Despite all the problems of modern society, spiritual values do not cease to play a significant role in it, occupying a certain niche in the lives of the vast majority of people. The desire for a higher ideal, which has little in common with the material world, does not leave representatives of humanity, thanks to which, perhaps, it still exists on the planet, without destroying each other in wars and in its lower impulses, which, alas, are also widespread.
Time
Most people use only the material value of time, caring about entertainment, gaining social status and accumulating money.
But time also has spiritual value - man, unlike animals and plants, has the ability to self-awareness, and reason and self-awareness lead to self-knowledge and save a person from material suffering.
It is important to accept the fact that time is running out, and it should not be wasted, but rather engaged in spiritual practice. People before death think only one thing: “I was wasting my time wrong,” this happens because we think about material things, are attached to material things, and it hurts us when we are deprived of everything.
But a person engaged in spiritual practice is not attached to material things, learning his spiritual nature (eternity, bliss, knowledge) understands more and more what the spiritual value of time is.
Signs of spiritual culture
Spiritual culture has a number of unique features that distinguish it from all other areas of culture. These signs include:
- Unselfishness of spiritual culture, which does not pursue any material benefits, but is expressed exclusively in beauty, wisdom and knowledge. For this reason, people’s need for spiritual culture arises by itself; it does not solve any external or material problems;
- freedom of creativity for a person , providing the individual with unlimited opportunities for self-realization in the field of art;
- The special world created within the framework of spiritual culture differs from everyday life in greater brightness and richness ;
- The sphere of spiritual culture is a living, moving organism that clearly and promptly responds to any changes in the life of society;
- This type of culture is distinguished by its enviable longevity , because even if a masterpiece of art is destroyed, the memory of it is preserved and passed on over the centuries in memories and legends.
Knowledge
The knowledge we receive helps us discover the true meaning of life, allows the mind to be in harmony with logic, faith and feelings. It is also given to us to know the fundamentals of nature.
A person not only learns about the world, but also tries to understand the meaning of his existence. Knowledge is an important component of consciousness; human development cannot be imagined without it.
A person striving for truth will always try to accumulate as much knowledge as possible. Probably everyone has heard the phrase “Knowledge is power”, this is true, but not everyone thinks about how to gain this power.
Useful knowledge is information that has passed through time. This is a kind of instruction that we apply to our lives.
Man's stupid goals
Striving for a goal in life in itself is meaningless. It is important what the goal leads to, what values are brought to life. There are goals - dreams that everyone wants, but there is little benefit from achieving them. And even more so, there is no point in putting them on – they don’t motivate.
Look at this list of goals on the MYTH blog[1]:
- Achieve enlightenment. For this purpose, the road to the psychiatric hospital is well-trodden. Get in line, there won't be enough beds for everyone.
- Surround yourself with friends.
- Read 1000 books.
50 books a year. 20 years of active reading – for what? Fiction novels are rarely written by mentally adequate people, and even more rarely do they have healthy characters - they are boring on the pages. - Become an astronaut. You spend your whole life training with ten other astronauts, but only one will fly.
- Achieve ideal physical shape. Finish yourself with a barbell before old age comes.
Such goals generate flawed motivation. You can’t set goals like that. You can get crazy when you reach them, or it’s not at all clear why someone needs them in the present tense.
The list of goals is typical, which is offered to blog readers. The authors, trying to give readers examples of long-term goals, give a set of loops. To strive for such goals without having anything behind them is an inquisition of the remnants of a healthy psyche.
To realize the goal of life, a person needs only average abilities, but not enough average courage. Strength of mind is needed less than courage to resist the circumstances and prejudices of others.
A person is not effective at achieving a goal that does not lead him to something greater than the goal itself. Therefore, it is so important to practice understanding your desires, needs, values, know your strengths and be able to work for pleasure.
- A goal without meaning is a dead end
Set short-term goals for self-exploration, searching for your untapped talents. Learn to overcome preconceptions about yourself and what you already “know.” Develop self-confidence, form an opinion based on personal experience. Develop courage and ability to work. You will need all this when you are ready to solve an important problem or implement a complex project.
Development
As you know, nature is changeable, and all living things are always in motion. Everything changes: our views, tastes, interests, the old is new, etc.
Development is evolution, movement. Changes happen naturally, and no matter how hard someone tries to stay in place, no one can do it.
Development is also a spiritual value; many take development for some kind of life changes, material growth, but spiritual development is the evolution of personal qualities, the improvement of one’s inner world.
The main goal of development is to realize one’s nature, to discover oneself. You can never lose the fruits of spiritual work, which cannot be said about the material things you have accumulated.
Functions of spiritual culture
The main functions of spiritual culture include:
- preserving the experience of previous generations of people;
- the use of spiritual culture as a means of socialization;
- its assistance to the education and spiritual development of the individual;
- formation of a person’s aesthetic taste and creative thinking;
- positive emotions and energy received by people as a result of enjoying beauty;
- moral growth and personal development, the ability for a person to understand himself and the world around him through the prism of creativity.
Liberty
Freedom is a very multi-valued concept, but it can be characterized. A person can always feel when he is free and when he is not. If he acts based on his principles, desires and is responsible for the result of his actions, he is free.
That is, he is responsible for his actions and decides for himself what to do. This means free will and no coercion from outside.
beauty
Beauty is the most mysterious spiritual value; each person understands it in his own way. If you do a survey among people, the results will be different.
For some, beauty is a bird that pecks seeds from a person’s hand, for others it is a luxurious English garden... Therefore, we can say that beauty is what surrounds us. It exists in relationships between people, in us, in others, in nature.
It is beauty that inspires to create - it encourages musicians and writers to create real masterpieces that do not lose their uniqueness through the centuries... This is a very subtle substance, and only a sensitive person can understand it.
How are these values expressed at work?
| Specialist | The specialist will speak honestly about his mistakes, regardless of a possible reprimand. |
| Clergyman | The clergyman will perform his duties efficiently, even if he is not being observed. |
| Supervisor | The manager will look for ways to deliver goods that will not bring extra costs to customers. |
| Salesman | The seller will actively serve people, and not hide behind bureaucratic rules. |
| Manager | The manager will try to preserve the natural environment and protect it from pollution by waste. |
Art
Art is the spiritual self-realization of a person through sensory and expressive aspects - drawing, sound, writing, light, etc.
Art helps every person to feel the beautiful, makes him spiritually richer, gives energy and brings meaning to life. If there were no art, then we would live only by those things that surround us (ordinary), and there would be no opportunity to grow and progress.
A person who is associated with art is filled with energy and is capable of creating the surrounding reality. Most often, the creator begins to look for his own meaning, which has not previously been found among people.
Examples of spiritual culture
Now let’s give some clear and familiar examples of spiritual culture. These include:
- Moral standards, i.e. a set of rules of behavior based on people’s ideas about good and evil;
- Mythology is a set of legends containing people’s initial ideas about the surrounding reality, its origin and man’s place in it;
- Religion, i.e. ideological position based on belief in supernatural forces of divine origin;
- Art, which refers to a person’s attempts to reflect the reality around him through the use of the language of images;
- Philosophy is the science of general problems affecting the basic issues of existence;
- Science - brought together ideas and views about the construction of the world around us, based on research conducted by scientists;
- Ideology is a complex that includes various beliefs, ideas and views.
Creation
Creativity is characteristic of every person, but not everyone discovers it in themselves. This is the creation of something new, something that has not been seen before.
It is usually believed that creativity is creating a work of art, writing classical music, but a little girl, for example, who wrote a couple of lines in her notebook about a bear cub walking in a meadow - this is already creativity, she is a creator and has created something new.
Creativity is the ability to create something new; it always elevates the soul and ennobles the personality.
True
People have a sparkle in their eyes when it comes to seeking the truth, the truth. This is a person’s natural desire to understand the world in which he lives, as well as himself. Truth is a spiritual value, it gives a person a lot - with its help we can analyze what is happening, our actions, we consider certain actions that we perform for morality and correctness. For everyone, truth has its own understanding - for one, something that for another has no significance will be sacred. Truth is what has been tested by time and experience.
Example: list of 50 goals
- The list of 50 goals is divided into areas of life.
Coming up with goals can be difficult if there is little practice and awareness. Therefore, it is useful to look through examples of general development goals and adapt the ones you like.
We offer examples that lead to personal development, to the acquisition of experience, and to the expansion of ideas about oneself and the universe. It is advisable to have something else behind these goals, but they will already develop you if you decide to achieve them. I collected goals that are more environmentally friendly for our little head.
Health and sports
- Step by step course. Draw a mind map of your health.
- Swim 500 meters. Dive to 8 meters.
- Eliminate 2-3 unhealthy foods from your diet.
- Run 10 km.
- For a whole week, eat only home-cooked food.
- Strengthen your position in life I am ok, others are ok.
- Learn to play table tennis and tennis.
- Rocking chair. Work out for 2–3 months. Get a rank.
- Understand the element of your calling: man - man, man - machine, man - symbols.
- Increase your income by 2 times.
- Live a week without urgent matters (outside of vacation).
- Passive income. 100$/month
- Work for a company. The company's goals help you realize your dreams.
- Financial control. Record expenses and income for six months.
- Gain experience in hiring and firing employees.
Surroundings, friends
- Public performance. Speak to an audience of 30 people.
- Get the hang of getting to know each other.
- Be able to listen to your interlocutor.
- Organize a board game evening.
- Attend a group therapy training session with an experienced psychologist. Make your own opinion.
- Loving is life-affirming. Cure neuroticism.
- Marry or get married for love.
- Take on the role of father or mother. To raise, not raise, a child.
- Arrange a “spontaneous” trip.
- Visit another continent.
- King of the hill - climb the pyramid.
- Swim in two oceans.
- Live for 2 months in an unfamiliar country.
- Be spontaneous. They are not afraid to look stupid.
- Read 12 popular science works in a year.
- Get a driver's license. Drive along the serpentine road.
- Learn English. Speaking level is above average.
- Learn a second foreign language at a basic level.
- Live according to your goal plan for the year and achieve 70%.
- Write 10 articles.
- Dine at the top restaurant in the city and leave no tip.
Creation
- Learn to draw. Paint 5 pictures.
- Learn to play a musical instrument. Play a melody on the flute, keys, guitar, drums.
- Choose a hobby and think about how to earn income from it in the future.
- Know how to dance. Do a choreographed dance for 1 minute.
- Sing a song at karaoke or in the studio.
- Handmade creativity. Crafts made from paper, fabric, clay, plasticine, leather.
Spirituality
- Maybe God is an atheist? He rarely sees people and begins to doubt that they exist.
- Develop the ability to overcome conviction. To learn something that would challenge my early understanding of it.
- The ability to overcome an old habit. Retrain yourself in something.
- Formulate your purpose.
- Practice meditation. Take a course or seminar.
- Bring the life balance wheel to 7–10 points.
- Read the New Testament. Form an opinion.
- Learn to overcome fears. Overcome 5 fears.
- Get an unconventional experience. Astrology, out-of-body experiences, constellations.
See also: How you can damage a person yourself
Love
Love is the highest spiritual value that you can imagine. Human existence cannot be imagined without it.
Many people mistakenly believe that if they don’t have a loved one, then there is no love. However, love is ourselves, our essence. You can love a bird singing outside the window, a new day, the spring wind, the smile of a loved one...
Love can be different - spiritual, physical, material, friendly, etc. Love helps a person become better, ennobles him.
Good
Goodness is one of the most important spiritual values. It manifests itself in man’s desire to improve life on Earth not only for himself, but also for others.
A good person always strives for truth and justice. A good deed is manifested in sincerity - this is not when a person does something for gain, but when he tries to do something for another selflessly.
Kindness has always been valued, but people sometimes suffer greatly because of their sensitivity and concern for others. Kindness is a spiritual need for everyone; when we do something useful and good, we feel better, more confident, and our souls become light.
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What is spiritual culture?
Spiritual culture is a sphere of human activity that covers various aspects of the spiritual component in the life of society and man, as well as systematized ideas and knowledge inherent in a particular society or all of humanity. Spiritual culture includes many elements of intangible culture, for example, customs, mythology, language, moral and ethical values.
The process of the emergence of spiritual culture is based on the fact that people do not limit their own sensory experience, as well as on their recognition of the dominant and guiding role of spiritual experience in life, evaluation of objects and interaction with others. In fact, it is spiritual experience that is the most important component in a person’s determination of the meanings and highest goals of his life, his role in the world around him.
Arising on the basis of the need of people to comprehend and master reality with the help of images and feelings, in practice spiritual culture is realized through such specific forms as science, religion, philosophy, etc. There is not a single area in human life where the spiritual culture assimilated does not manifest itself individual through language, upbringing and communication with other people. By mastering spiritual norms in the process of education and socialization, a person acquires the ability to evaluate and perceive the ideals accepted in a certain society.
The sphere opposite to spiritual culture includes material culture, which forms the artificial environment of an individual’s life and consists of technology, material assets and production experience accumulated by people in the process of their development.
