Now one might say, why don’t you tell me what values
I should choose?
Because we are, each of us, raised in different situations, different
circumstances, different backgrounds… we have inherited
vastly different ism’s and ideologies. And given our vastly different
situations, we have reached different conclusions about our meaning,
our purpose, our values.
We are, each of us, a victim of our different backgrounds…
My values, my meaning, my purpose comes from my background
and circumstances. The question becomes, do I overcome my past
and engage in a search for the values, meaning and purpose that is mine,
and mine alone, or do I simply hold on to the values, meaning and purpose
that was indoctrinated into me as a child?
As Iam is always pointing out, we are subject to the circumstances
of our situation and that can lead us to adapt values that are not
necessarily values we would choose if we have a choice.
For example, I am a checker in a supermarket. I must, to keep my job,
uphold the corporate values of money/profits over people’s lives.
If I fail to create profit, if I don’t work to increase the amount of money
the corporation makes, I am deemed disposable. It doesn’t matter what
values I personally hold, I must increase corporate profits or I am gone.
I am not the nihilism/corporate values that I must hold to keep my job.
but I am a victim to be sure. Now one might say, if you believe that quit.
but every single corporation in America holds the nihilist belief in
money/profits over people and their values/lives. I cannot, cannot
escape to any job that doesn’t hold to the nihilist values of corporate
America. My choice is to starve to death or to work in a job that
denies who I am as a person and negates my very existence with
its emphasis on money/profits over people and their values……
I have no choice in the corporatocracy we live in, in America today.
But I can choose my personal values, which govern my choices as
to what kind of person I can be outside of corporate America.
and if enough people, find that life under the nihilism of corporate
America is not only demeaning and dehumanizing, but also a danger
to who we are and who we want to be, they might be a wave
that will end the dictatorship of corporate America……
and we the people, we decide our own values and our own
meaning and purpose. Outside of the nihilistic values of
corporate America. We the people, in order to form a more
perfect union, must, must decide upon the values that reflect
who we are and who we want to be in the future.
Is my values, my meaning, my purpose really meant to engage
in the nihilistic pursuit of money/profits? Is that who I am?
the sole reason for my existence is to engage in the pursuit
of money/profits? is that my meaning?
I don’t believe so and I hope you don’t believe so.
so, engage in the values that give your life meaning, purpose.
I can’t tell what values give you meaning or purpose. only you can make
that choice, that decision.
are the values that give you meaning or purpose, justice or perhaps love,
or perhaps charity or honor or truth or peace…………
what value or values give your life meaning?
For me, it is freedom and justice, and justice is nothing
more then equality. To be just is to be equal. I find those values
to give my life meaning and purpose. So what values give your life
meaning and purpose?
Now Iam might argue what about values that are in conflict?
I say, we have to understand what values we hold before we can
argue about conflicting values and what they mean in any argument over
values.
We have to put the horse before the cart and discover what values
we have before we can argue about what the values might mean in
any disagreement about the values we should follow…
His arguments have a legitimate place in our discourse, just a little
bit later after we have discover and understood what values we ought to
hold that give our lives meaning and purpose.
Kropotkin