way in the future. Many values are laid down in childhood, under the influence of family.

During adolescence, guidelines change, many of them are lost and replaced by new ones. A teenager’s priority is no longer his parents, but his friends and company.

Peer opinions become important. A child may commit a crime, start using psychotropic substances, forgetting that parents have always valued a healthy lifestyle and adhered to it themselves. This is already a substitution of life values.

Mother and father are able to influence their son or daughter. They can help him return to his previous guidelines. But what is also important here is the teenager’s self-awareness, his level of intelligence and education.

Here are 10 examples of life values that influenced the fate of an individual:

1. For a mother, her children have always been valuable. Despite the fact that her father left the family, she did not become embittered. She continued to work hard to provide her children with everything they needed. As adults, the children realized how much their mother had done for them. She continues to care for her adult sons and daughters. You can always turn to her for advice and support. She retained her life value – children – throughout her life. They became for her the meaning of life, a guide, a guiding star.

2. The brilliant reformer Stolypin considered Russia to be his main value. He dedicated his life to reforms and the transformation of laws. Many politicians say that through his actions he prevented the collapse of the Empire and extended its lifespan.

3. The Decembrists were faithful to their husbands. They followed them to hard labor and shared all the hardships and hardships with those with whom they were married. For them, the highest values are love, loyalty, devotion.

4. For a woman who founded a shelter for homeless animals, the highest value is love for our little brothers. She spares no effort, time and money to help dogs and cats abandoned to their fate survive and start families.

5. Volunteers who selflessly help the elderly show that such values as supporting the elderly and caring for the elderly are important to them. They honor old age, wisdom and experience.

6. People who donate money to fundraise for an event show what is important to them. Often, expensive operations are carried out thanks to donations from caring people, for whom life and health have become the highest values.

7. Doctors who, in the midst of a pandemic, work in hospitals for days on end under fear of contracting the coronavirus, confirm their professionalism and willingness to devote themselves to medicine. They are true to the chosen guidelines.

8. The life of Theodosius of Pechora proves that faith became the main thing for him. He overcame many difficulties, suffered hardships, but did not give up on the Lord. He is the founder of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. The Orthodox know about his deeds and merits. For many, he is a role model.

9. A man who, from his youth, dreamed of a career, spared no time for self-development and education. He worked hard and hard, but made his dream come true. For him, his highest value is his career.

10. Patriotism became the highest value for soldiers who fought during the Great Patriotic War. By their exploits they proved their devotion to the Motherland, the Fatherland.

Surely each of you can give examples from life that confirm that every person has life values. They determine his fate and guide him through life. They are his target.