Values

You will agree with me, no doubt, that the degree of your cultural development - not to mention your character - can best be judged in terms of your sense of values - both moral and aesthetic - as revealed, not much in your pronouncements, as in your actuations - especially at the critical moments of your life.

Your sense of moral values, in turn, is perhaps nowhere better embodied than in your philosophy of life - namely, your attitude towards God, your attitude towards nature, your attitude towards your fellow beings.

Are you self-centered, for example, as to regard God simply as a guide, ready to show you just what steps to take in any venture; or as a protector, ready to save you from pitfalls and evil; or as a sort of policeman, always watching your every move and ready to pounce on you and punish you as soon as you say or do anything wrong; or as someone with whom you can strike bargains and whom you expect to shower you with blessings in return for your devotions; or as an indulgent father, ready to forgive you for all the wrongs that you have committed as soon as you say that you are sorry?

Do you hold the broader view, rather, that God is no less than the motivating force in all creation and that the whole of creation is so organized as to include both what you consider good and what you can consider evil - in much the same way as a tapestry is so designed as to include both black and white threads as well as threads of various colors? Do you realize that the reason life can sometimes seem so ugly is that, lacking the perspective of space and time, you can encompass only a tiny aspect of it - in much the same way as a bedbug, living in a tiny portion of a tapestry, would, if it were at all conscious of its environment, be able to see only the individual threads in its immediate vicinity, which are likely to be dirty and frayed?

If, like you, the bedbug could see the tapestry in its entirety; and if, also like you, it were endowed with the power of the discernment, it would be able to appreciate the beauty of the tapestry's design - the black threads setting off and reinforcing the white threads and the threads in the various colors. In the same way, if, like God, you had the perspective of space and time and so that you could see life in its entirety, you would be able to appreciate the beauty and appropriateness of its design - the various elements, including what you consider evil, setting off and reinforcing one another.

Do you realize, too, that since the span of your life is limited; and since, despite the phenomenal advances in transportation and communication, you can encompass only a tiny portion of the planet on which you live, you have to keep in harmony with your immediate environment - natural as well as social - if you are to be at peace with yourself and with the rest of the world? In this way alone, as matter of fact, can you discharge your responsibility to God - not merely through your observance of religious customs nor through your participation in religious ceremonies, no matter how devout you may be. Thus, your attitude towards God is so closely intertwined as to be one with your attitude towards nature and your attitude towards your fellow beings.

What, then, is your attitude towards nature? Do you think of its boundless wealth - its mountains and valleys, its streams and bodies of water, its plants and animals, the minerals in its bowels and the layer of air enveloping it - merely as something to be exploited to your own selfish advantage; or as a patrimony to be used wisely, developed, cherished, and passed on - improved and enriched, if possible - to succeeding generations? Do you realize that - like the Giant Antaeus in Greek mythology, who could remain strong only as long as he could touch Mother Earth - you, too like any other individual, or like any nation, can remain strong only as long as you keep in harmony with nature; for nature has a way of avenging itself on whoever violates it?

And what is your attitude towards fellow beings? Do you realize that - regardless of their sex, race, nationality, religious belief, political affiliation, educational attainment, and social and economic status - they are neither better nor worse than you? Do you realize that even the humblest and the most illiterate among them are just as essential to the smooth running of the body politic as you or anybody else - as long as they perform their self-appointed tasks are useful to others as well as to themselves? Do you realize that, without them, you yourself would no be able to do your work with any degree of efficiency - much less live in contentment and happiness? And do you realize that, therefore, every one of them is as worthy of your consideration and respect - and of the consideration and respect of the rest of society - as even the most exalted among its members?

This attitude, as you can doubtless see, is the very essence of Democracy, which in this, its highest manifestation, is but the political and social application of the teaching of Christianity - respect for the inherent worth and dignity of the human person, and interdependence among men. Is this not what Jesus Christ meant when He said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself"?

More easily judged than your sense of moral values is your sense of aesthetic values, fot it is patent in what you consider pleasing and beautiful.

Do you, for example, show preference for the obvious, the flashy, and the sentimental? Are you prone to load yourself with so many articles of personal adornment as to tend to look like a perambulating Christmas tree? Do you clutter your house with odd knickknacks from fairs and bargain counters? Do you prefer movies that are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing; literature that enables you to escape from the rigors of life instead of bringing you face to face with its problems, or leading you to discover hidden meaning and beauty; and music that simply tickles the feet, without at the same time titillating the imagination? Then your taste - your sense of aesthetic values, in other words it leaves much to be desired.

Do you, on the other hand, pre-play quiet simplicity to lavish display, both in your grooming