SOUL SNAK - Are You Valuable? or Valid?
Are you Equal? Are we One? You might be surprised at the answer....
Today we explore Value vs Validity and how this is the second core reason humankind struggles today. The first can be found in our other publication called A Logical Lens “Making Sense of a Senseless World” which you may wish to read another time.
Ever since Adam/Eve and the Garden of Eden, mankind has struggled with self worth or being worthy, whether or not they deserve to feel good about themselves, and whether or not they even have the right to feel pride. That is where it all began and then: As Google says “many people today seem to struggle with a diminished sense of self-worth, often attributed to factors like increased social comparison on social media, societal pressure to achieve perfection, and negative self-talk, leading to a decline in people valuing their own abilities and identities.
Somewhere along the line we confused value, validity, self worth and self agency.”
I implore you at this point to entertain the fact that surely no architect/artist/creator would create such a genius biological form such as ours, [which we still do not understand even today], - would appreciate being told that it is a creation that they should be ashamed of. That would be quite the insult, don’t you think?
Surely if you were designed to be original, self preserving, and with 100% sole agency - it is understood that you are fully entitled to utilize those traits and all the rest as long as you aren’t deliberately harming anyone and utilize far sight.
The entirety of all life on the globe desires the capacity to live on their own terms. This is called Self-Agency.
Historically human beings have behaved quite predatorily with regard to living on ones own terms due to a misunderstanding. Humans believe that to live on their own terms, that everyone else should agree and hold identical values.
If everyone is not on the same page and does not hold the same values then great division begins and a lack of self agency occurs due to attempted force, coercion, manipulation, punishment.
As we have all witnessed, none of that works well or for very long.
Many can say EVIL is the root cause for the human condition, but this does not tell us anything at all really. The root of , or core cause of evil is another matter altogether, “Evil” is most certainly due to the behaviors or lack of them by people. It is logically not ONE thing in and of itself but rather a composition of a multitude of causes.
Each “evil” has a cause or reason for having come into being in the first place. This is what we call THE THRESHOLD. A threshold is something that is before it is changed. The way something was originally prior to the most recent change.
It is much easier to find solutions when we can see where and when the challenges came to be.
Nothing is done for no reason, there is always a motivation or CAUSE. I make it a practice to look for the threshold in order to come to sound choices and decisions. It requires due diligence and a drill down until the questions are exhausted and we are left with only one obvious result that is inarguable.
Value and Validity TOGETHER can lead to Self-Agency and a sense of belonging.
Self Agency is defined as - the sense that actions are self-generated and of our own making for our own needs and reasons than someone else as opposed to someone that takes on the words, thoughts, beliefs, habits and behaviors that are then reenacted things taken from others without any real thought as to why. In a way it’s mimicking rather than being that which others mimic.
When we think of the human condition as a whole - it is overwhelming and a brain breaker when it comes to figuring out where it went wrong so we can make it “right”.
It’s like thinking about the worlds condition and trying to find where things when wrong from the beginning.
If we find the threshold and instead break it down into bite sized bits so we know where to go to begin to change things into a more desirable effect that makes us feel good instead of sufferable it becomes much more attainable.
This process can be tedious, yet it is well worth the effort for the rewards.
Often our language and words are the cause of much confusion along with the perception that many words are synonymous, when they really aren’t.
To find the threshold, we need to break down and clarify the following:
Value, validity, self worth and self-agency.
Why? Because Clarity is found by removing the minutia or associations that only add to the confusion.
VALUE
Let’s talk about Value.
All individuals hold or have values. Things become valuable if they are things that one finds desirable. From each persons point of view, they quite naturally believe that what they value - should also be valuable by others.
We all live lives and develop perspectives from experiences that form beliefs and ideals from a personal view.
Everything in our reality is ALL ABOUT US when we act habitually or unconsciously rather than using proven techniques and conscious thought processes.
When we focus we can often see things almost as they really are when we set ourselves aside and become open to things we do not know and have never experienced before. We need to think of them IN RELATION to ourselves rather than the usual “its’ all about me”. It is possible to do both. To level up from ME to WE instead.
The effect of VALUE can often become almost predatory. For example, if someone else does not value the same things you do, then you see them as “the enemy” OR “the other”, and then decide that they are not worthy of the same that you are. Behaviors that involve hate, prejudice and biases are the inevitable result which then becomes division, segregation and suffering and even sometimes, become life threatening behaviors that cause irreparable harm and even death.
You will defend your values and devalue the other person, and they may feel devalued as a result. In a scenario like this, both persons will likely stick to their own desire to WIN the argument.
If you hold steadfastly to certain values it can be rightly said that you value self over others. BUT HAVING VALUES IS NOT necessarily harmful nor necessarily THE CORE CAUSE of the human condition.
The cause “could be” the unwillingness to consider and understand values that another holds. But it goes even deeper than that.
Let’s explore.
Unhealthy or unbalanced and even un-true SELF-VALUE is the most obvious culprit.
It should be common sense that one can hold values and also value a few of another’s values from time to time without being divisionary or harmful.
Listen carefully here…..
I don’t think we realize that OVER INFLATED SELF VALUE can be the cause of FEAR. Most of us are aware that fear is often the threshold for erratic, and even harmful behaviors that are unwarranted. Often fears are imagined an unlikely if we really take the time to have a talk with ourselves. Such as the fear of being attacked in the bathroom. If you really stop and think about that - when was the last time you really were fearful of that and is it just any restroom or only rest stop areas? Has it ever happened and do you know of anyone personally that it has happened to?
It’s likely you would come to the conclusion that the fear is largely unwarranted and should probably not take up too much space in your mind or emotions and that healthy caution anywhere in life is a good practice in general. So the fear? Isn’t warranted in this case.
Where it pertains to our article here about “A” threshold for the human condition - Often the underlying Fear you might feel with regard to value, is that if others do not hold the same values as you, then they will somehow devalue your world, reality and life & you are likely to feel threatened. When you feel your value is better than others values - you naturally devalue them by default.
The fear that is felt often causes us to defend our own value over others and at the expense of others.
It doesn’t have to be that way though.
Let’s continue.
VALIDITY
What is valid is not necessarily perceived as valuable. What is valuable is not necessarily perceived as valid.
If we remove personal perception and values, what we have left is a simple objective observation for which valid takes on a whole new dimension.
It doesn’t matter how anything is perceived. Everything exists because it does, and is automatically valid. Why?
Because of the basic premise of origin. i.e. a human was born a human and is still a human - that is valid because it is inarguable.
Therefore everything on the planet is valid with full agency automatically whether it is realized by all life or not.
We could delve into the quagmire and rabbit holes with regard to self validation by others or from ourselves to ourselves but that is more about perception and actually negates validity altogether because validity is considered to be about accuracy rather than perception. Not only that, we must consider that whether one validates ones self or not and whether others validate us or not does not mean we are actually valid in the truest sense.
We could over inflate our own validity out of the need to feel better about ourselves We can over validate others out of the need to have or retain them in our lives rather than lose them, if we are needy.
All that being said - let’s move on to gain a bit more clarity.
We have determined that the 2nd cause of human suffering is self-value over and above all else rather than in relation to all else.
We can see that harboring the more healthy balance of the realization that self and other and all that is are already all valid whether perceived that way or not.
How do we employ a different action/behavior that would resolve this human condition 100% over time?
First it is necessary to acknowledge that a lack of respect overall has literally DEVALUED everything and where there is no value there will be no respect. At first glance this seems an irreconcilable situation, but it really isn’t.As a civilization, we have all lost respect for these amazing biological machines we call US. The simplest thing like walking upright, or having opposable thumbs, not to mention our capacity! What we do and have the potential to do are amazing, what our bodies accomplish without us is simply something out of this world if you stop to think about it. Its cells and structure often thinks for itself for healing, or breathing and more.
CLARIFICATION
In short - the only way to self agency and validity for all is to cease devaluation in mass. The way to do that is to simply have some respect. Whether we agree on anything or not, we can still act respectfully. We can disagree and walk away, or we can kindly introduce information that states an irrefutable case. Any other way is futile and a waste of everyone’s time.
Self Agency is Self-Respect. Self Respect is not about perception or a need to feel better. Self Respect is about abilities, qualities and achievements that are measurable, provable and without question. In order for Respect to exist, there can be no illusions or delusions or misperceptions.
It has nothing to do with Trust though that is automatically assigned in order for respect to exist. It’s more about consistency.
When you have real self agency, you are by default, consistent because you consistently utilize what works the best no matter what if it is about how you think, or research, behave or reason.
PLEASE Stop the belief that a lot of people valuing something automatically equates to non-value of everything else or something else, in any way for any reason at all. Instead, realize that all are valid by default regardless of what anyone else thinks.
WHEN YOU HAVE SELF AGENCY you don’t FOLLOW. You just naturally end up where you do because of who you are, not what others think or because of what others do.
I don’t have to value something in order for me to allow another to value that. Neither do you.
I think an important clarification to make here is that none of this is about safety even though it may feel that way. This perceived lack of safety has caused immense division in the world.
A lack of safety is based on deliberate threats, not potential threat or perceived things that COULD BE.
If others don’t hold the same values, it does not automatically mean anyone is threatened or unsafe and I think this is a critical point.
Sure, it can mean things “might” change or could change, but that does not mean it is unsafe just because it isn’t desired.
We can all walk away, and live our lives in full agency while allowing others the same.
We CAN - But WILL we?
Do we have the capacity and the will - to do things differently so we can have a different experience?
Can we stop repeating history?
Can we, just for once, think beyond our own selves and look at others in relation to ourselves and vice versa?
Can we finally realize that the planet and animals and people belong to no one? That no one owns anything and therefore has no right to control anyone else?
Can we extend common courtesy or RESPECT to one another with the intention to understand rather than win?
Can we stop feeling threatened by different and instead look to find the advantages that rather than simply being in fear?
I don’t know, but this certainly deserves a long sober look don’t you think?
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