Discussion of Principles, Values, Morals, Ethics

What are the differences? Good question. What do you know? What do you think?

Aren’t they all basic guidelines which if followed bring one long lasting happiness.
I always thought of Honesty as a principle, but some say that its a value.
Need to do some research about this.

I’ve been wrestling with the differences between principles and values. Here is the direction of my thinking so far, though I haven’t come to a solid conclusion. A principle is a foundational, unchangeable truth. A value is more related to how a person, or a culture for that matter, view a principle itself. A principle lies underneath a value except in cases where a value also happens to be a principle. A value also, besides being how we view an underlying principle, is also how we view and interact with the world outside, how we view and interact with others. Our values are unique to us, whether they come naturally or by choice.

Values are built on principles. I believe that values are interconnected. Principles are interconnected too, but I picture principles as being like the legs of a table, or the posts under a pier. Much of this may just appear a game of semantics, but I think there is more here than semantics. Think of the table again. You can cover the table top with values, but the principles, the legs, though separate and stationary are all still connected.

There are literally hundreds of values. I believe they exist in a continuum and though they are all interconnected, some of them are more closely related. I think of them as value groups. Some groups are larger than others, but they are all connected. The values of learning, knowledge, wisdom, for example, are all connected. They could be said to be part of a value group. This group might or might not represent a principle common to all humans, but it is still a value group. Knowledge, or wisdom, or learning might be one of your core values, but the distinction I am trying to make here is that while knowledge, or wisdom, or learning are values, they are not necessarily principles. Some values also happen to be principles, but not all values are principles. At least they are not the principles I’m referring to as the ones that are necessary for everyone to include as a basis for building a meaningful life. The “common” ones I’m trying to identify are the ones that each of us MUST have for meaning. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes to mind, but I’m really trying to dig deeper, beyond food and shelter, and beyond a general statement of self-actualization. There may be something out there already on what I’m talking about. If you happen across this post and know of something on this topic please share it with me.

What might some of these “universal principles” be? So far I’m dancing around with ideas related to love, contribution, and health. I feel there are more, but, these seem, perhaps, to be at least some of the foundational type of principles I’m talking about, though I haven’t clearly defined them or even confirmed my thinking. I think there must be more than these three, (label them however you want) that are necessary principles for a meaningful and fulfilling life. It would be valuable to identify these types of principles, ones we could point to, so that we could build balanced lives on a solid foundation. No matter what goal we are working toward, or what area of life we are focused on in any given moment we will be far more effective if our lives are in balance. Identifying our core values is important, but, perhaps even more important is identifying the foundational principles supporting our values. We should make sure all of the minimum required principles are in place, if you will.

Consider health for a minute. Though I haven’t written out a definition for this fundamental principle I can still point to this idea and recognize the importance of it to all humans. Of course, God does work in mysterious ways. Stephen Hawking crosses my mind. Would he have had such deep thoughts if it hadn’t been for his illness? That being said, how successful can most of us be in our professional life if we completely ignore our health? What good is having all the toys in the world if we don’t have at least one person to share them with? Can a person feel truly fulfilled if they haven’t contributed anything to someone else in some way? What I am talking about here is not merely making it through life, I’m not talking about fame or fortune, I’m talking about meaning. Meaning, I believe, comes from something deeper than values, it comes first from certain foundational principles. Without identifying these for ourselves and building our lives upon them we are like a blind man with a map. A table requires more than one leg to stand.

Cleric, you are onto something with “honesty”.

Maybe I’m over-complicating all of this, still, I am enjoying the process and don’t think I’m wasting my time so I’m going to drivel on some more.

I don’t know if I’ve found all of life’s areas, but these are the ones I’ve seen listed. I think there is some over-lap of these areas when it comes to principles, you’ll see what I mean in a second. First I’m going to list the areas I’ve found and how I’ve seen them listed. When I look at the lists, I can categorize these areas in a way that makes sense to me based on, so far, four core principle ideas. Relationship with others, Relationship with self, and Physical, and Contribution.

Marriage/Family
Career/Professional
Social/Political
Religious/Spiritual

also

Spiritual
Intellectual
Psychological
Social
Professional
Recreational
Physical

I combine the lists here.
Relationship with others (External Relationship – ER)
Relationship with self (Internal Realtionship – IR)
Physical (P)
Contribution ©

Marriage ER,C
Family ER,C
Career ER,C
Professional ER,C
Social ER,C
Political ER,C
Religious IR
Spiritual IR
Intellectual IR
Psychological IR
Recreational IR,ER,P
Physical P

You guys probably think I’m a complete madman by now.

We exist in a physical world and a spiritual world. We also exist in a relational way to these two worlds. And we contribute in some way in all of our relationships. And for right now at least, we exist in a physical body.

Where the heck am I going with all of this? I don’t know for sure, just hang on for the ride as I embarrass myself in front of all of you.

When we break everything down to these basic components of existence we should be able to establish foundational principles for ourselves. One thing I found so enlightening about cleric’s comment was that I think honesty is part of the foundational principle principle. (HA!)

What is my principle for relating to others?
What is my principle for relating to “self”?
What is my principle for my physical body?
And, finally, why am I here?

Our values are built on these ideas.
Our purpose comes from here.
Our goals should come from here.

Heck, I even drew a picture last night that makes more sense to me now than it did when I first drew it. I may even scan it for you guys.

I believe we are here to learn some things and to contribute some things. We do this through our own unique ways of expressing ourselves. It is both how we contribute something to the world and how we learn something from the world.

I keep thinking about what I wrote. Now, I do believe that the statements about existing in a physical body, relating to others and self, and our purpose is to contribute and to learn are true. I have a hard time convincing myself that those things are anything other than real laws and not open to interpretation. We can hem haw around it a bit, but they seem as real as gravity. Denying it doesn’t make it not real.

Are those really “principles” though? Seems like those aren’t really principles the more I think about it. They just seems like laws of existence. Still there must be some distinction between values and principles. I still think that values must rest on principles, like the table analogy, but what are the underlying human principles. The ones we must respect and live by for success.

Still thinking along the lines of “respecting our bodies”, “contribution”, “love”, “belonging”. Help me out here guys.

If we were to look at “Billy Bob’s Ten Rules for Success”, and compare it to “Sally’s Seven Key’s for Success”, and “John Doe’s Rules for Success”, wouldn’t we find some common themes. The semantics might differ, but underneath they would have some common “principles”. Couldn’t we identify these common principles that are fundamental, the ones that are absolutely essential ingredients?

Let’s look at a short list of values: honesty, hard work, wealth, wisdom, courage. We can see that they are all single words, or just a couple of words that represent an idea.

Isn’t a principle more than that? Isn’t a principle more like a statement of how we should incorporate values? Aren’t principles like life-boats in a way? Aren’t they the touchstones? Principles seem to me to be like lighthouses more than anything else.

˚ thank you for this moment  

Posted on 30/03/2010.

In response to themadcookieman’s post:
Questions:
Why do you think you are here?

What wonderful things do you receive by having a genuine relationship with another?

What wonderful things do others receive when they are engaged in a relationship with you?

What are you passionate about and why?
MCM’s homework(:

In a general way I believe I can answer the first question without a doubt. I am hear to contribute and learn.

Everything we get, and everything we give involves a relationship of some kind. What we get and what we give are bound to the principles we live by. What we get, whether it is something intangible like joy or material like a new car all come from the principles we live by. The same holds for what we give, or contribute. It comes down to getting and giving. Learning and contributing.

The last question, “What are you passionate about and why”, that is going to take some more work, but I’m working on it.

˚ thank you for this moment  

Posted on 30/03/2010.

In response to themadcookieman’s post:

Contribute what types of things and learn what types of things?
What types of contributions or learning makes you lose track of time because you get so involved?

I just did a search for “principles of success in life”. Here are some of the links.

Define Your Success
Napoleon Hill 12 Riches of Life and 17 Principles of Success
Success Secrets
Principles for Success in Life
Principles for a Successful Life
Did You Define You Attitude at Work
11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles

Haven’t read all of these yet.

˚ thank you for this moment  

Posted on 31/03/2010.

In response to themadcookieman’s post:

Part 1 System For Success WC Stone

Part 2 System For Success WC Stone

Part 3 System For Success WC Stone

Part 4 WC Stone Success is for those who try

˚ thank you for this moment  

Posted on 03/05/2010.

Lee once said:
“What I am saying is that your core values dictate your direction. If your core values are not in line with your goals, it doesn’t matter how close you seem to get, you are always on the wrong track. You might have to go back to the station to get on another train”

I love this!