Human values

My theme today is human values, which we are increasingly forgetting. Yet we need to cultivate and pass on these values in order to live a life worthy of human beings. I managed to sum up my article in one sentence. There are so many different human values, but I will mention five that I practice myself: self-awareness, empathy, gratitude, interest, creativity. Values are closely linked to the good things in life. Now you may think that I am talking to you out of some kind of Edenic state, but you are wrong, I am not in the best shape financially or physically at the moment, but I have decided to stay human for as long as possible, so even in the last weeks of my dying I will have to be in a lot of pain to lose my human face. As much as possible, I have preserved my freedom, given myself principles and made choices at a price. I know all levels of human life, I've been in many different situations, so I had a world view to build on, and I could clearly pick out the human values and the good things in life. My green blog is part of this long process. I've been building up this material over years, which has required a lot of physical and mental exercise. So, I'm not spewing purple mist from an Edenic state, but I'm writing from two decades of life experience, very much grounded in reality.

How instructive that the young child's work shows basic motifs, as well as signs of imagination and a mythical creature. The sun, the house, the guardian of knowledge are all three powerful symbols, universal in human consciousness, whatever culture or nation we come from. We undeniably share a common knowledge of the human condition, of ourselves, and it is the task of this knowledge to help us connect with each other. But even if you are not willing to face yourself and know yourself, fear will be your partner and you will go mad. The full extent of the destructive work of fear can be studied in Hungary. Sometimes this causes me to cry in hiding. No, it's not fear that makes me cry, it's the sight of its extensive destruction. Today I just half-eyed a few posts during a public video and quickly moved on because the venom of fear was pouring out of people. For a sensitive and open-minded person like me, it is dangerous to let these completely false and distorted opinions into your mind. We are better off discovering universal human values and spending our lives in their spirit.

Creativity in children's drawings is an important quality throughout our lives. Even the organisation of an ordinary weekday requires creativity. Many people associate it with art, but it is an universal human value. On a day at the end of May, it was good to see the children's interest in the magician-musician's performance. They eagerly followed his instructions and sang along or tried to answer the artist's playful questions. In this scene, several human values were revealed. I am not helping you right now, please think about these things. The children's enthusiasm was genuine and pure. Where does this kind of brilliance of our human being disappear? Life also is hard as a child, with many challenges, despite being protected by caring parents for their children. So we cannot blame the sadness of adulthood on hardship. The fact is that we allow ourselves to be broken. Okay, not me of all people, I can navigate between dangerous rocks of life in my little boat, but unfortunately many people run into rocks and lack the resilience to stay together. This would require a more detailed explanation, which would take us away from the original topic of the article. There is an abundant literature available on resilience.

As a middle-aged human looking forward, I am also sorting through the experiences of my past. I also look back to my early years, which brought up a powerful thought for me, every child has the right to grow up in peace. I didn't write security, because that can never be complete, I wrote peace of mind. One of my parents was sadly mentally disturbed and often shouted in his helplessness. As a child, I could not put her alarming behaviour anywhere, which caused me severe stress. This stress was toxic, affecting the development of my nervous system, and the sick parent inadvertently made me ill. As an adult, I have come to understand why it happened, and my only regret is that I was not given a peaceful childhood. I don't blame anyone, because I now know why my parent was the way he was. But a more peaceful childhood would have been a blessing. That is why I consider deliberate fear-mongering a crime, see the postscript to my article. When you are stressed, your body goes into survival mode and you become unable to think. This state is detrimental to you in all areas and certainly shortens your life. And child abuse is even more destructive because it endangers the future. There are many global processes taking place that I watch in amazement and horror. These are beyond the capacity of our disorganised generations of the 1970s, 80s, 90s and our children will have the great task of dealing with them, which they will be unable to do if we harm them.

Life as a process is a phenomenon that effectively defies entropy. It is probably present in many places in the universe, but we can only know life on earth, of which we ourselves are a part. We humans are special in that we are able, through our intricate brains, to wonder about life, ourselves, and to think. As humans, we have multiple roles to play, but it is clear that as a species with a global impact, we have a responsibility to live. I beg you, really, don't think that I'm raining purple mist from Eden! For example, I am watching climate change destroy the habitats of my beloved mushrooms and I know that this negative process is already affecting my life. It's also why I cry in hiding from time to time. I am human, groaning with the weight of life. Despite this, I keep up my strength and do the tasks I have undertaken, not just for the sake of subsistence, because as a human I am only one percent more than the animals. The knowledge that I am able to see through the processes, to see the consequences of my actions, is obliges me to take responsibility and to serve the greater purpose. Of course I could spit on the whole thing, but given that as a social being, the lack of social contact would drive me mad (see the effect of solitary confinement on prisoners), I have to fight for my own well-understood interests. Do not think I am a saint, I am a man who knows his own interests and that is why I speak out when I see worrying developments. The destruction of human values affects all of us negatively me, you, and your children if you have any.



P.S.: The rise of populist shysters deserves a separate article, but that's enough for now. The impact lie is spread a hundred times more than its refutation, the simple truth. This is because the stronger the stimulus, the more our attention is drawn to it, but unfortunately we often don't think about its true meaning afterwards. Brain processes are very energy-intensive, and it saves energy where it can, but there is a downside! The loud populist, self-interest driven scammers are thoroughly fooling people who don't understand why they are in a frighteningly dire situation! And one more thing to take seriously, anyone who creates fear in you to confuse you is not worthy of your trust, as they hurt you by making you feel bad in order to manipulate you further for their benefit! You have only one life, don't screw it up by serving yourself to someone who will destroy you.

To help you arm yourself against negativity, here are five wonderful feel-good songs. The fifth song is so emotional and powerful that it's best to start with it and then listen and understand the rest.