What Are Moral Values?
Among all natural values, moral values are the highest. Moral values are the standards of good and evil that guide a person's actions and decisions. Goodness, purity, truthfulness, and man's humility rank higher than genius, brilliance, exuberant vitality, natural or artistic beauty, and a state's stability and power.
• Negative moral values are the greatest evil, worse than suffering, sickness, death, or the disintegration of a flourishing culture; positive moral values are the focus of the world; negative moral values are the greatest evil, worse than suffering, sickness, death, or the disintegration of a flourishing culture.
• Great minds, such as Socrates and Plato, recognised this fact and repeatedly stated that it is better to suffer injustice than to commit it.
• Moral values are always a matter of personal preference. Only man can have them, and only man can realise them.
• A material object, such as a stone or a house, cannot be morally good or bad, just as a tree or a dog cannot be morally good. Similarly, human mind works (discoveries, scientific books, and works of art) cannot be said to be moral value bearers; they cannot be faithful, humble, or loving. They can only reflect these values indirectly, as they bear the imprint of the human mind.
• Man, as a free being responsible for his actions and attitudes, his will and striving, his love and hatred, joy and sorrow, and basic attitudes, can be morally good or bad. If a man is humble, pure, truthful, honest, and loving, his personality will radiate moral values.
• He will be incapable of moral goodness as long as he disregards the moral values of others, as long as he does not distinguish between the positive value inherent in truth and the negative value inherent in error, as long as he does not comprehend the positive value inherent in man's life and the negative value attached to an injustice.
• Moral values are the standards of good and evil that guide a person's actions and decisions. Morals can come from society and government, religion, or one's own self.
MORAL VALUES DERIVED FROM SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT
• When moral values are derived from society and government, they must, by necessity, change as the society's laws and morals change. The case of marriage vs. "living together" is an example of the impact of changing laws on moral values.
• Couples who lived together without the benefit of a legal matrimonial ceremony were uncommon in previous generations.
• Couples who start a family without marrying have become nearly as common in recent years as traditional married couples. However, such couples are not only more common, but they are also more accepted by other members of our society.
MORAL VALUES ALSO DERIVE FROM WITHIN ONE’S OWN SELF.
• The behaviour of older infants and young toddlers clearly demonstrates this.
• If a child has been told that they are not allowed to touch or take a certain object from an early age, they will know to look over their shoulder to see if they are being watched before touching it. This is an instinctive behaviour that does not need to be taught.
• When any form of discipline is used to change a child's behaviour, the child develops the ability to distinguish between right and wrong behaviour. The child can now make informed decisions based on his own knowledge.
• From childhood to adulthood, an individual must choose between forbidden and acceptable, kind or cruel, generous or selfish.
• Under any set of circumstances, a person can choose to do something that is prohibited. If this person has moral values, going against them will almost always result in guilt.
RELIGION IS ANOTHER SOURCE OF MORAL VALUES.
• Most religions have built-in dos and don'ts, a set of rules by which their followers should live. Individuals who follow a particular religion will generally put on a show of adhering to the religion's moral code.
• It's worth noting that these codes can be quite different; a person whose religion allows for polygamy will feel no guilt about having more than one spouse, whereas adherents of other religions will feel obligated to remain monogamous.