Value Clarification as the Red Pill
There are no true experts in living a life well lived. Some people seem to have a better grasp than others, but no one can prescribe a universal life script.
Western philosophy has been domineered by academics who have departmentalized and institutionalized the art of living well. In academia, philosophy departments imitate natural sciences like physics and biology, yet "professional" philosophers are no closer to being experts on goodness than the ancients were — or, as Jacob Needleman put it, "questions of the heart, that are the very substance of human life are often reduced to puzzles of the intellect."
The rise of academic philosophers has coincided with a decline in citizen philosophers. As philosophy transformed from practical to theoretical, the allure of the "common man" shrunk. The more philosophy divulges into an exercise in cleverness, the less helpful it becomes. This is worrisome for numerous reasons, but the most damaging is a lack of value clarification, a key to living a better life.
Thinking about values seems like a self-evident activity. It's not. It's more like being in The Matrix. Choosing to examine one's values is the red pill. It's usually not pretty and always uncomfortable, but value clarification is vital to the Delphic maxim of "knowing thyself."
It might seem silly to think about your values; after all, they are your values — shouldn't you know and understand them? Perhaps, but we're constantly barraged with external influences, so contemplating our internal motivations and beliefs is surprisingly tricky.
Making matters worse, when we try to think intently about what we truly value, our minds sabotage the practice. Most of us have trouble focusing, so the second our phone screen lights up or some other stimulus beeps, pings, or flashes, we escape into the shallow thinking we're accustomed to - cue the cat memes, fear porn, and influencer marketing.
Further, most of us aren't conditioned to consider our values. Children are pushed, even as toddlers, to train intensely for sports. Kids spend hours studying after school to seek admission into the most prestigious universities and practice relentlessly to master the arts. But reasoning and value contemplation rarely make the development syllabus.
We need value teachers. We have examples (parents, teachers, friends, and coaches), and these models are critical to moral development. But they are not enough. Student-athletes aren't asked only to observe other athletes; they participate. They practice. The same goes for artists, musicians, tech wizards, etc. So why aren't kids being encouraged to flex their philosophical muscles?
Unmasking what is truly important is more challenging than it sounds. As we go through life, we are inundated with pressures to conform, mimic, and adhere to standards imposed by invisible forces of society. Constant exposure to these externals creates confusion, making it hard to distinguish between external and internal motivations.
Philosophy can right the ship.
Before values can be clarified, they must be defined. Values are uniquely human and guide our decisions. Better put, values are "fundamental attitudes guiding our mental processes and behavior" that "produce the belief that life is meaningful and serve as a measure of how meaningful one's actions are." (Vyskocilova et al., 2015).
No wonder pessimism and, worse, nihilism is on the rise. Without a value framework, where does meaning come from?
Nihilism's roots only go back to the mid-19th century — but there's been an explosion of people who reject morality, objective truth, values, and meaning. We're faced with a chicken/egg dilemma. Did nihilism grow because philosophy declined, or did philosophy decline because nihilism replaced it? It's a fun thought experiment but not particularly useful to the individual who seeks to live a meaningful life.
Fortunately, there is always time to clarify (and alter) your values. Begin by answering the following questions:
What values have you always lived by?
What values have you more recently tried to adopt?
What values would you encourage a young child to adopt in making decisions about relationships with other people and major life events?
What motivates you throughout the day?
What makes you feel good about yourself?
What makes you feel ashamed?
What values do you wish your actions more closely aligned with?
Where did your existing values come from?
What values were instilled in you that you've left behind? Why?
Thinking about who you are and who you want to be is freeing — it rips away the shackles of outside expectations and allows growth to a more true, authentic existence.
Philosophy is for everyone — it's a love of wisdom. It doesn't sit atop a pedestal reachable only by stairs in university philosophy departments. Philosophy isn't a subject matter; it's a way of living. For the ancients, philosophy was a tool to change how we live — to reform, not a rhetorical spaghetti of complicated ideas. A step back in time may be the biggest step forward we can take. Ancient wisdom has stood the test of time, and while not as shiny and new as modern interpretations and theories, if a life well lived is the goal, the path paved with rock and cobblestone will outlast the freshly laid asphalt.
