What Makes Your Values Valuable?
I feel that it is of great importance to know what we value. Not to assume we know. We have primary values, and secondary values. They combine to set our course in life, and frame our sense of right and wrong. There are positive values, and negative values. When we are in contact with our positive primary and secondary values we experience joy, a deep sense of satisfaction and being on purpose. We are fulfilling our mission in life.
In old vampire movies there was always a rule that vampires could not get around. The vampire would come to your house and in order to cross the threshold of the door or window they would have to be invited in order to come into the inner world of it’s victim.
Dark values are like this. It is like the modern myth of Star Wars; the choice between light and darkness. The negative, dark values like the vampire have to seduce us into turning our back on the deeper more positive values. We must demonize the other in order to make this grim bargain. In convincing ourselves that those we deal with are evil and not merely grossly misguided we give ourselves permission to suspend values like kindness, compassion, joy and positive indifference.
Values are a form of fuel making us more resilient and creative. Being in service of these primary values makes us feel good. Negative values are also a form of fuel, but destructive to the engine that moves us. Meth makes people who use it feel good, but turns its users into damaged versions of who they once were. Like before and after of meth ads, hate changes a person. Fear invites hatred into our hearts, and hatred and compassion do not live in the same space.
What makes your values valuable? They are a direction, not a destination. Our primary, positive values lead us to response-ability, the ability to respond. This 40 Challenge is the challenge to follow our values back the way they truly lead: our authentic self; whole, kind and ready for any challenge. We will win no matter the result of the election because we will not lose our way.