How does one define their personal values and ethics?

Question

Is there a template one can use to decide what is most important to them? Are there any guidelines to make sure one covers all the bases? I am looking to make a sort of moral code, defining what I believe is right and wrong. Thank you for the help.

Answer 1

You have to be honestly and deeply introspective to decide what the most important things are -to- -you-. You can't take anybody elses word for what's important because they aren't you. Many of your values will probably similar to those of the people around you, some of them won't. Some of the things you discover about yourself may surprise you. But you have to be really, -really- honest with yourself if you want to know what things you value.
And don't make the mistake of starting out with a bunch of values you 'think' are 'right' or 'good' and then convincing yourself that you have them.
The thing to remember is that your values are just that: Yours. And, as such, they are never 'right' or 'wrong'. Just 'unique'. Ans they will change over time. As yu grow older and experience more, your values will reflect that. Some things will become more important, other things less so. Maybe some new ones will show up. But you always have to be honest with yourself. And don't worry if you maybe don't like some of the things you see. You can always change them.

Doug

Answer 2

There might be some basic things you can decide for yourself, but trying to cover every base would be impossible and impracticle. Situations that test your morals and ethics require flexibility. You can preplan a response, but by reaction you will gain more insight into yourself. Also by assuming a guidebook of morals and ethics you forget the unpredictibility of people, you have no right to judge. Just because you wouldn't have done something, or chosen such a life doesn't mean that wasn't an appropriate choice for another. Sometimes a situation doesn't leave much in the way of choice. You have to respect that.

Answer 3

Love God completely, love Colleague as Self, and love as Messias loves, is a summary of Judeo-Christian values and ethics.

(Note that the first is like a great sphere, with the second and third love-actions as spheres successively nested within.)

Attuning with Sacred Word (Scripture) is good.

Also, you may find such authors as
Reverend Richard Wurmbrand's "Tortured for Christ,"
Martha Beck's "Expecting Adam" (a Harvard Ph.D. candidate decides to have her unborn baby, and loves it);
"Climb the Highest Mountain," Mark Prophet;
"Ethical ESP" and "Watch Your Dreams," Ann Ree Colton,
"Enternig the Circle" and "The Master of Lucid Dreams," Olga Kharitidi, psychiatrist,
"Extraordinary Knowing," Elizabeth Mayer, Ph.D.,
"The Field," Lynne McTaggart,
"The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", Free and Wilcock (has much about discovering ethics),
"The Path of Virtue," Jonathan Murro,
"The Great Divorce," C. S. Lewis, and
"A Philosophy of Universality," Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov.


Also, some ethical thinking occurs with some guests featured at http://www.coasttocoastam.com

best regards,

j.

Answer 4

I think it was instilled in me through the teaching of religion and although I have since stopped practicing religion, I have still kept some of the teachings and I adjust them to what I believe is the right standard. Of course it helps, when I see the different reactions that people have to the different things that I say or do...

Answer 5

The "template" is an empty metaphysical hierarchy, to be filled by one's epistemological principles. The hierarchy is filled with what you call "personal values," as well as the values within existence as you see it--called Cosmology.
These epistemological principles determine your ethics by "bouncing" them off your hierarchy, once it is established enough to do so. Examine your principles, fix the inconsistencies, and that will make your values visible to you.

Answer 6

treat others as you would like to be treated
don't try to specifically define such complex things, just take everything on a day by day basis.

Answer 7

I don't want to base my living on a book.