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What are your principles and values?

LightSun

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
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#9
My basic philosophy and hence personal principles and values is to not harm another verbally, physically, psychologically or emotionally.

I am responsible for my own thoughts, speech and actions or behaviors irregardless of external circumstances.

I try to find common ground and communicate by finding common ground. This in lieu of putting someone else down because I posses views that are different. I will state my position. I don't argue expending negative energy in unproductive action. A person has to change their belief system stemming from the inside. If I disagree I then generally beg to differ but respect another person's position. This of course unless I find something so antithetical to my moral standard.
 

Betty Blue

Let me count the ways
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Jan 19, 2010
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5,063
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sp/sx
Integrity
A willingness to put into the bigger picture (aka seeing beyond your own back yard),
Kindness (we are our most vulnerable when kind, we can only do this if we are strong, not weak)
Ability to love others
Creativity
Togetherness
Intelligence (multiple types)
Ability to recognise strengths in others
Openness
Accepting individuality
Non conformity
Self love
Positive manipulation- probably the wrong word to use because of how it may be interpreted, but ultimately when there is a positive sum gain to all parties in their own views




What I do not value/repulses me

Deceit
Lying in order to negatively manipulate people/avoid truth
Con artistry
Psychopathy/Sociopathy (when it affects others in a negative way)
Violence
Exploitation
Closed mindedness
Inability to see others strengths/judging people harshly based on their own values
Betrayal
Cowardice
 

anticlimatic

Permabanned
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Oct 17, 2013
Messages
3,299
MBTI Type
INTP
I believe that values should follow logic and reasoning, not the other way around.

I believe all problems have a solution, however unpopular it may be.

I believe people are inheritly terrible and only made what we call 'good' through social conditioning.

I believe that people who follow all the rules deserve what they get for doing so (typically nothing good).

I believe taking risks and embracing danger is a vital part of the mortal experience.
 

Wunjo

Maverick thinker.
Joined
Mar 5, 2017
Messages
899
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I have lived with little to no morality for a long time.

Have been making some changes.

Conclusions:

They are mostly defined by intuition. Can be incoherent with what can be defined as principles/values. For example, I might shoot a person, who is, because of his own agenda, blocking a way of a car athat has someone who is about to die in it. Because the life of the person who needs medical attention has a bigger value for me than a person whose selfish action can deprive that person from living, and I think, if your own agenda is important enough for you to deprive someone from their life, freedom, or whatsoever, for this is merely an example, you don't deserve that thing yourself, in the first place.
 

Cellmold

Wake, See, Sing, Dance
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
6,266
Well, I'll list out some of the traits of a coworker I totally despised, and we'll then reverse engineer to outline what I DO value.

What I despised - attempting to scam the system by taking long 'bathroom breaks' when he was sitting in the stall the entire time watching videos on his phone (coworkers verified this), arriving late to work but writing in the book (when he didn't time punch) that he was on time; looking at his phone constantly / taking extra long doing work stuff because he was constantly checking out his phone.

Thus:
I value - Integrity and honesty; Being fair and considerate of others; Not cheating the system to get paid for something you're not actually doing and screwing other people over in the process( = lazy and pathetic / no self-honor/respect or honor or respect towards others).

I value many other things but this is an easy example that's immediately obvious to me since it's something I've reflected on recently, and there's no rationalization going on; it was a visceral reaction.

I've worked in retail and service jobs with a lot of people like this.

It's incredibly frustrating. Not least because they fail to see that the work they are so keen to avoid would actually be much easier if the load were shared across the workers. Of course that's not unusual in workplaces.

In many workplaces it's only ever a small % of productive individuals who do most of the work.
 

Kanra Jest

Av'ent'Gar'de ~
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I believe Machiavelli had a point. And many people are too stuck on their moral soap boxes to admit it.
 

Mole

Permabanned
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Mar 20, 2008
Messages
20,284
I believe Machiavelli had a point. And many people are too stuck on their moral soap boxes to admit it.

Machiavelli had a point, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts. absolutely, so we have created liberal democracy to limit power. Yet the totalitarian temptation remains for billions of people, centred largely in Islam and the Left.
 

Lark

Active member
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
29,568
Machiavelli had a point, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts. absolutely, so we have created liberal democracy to limit power. Yet the totalitarian temptation remains for billions of people, centred largely in Islam and the Left.

The focus you have on political islam and the left is a diversionary tactic employed by totalitarian regimes throughout history Mole, scapegoating, look it up, you're a smart guy and I'm sure can see how this plays out.

Anyway, Machavelli is one of those authors that's oft quoted but seldom actually read.

For instance if his discourses on Levy where known more than his book The Prince then he'd be remembered as the fiercest republican that ever lived, a champion of civil society, popular sovereignty and limits upon the sorts of emergency powers he appears to praise in The Prince.

Unfortunately, like I say, people dont really read Machavelli and therefore have just accepted that he is some sort of a byword for real politik and manipulation.

BTW Machiavelli never said anything about power corrupting and absolute power corrupting, that was Lord Acton. In fact Machiavelli thought people were corrupted to begin with, power only allows them to act on it. Machiavelli actually writes about how being powerless, or fearful of the powerful, the populace are to considered suspect by rulers.

The idea that people are by nature not corrupt and it is only with the introduction of power into the circumstances that corruption can take place is much more optimistic than Machiavelli.
 

EJCC

The Devil of TypoC
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Aug 29, 2008
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I actually mapped my values recently - useful exercise btw. See below.

CBED7A4F-99CA-416A-8D4D-5CAA4F9DD446.jpg
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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I actually mapped my values recently - useful exercise btw. See below.

View attachment 21013
"Know the rules so you can improve them." Oh, dear.

I think mine would read more like, "Know the rules so you can use them to your advantage (and avoid them when that suits your purpose)."
 

EJCC

The Devil of TypoC
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"Know the rules so you can improve them." Oh, dear.
:cheese: 1s gotta 1.

But in all seriousness - "rules" is shorthand in this values map for "procedures" or "ways of being". Basically, learn how things operate, and optimize them if they can be optimized. Move them towards the ideal.

I think mine would read more like, "Know the rules so you can use them to your advantage (and avoid them when that suits your purpose)."
Hah, are you neutral good? I don't know how people approach rules this way - my instinct has always been a "with them or against them" binary.
 

Coriolis

Si vis pacem, para bellum
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Hah, are you neutral good? I don't know how people approach rules this way - my instinct has always been a "with them or against them" binary.
I probably am. I prioritize my internal "rules" and goals over anything external. Oftentimes they are in good agreement. My personal values would not condone stealing, lying, cheating, etc. If external rules don't violate internal rules and don't get in the way of what I want to do, I generally follow them as things run more smoothly that way. if not, though, I have no problem doing my best to circumvent them. I will try to change them if I can, but sometimes simply even asking tips my hand in a way that works against my purposes.
 

Lark

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Messages
29,568
I actually mapped my values recently - useful exercise btw. See below.

View attachment 21013

I think you'd like to read "Good Work" by the guy who wrote "Small Is Beautiful", I think his name is EF Schaumacher (I could be misspelling that, I dont know).

It is reflective of some of the things you have noted here.
 

Lark

Active member
Joined
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:cheese: 1s gotta 1.

But in all seriousness - "rules" is shorthand in this values map for "procedures" or "ways of being". Basically, learn how things operate, and optimize them if they can be optimized. Move them towards the ideal.


Hah, are you neutral good? I don't know how people approach rules this way - my instinct has always been a "with them or against them" binary.

I think of myself as "neutral good". I am sometimes towards the lawful and sometimes less so depending on how close of an approximation of the good the rules really are.

Every rule and convention or coda I've ever encountered can be classed pretty easily as either following a fashion or vogue on the one hand or being a closer approximation of the perennial on the other.

Deciding which is which and trying to value and preserve the later while avoiding or discovering some sort of work around for the former is something I've come to think of as one of the greatest tasks of life. It can be more or less challenging depending on what your expectations or hopes of change are.
 

Saturnal Snowqueen

Solastalgia 𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
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Mostly being forgiving, respecting peoples differences(like culturally and disabilities and just different personalities), being understanding, loyalty, and individuality. I got a big thing for underdogs too, and self improvement is up there even if I find beauty in my flaws.
 
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5,100
I know I replied earlier but I didn’t really answer what I value.

I could roll off a bunch of things but I think the most important thing to me above all else is freedom. Chains come in many forms. We live in a very imperfect experience as it is so limiting ourselves further- or worse- having others attempt to limit us, is truly criminal. I’m not talking about advocating absolute anarchy. We need laws but they must be fair or they are nothing more than another set of chains employed by some to enslave others.

Freedom of expression is of paramount importance in my opinion to allow a society to function healthily. No thought should be unthinkable, no language forbidden. To do so doesn’t curb ignorance or hatred, it only curbs our ability to understand how such ideas form in the first place. To erase words and concepts is to erase our ability to recognize when the seeds of ignorance and hatred have been planted. No ruling body should ever have the power to control your vocabulary. If they control that then they also control your mind. If your mind isn’t a place that allows ideas to flourish then it’s nothing more than a biologically sophisticated prison.
 

Luminous

༻✧✧༺
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Some of the things I value highly:
  • honesty,
  • integrity,
  • thoughtfulness,
  • kindness,
  • standing up for what's right,
  • connection/friendship,
  • open mindedness,
  • compassion.

  • Admitting when one's wrong
  • Treating others with due respect and kindness
  • Loyalty when it's deserved
  • Commitment
  • Love
 
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