This blog is not about photography. I’m using photography as an excuse, because one of my core values is creativity. Knowing your core values allows you to waste less energy on paths that are ultimately unfulfilling. This is not a sales pitch, you can’t buy it.
Western societal values
An acquaintance of mine bought a house for a million euros recently. This news stung me, I clearly felt it in my guts. The sting was short lived and not as violent as it might have been in the past, which I took as a sign of moderate maturation. Immediately after the sting I felt insecure about my own relative lack of material wealth and then self-conscious about the importance I, still, placed on it.
An expensive house is a symbol of living well, of being successful. But only in the context of a certain culture. Symbols are impressed upon us from a very early age by the environment we grow up in. The Queen has a castle. The pop artist a mansion or two. The football player has a collection of hyper-cars. Extraordinary people who capitalised on it. This extraordinariness that some rich people may have (had) is a reason why we think material wealth is deserved.
Many extraordinary creative, honest, wise, patient, sportive, perceptive, insert your favourite adjective here, persons live in small apartments. But because wealth takes up so much space (more and bigger houses with bigger gardens, extravagant lifestyles), the materially wealthy people – and their stuff – is what we notice above all.
Later in life we recognise the symbols subconsciously. Only the attached meaning is presented to our consciousness, without context: a more expensive house means the person is more extraordinary than you. Hence the sting.
The one value to rule them all
The notion that rich people are somehow better (meritocracy) is obviously a load of cr*p because it completely ignores differences in upbringing (rich parents vs child abuse), physical competencies that include brain wiring (healthy genius vs sickly dumbass), location (Silicon Valley vs Congo), etcetera. Spare me the story of the abused sickly dumbass from Congo that still became CEO and drives a Rolls: single outliers are routinely removed from datasets for a reason.
People with (too much) money and (perceived) interests conflicting with the well-being of everybody are working towards making human values more wealth-based by denying for instance healthcare, education, transportation and fine things like healthy food and art to people who cannot pay. This is called capitalism: everything is a company that must make money.
In reforming our society thusly they take away focus from the pure values and put focus on the money you will need to live by them. Ingraining the concept that more material wealth is better deeper and deeper into our culture. This is the great decoy of the past century: money becoming an end, because it’s the only means.
Your own values
But, let’s not get distracted! Instead let us make a culture together that is more aligned with human values. To do this I think the only thing we need to do is live according to our own while we can. Which I have been trying to do for the previous decades, with varying success obviously. My values are currently (in order of significance / importance to me):
- Creativity, originality, musicality
- (Self-) improvement, fitness (of mind and body)
- Beauty, nature
- Focus, skilfulness
- Cooperation
The funny thing is, money is not one of them. It wasn’t even on the long list. I can practically guarantee it won’t be on yours as well. Because of what it ultimately is: a placeholder for something else.
For a process to discover your core values: finding your core values.
Why know your core values
When you interact and connect with others based on your core values, you will become more harmonious and transparent. Because your behaviour will be rooted in something deeper than superficial opportunities.
When you set goals, make decisions and take action based on your values you will follow through naturally. Unlike basing your actions on ‘what will get me the most money’ and then struggle with motivation.
When we all live more according to human values, would that not be a lot more pleasant, and true in a sense, than building our culture around cold hard cash?
Well written! This is food for thought Joeri…