Values

  

As we said elsewhere, arriving at good values and living by them is at the foundation of living a good life. Traditionally, values are thought to be derived from religious beliefs.

We agree that the religions of the world have provided a great deal of insight into good values. However, the history of religion is also, in part, the history of human laziness. Arriving at good values takes a lot of hard work—work that never comes completely to an end while we live and grow.

But historically all religions have found that many—perhaps most—people prefer easy answers. And not only do people prefer religions that offer easy—and comforting—answers, they often rest content with grasping just a few of the main ideas of the religion of their choice.

And with that their spiritual growth ends.

Yes, they're comfortable—up to a point. But they might as well be dead. In an important sense, these couch potatoes of the spiritual world already are dead.

In the end, the important thing about answers isn't whether they're easy or hard, or comforting or not. It's whether or not they're right. And simple answers rarely are.

So we hope to encourage you to avoid the trap of spiritual laziness and the temptation of easy answers. At a minimum, we'd like to help you develop a deeper understanding of your current religion—whatever it may b—religion here meaning "belief system." But it's possible to go far beyond that. You can broaden and deepen your values by coming to an understanding of other belief systems, both religious and non-religious. And there are other resources available in addition to formal systems of belief. These include such things as literature and history. Movies, too.

On the other hand, if you've already avoided temptation, we'd like to equip you with a few tools you may not be aware of.

So the resources we offer here concerning values come in three flavors.

First, there are religious resources. These help you to better understand the values advocated by the traditional religions of the world.

Second, there are non-religious resources. These help you to better understand the values advocated by those who are not traditionally religious, especially Humanist philosophers.

Finally, there are informal resources. These include literature, history and movies.