General Appreciation of the Meaning of Values

Value comes from the Latin word ‘valere’ which means to be of worth, to be
strong. The dictionaries see value as something (as a principle of quality)
intrinsically valuable, useful or important, relative worth, degree of
excellence., has a price, something precious, dear and worthwhile; hence
something one is ready to suffer and sacrifice for, if necessary one is ready is to
die for it. (See S.Ignacimuthu, SJ. Values for Life, Bombay: St Paul’s Society,
1994,p. 10)

Value is closely related with beliefs about what is right and wrong especially
what is important in life to keep the human society going. Values are guiding
principles or standards of behavior which are regarded as desirable and
important, held in high esteem by a particular society in which a person lives;
and the failure to hold them will result in blame, criticism or condemnation.
Values are like maps that guide our interaction with others, friends and family,
in our business and professional engagements.

Thus values give meaning and strength to a person’s character by occupying a

central place in one’s life. Values invoke commitment, deep concern, ends not
means and stand as pointers to final choice in moments of doubts. Values reflect
in ones personal attitudes and judgments, ones decisions and choices, ones
behavior and relationships, one’s dreams and vision, ones thoughts, feelings and
actions. Values guide us to the right things, they also help us to be morally
sound.

Lack of values manifest as confusion, lack of order or direction, making room

for anything goes, where a person just lives his life as the moment and the day
dictate. Without values one would be floating like a piece of driftwood in the
swirling waters of a river exciting it may appear first.

In the context of Human, values are the ideals which are expected of a properly
adjusted, conscious human beings in his daily life and indeed for life time which
give direction and firmness to life and bring to life the important dimension of
meaning which adds joy, satisfaction and peace to life. Values are like the rails
that keep a train on the track and help it move smoothly, quickly and with
direction. Human values give motivation to a person. They identify a person,
give him a name, a face and a character. They bring quality to life.
For a Guide to our Purpose in life

Value helps us define our purpose in life. A life that will succeed needs a basic
aim, a sense of values, a worldview, a frame of reference within which it is to
be made and fixed. To secure enough energy to pursue a purpose one must draw
a clean line that will demarcate, define and delimit areas of interest. This means
that purpose in life should as much as possible be simple, not amorphous or
bogus. Definition of purpose helps one to know the types of friends to keep, the
kind of books to buy, the kinds of places to go and so on. One must always have
a purpose at every point in time. The more complex a choice, the more
problems therein. Without a clearly defined destination, one may never arrive at
any place. Just as there must be a compass to guide the pilot, directory for the
traveler, so should everyone have the clearly outline value which he must
consult from time to time and which will guide his focus. The goal may be to
rise in the ladder of the work; that is in the promotional rank or to make more
money or learn all the details of the work.

It is over stating the obvious that in today’s interdependent and inter-connected

global world, there is need for functional life guide to our youths that will put
them in the global circuit and harness global benefits for our country. The
trans-cultural consciousness occasioned by the services of social media culture,
though bridges the distance between nations, yet brings about such distraction
via global consciousness hence there is the need for a rebirth of our nation from
the nadir of existence into the committee of the brightest and the best. The work
provides specialized, personalized, quality and comprehensive programme of
self order in view of success. It is on record that having a sense of purpose
provides the energy that not only energize individuals for greatness, but also stir
in them an mistakable patriotic zeal, while instilling in their hearts ardent love
for meaning in their lives.

Kinds of Values

Values could be classified broadly under four heading

a.Personal values, b) Social values, c) Moral and Spiritual values, d)

Behavioural Values.

Personal Values
Personal values refer to those values which are desired and cherished by the
individual, irrespective of his or her social relationship; impelled by his or her
own motivation the individual determines his or her own standards of
achievement and attains these targets without explicit interaction with any other
person. An individual can cherish and possess these values without affecting
others.

Examples of personal values: ambition, cleanliness, contentment, courage,

creativity, determination, dignity of labour, diligence, discernment, excellence,
honesty, hope, maturity, regularity and punctuality, self confidence, self
motivation, simplicity

Social Values

Social values refer to those values which are other oriented. These values are
cherished and practiced because of our association with others. Unlike personal
values, the practice of social values necessitates the interactions of two or more
persons. Social values are always practiced in relation to our neighbours,
community, society, nation and the world.

Examples of social Values: Accountability, Brotherhood, concern for

environment, courtesy, dialogue, dutifulness, forgiveness, freedom, friendship,
gratitude, hospitality, justice, love, magnanimity, patience, repentance,
responsibility, service, sharing, sportsmanship, sympathy, Team spirit, tolerance

Moral and Spiritual Values

Moral and spiritual values refer to those values that are related to an
individual’s character and personality conforming to what is right and virtuous.
This relates to principles, conduct and practice of duties. It takes into
consideration the good of all based on sound principles. Moral and Spiritual
values reveal a person’s self-control, self-purification and knowledge. Quite
often moral values depict a person’s spiritual convictions since morality and
spirituality go hand in hand.

Examples of moral and spiritual values: detachment, faith, loyalty, non-

violence, obedience, prayer, purity renunciation, truthfulness

Behavioural Values
Briefly speaking, behavioural values refer to all good manners that are needed
to make our life successful and joyous. In what follows we shall elaborate
different kinds of values with examples with a view to understand, desire, and
cherish them and make them our own. Examples of behavioural values: basis of
good manners, at home, at school, at college, interaction with other students, on
the play field, on the streets, behaviour and conduct, superiors and you,
etiquette, table manners, tact and delicacy, independence of character, personal
habits, in life.

We must hold on to and love our own values if life must have meaning and
build a better society. A Chinese proverb is a good summary of this. “if there is
righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in
character, there will be harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the
home, there will be order in the nation and there will be peace in the world.”To
live a happy and fulfilled life, there are some values that are fundamental. What
follows is the proper hierarchy of values to pursue.

Interface Between Religion and Human values

The close relationship between religion and values is such that the values that
religion project has the highest hold on the people. A good religion must
enhance the fusion or harmony that exists or that should exist between religion
and human values. Although it is not always right to equate religion and values
yet it is true that any religion that does not enhance human values is incomplete.
John Paul II wrote on the indispensable role of religion in the mission of values.
Religion according to John Paul II determines man’s view of the world, guides
his relationship with others and offers an answer to the question of the true
meaning of life both personally and socially (see John Paul II, Address to the
members of COMIN, 5th March 1999, N. 3 L’Osservatore Romano, English
language edition, 31st March 1999, p. 10).. Religion acts as a force for the
promotion of values guarantees the mainstay of any society’s commitment to its
true values. John Mbiti writes “Religion is the strongest in traditional
background that exerts probably the greatest influence upon the thinking and the
living of the people concerned.” This means that it is difficult to have value in
any society that does not respect God or at least have some religious
consciousness. Examine USSR and China.
Religion is such a prominent feature in human society that it cannot simply be
ignored. World history would not be complete without reference to religion, nor
can the history of any nation be written without reference to it. Religion is as
old as man on earth and will, in probability, remain on earth for so long as man
remains on it. It has aided social progress, educational development,
interpersonal and international cooperation as well as mutual understanding
among people. On the other hand, religion has also been the underlying force
behind conflicts, civil as well as international wars, social stagnation or even
retrogression, oppression, discrimination etc.
Religion has to do with the whole of human existence and not merely with
certain special aspects. Only human beings are religious and have religion as a
value; that is as something that should be pursued, that is worthy and gives
meaning to life.Religion combines beliefs and world view which we may call
ethos, the behavior which is seen as right or wrong which we call ethics and
also acts as an account of a social entity which we call ethnos. These three
ethos, ethics and ethnos define religion.

Thus religion is a two edged sword which can cut either way with serious
consequences. But the problem is to know what is true values that religion
should uphold. Just as religion varies so are the values they uphold vary. It is a
powerful and very delicate phenomenon which needs to be handled with the
utmost caution. The effects it has produced in human history all over the world
cannot be ignored. It has totally transformed the structures of societies, the lives
of countless individuals and institutions all over the world. It has produced
saints all over the world, men and women whose lives have been shining
examples of human goodness, love, dedication and selfless service. On the other
hand, it has also produced fanatics, men who slaughtered their fellow men in
hundreds and thousands in the name of the Good God! It has driven many
fanatics into pathological illusions and rendered them cruel, heartless, wicked,
inhuman and Godless, all in the name of God! From what has been said so far, it
is evident that Religion could be double edges sword.

When you hear some philosophers utter some unconventional or

uncomplimentary remarks on religion, it is usually when religion is allowed not
to encourage true human values. When Marx stated that religion is the opium
of the people, he was talking against the backdrop of the negative effect it had
on the 19th century religious adherents, their economy and their life generally.
Similarly, when Nietzsche talked of the death of God, he was actually
expressing the fear that the decline of religion, theism or higher moral authority
would plunge the world into chaos. It should be understood that the western
world had depended on the rule of God for thousands of years. It gave order to
the society and meaning to life. Without it, Nietzsche writes, society will move
into an age of nihilism.

All these ideas and comments emanate when religion is not properly handled.
Anytime religion and the God-talk is manipulated, it leads to loss of values
which gives life meaning. Once values are lost, such disposition as that of Marx
and Nietzsche is the result. People sneer at religion; they reject it once the
hidden lies of manipulation become evident. These are the lies of not defending
the truth: that values and only values alone give meaning to life; the lies of
make –belief and arranged miracles, false hope which Marx vexed for. Such lies
fertilize mental laziness, dwarf the young people’s mind and ability to reason
scientifically; make them believe that things will be okay even when they are
not pursuing the right values or doing the right things, such as passing exams
when they have not studied for it, getting employment when they are not
qualified for it. Crying over this emerging ugly scenario and latter
consequences, Iwuagwu A. C. Iwuagwu wrote:

These lies and similar ones are going on in different religions today
unchecked and even encouraged by those who are supposed to
discouraged them. It may appear as wining souls for such religions now
and swelling their numbers today and making such religions not to
repeat - neither gold nor silver do we have. However, the result when
the brainwashed mentality will dry up, when the sentiments and
emotions will reduce, when the victims today will become critical,
analytical and independent would be the rejection of that religion. The
moment will produce more people who will entertain and even expand
Karl Marx idea of religion as Opium of the people. That epoch will have
in their rank and file, people who would entertain the misquoted
Nietzsche aphorism – “God is dead.”
Iwuagwu A. C. Iwuagwu, Journey with the Youths: “I series” in the The Forum
Newspapers, 11th Dec., 2016, p. 5.)
Truly as Marx pointed out, religion cushions the harsh effects of existential
struggles, acts as a mechanism of social control and maintains social relations.
These are credits for religion. But hidden negative effects are that it tends to
discourage people from full time existential struggle. People who misuse
religion do not make so much effort to change their situations; they tend to
leave it in the hands of ‘God’. Religion to use the ideas of Nietzsche blinds the
adherents with slave mentality, denying the master approach to life issues. By
providing explanations and justifications for a social situation, religion may
distort reality, blinding people of their true situation. The point here is that
religion is or should be a portent force in the discovery and enhancement of
human values. But when it wears the cloak of free lunch, then there is a
problem.

It is in this light that Nicholas Mbogu and others believe that rather than be a
help for development, religion, particularly the prosperity gospel in the third
world has turned to be one of the means of underdevelopment. The deceptive
promises it bandies about gives the adherents hope without struggle. The theme
of abundant life it presents acts like a magic wand to hopeless poor who tends to
exchange deep and better planning for the future with hope. There is that
psychological laziness that grows up in someone who has hope in someone else
than in himself. That is why instead of looking for the cause of marriage break-
ups in examining the lives of the couples for its weakness, such people think
that the break-up has been engineered with charms by some jealous people or
even by a former girl/boyfriend who was disappointed by one of the couples.
When a woman does not conceive when she should, she does not first think of
any medical condition that could be responsible for it and what to do to help the
situation. She thinks of possible causes from either her family or the man’s
family. If families are in discord, it cannot be from the quarrelling members;
some envious or jealous neighbors have planted the seed of discord through
charms. The situation as some scholars believe is that the religiosity create
pessimistic cause and effect metaphysical attitude in life. This has spread to all
quarters of human life that an individual cannot even live his/her life freely
without one evil/demon/charm/witch menacing or trailing the person. Every
event of life negative or positive has an explanation, most of which are traced
outside the responsibility of the victim. Elochukwu Uzoukwu paints the picture
in these revealing words
 Sometimes one hears that religion has become a disease in Africa, that
religion is an obstacle to the development of the continent. Some allege
that right from the time to our own day, the African religious vision of
the world substitutes escapism for facing the social, political and
economic challenges of the continent…. The poor in Africa pour into
independent churches, healing homes, sects and charismatic groups and
delight in highly emotional or cultural liturgies in order to drown their
pains in the irrational/emotional instead of questioning the very structure
which produce such pain or oppression. The fatalism which is part of
some patterns of African Traditional Religion and culture appears to be
encouraged by this pattern of religious practice in times of crisis – past
and present.
(Elochukwu Uzuukwu, The Listening Church: Autonomy and
Communion in African Churches, Orbis Book, New York, 1996, 127.)

True religion that encourages values and build human society should revisit
traditional spirituality that uses the tool of religion to serve the human
community. That way rather than religion becoming a burden, becomes an
instrument of human continuous freedom.The root cause of our empty religion
today is that we ride on false religious hope without values. Hence despite the
multiplication of religious houses and places of worships, our society is not
getting better.A society is as productive as its ruling philosophy. No society has
ever been more productive than its philosophy - particularly philosophy of
values - put into operations.According to the acclaimed father of the Indian
nation, M. K. Ghandi
“If wealth is lost, is lost,
If health is lost something is lost, nothing
If character is lost, everything is lost
Best of all things is character”

It is very important that religion uphold true values because no development is

possible outside the context defined by values. Take the rise of capitalism as an
example. According to Anya O. Anya, when some parts of the Christian
message start emphasizing stewardship, thrift, hard work and so on it creates an
environment in which people know that they should work hard and produce.
Then what is produced should also be conserved which is thrift. And when you
have done that you should also share with others, realizing that whatever you
have is ultimately from God, that is stewardship. It was such kind of values
promoted that gave rise to what Marx Weber, the German sociologist called the
protestant ethic, which gradually gave rise to capitalism. A glance at British
history, between 1810 and 1850 would show that the terrible experiences of
corruption and so on as we see it in Nigeria today also happened in Britain. The
difference was that some men had the courage to question the values then such
as slave trade and extreme capitalism. And in that questioning, new values
started emerging which in fact affected the ethos that led them into colonialism
that also changed the emphasis on how their development would take place.
That was how their agric revolution started and their industrialization started.
(Prof Anya O. Anya in an Interview on Politics titled “How Igbo can be
President” in Saturday Sun, January, 28, 2017, pp 46 -47)

Since it is the values that are promoted that define the future to be inherited.
There is therefore the need to put more emphasis on values so that young people
know that these are the things that are allowed and they will pursue them. A
society that tolerates a class of leaders who do not work but own vast estates
will such send signals to the young that the true values is wealth. Recently in
one of my lectures (with 200 levels students) in the Imo State University,
Owerri, Imo State Nigeria I asked students to raise up their hands according to
those who would want to get their certificates signed and be given them without
completing the normal four years. I was surprised that majority of them
preferred that; to get their certificated without learning anything because the
emphasis of the system has been on paper qualification; not on the content that
justifies that certificate.

As a cure, the solution is to tell the truth. The truth is to state the importance
maintaining true human values in our religious zealousness. One way to do this
improve education and learning side by side with religious zealousness.
Religion is doing well if it forms men and women who are conscious agents,
armed with deep systematic knowledge of who they are , their role in building
their lives and the place of religion in their lives.

It may be important to recall that when the Christian religion came to us first, it
combined education with evangelization and this helped liberate the earliest
converts from superstition, mental poverty; empowered them with knowledge
so that they could reason and save them from false hopes of religiosity.. That
was why the Christian religious practice of those people was strong, productive
and produced a sane society. There should be a harmony between the intellect
and the spirit. Once education goes hand in hand with religion, there will be
another era of enlightenment when all existential lies, hidden under the cloak of
religion, that do not encourage true human values will be rejected. In this light
Battista Mondin has this to say
Religion, the worship of God, is the beacon which lights up all our
human knowledge, our power of knowing is a reflection of the Divine
Word … Reflection is the ally of reason; of its very nature is on the side
of intellect, it has predilection for philosophy – that is for disciplined
thinking. It demands honesty, insists that the mind should not function
in an artificial, capricious or vacillating fashion but generously,
perseveringly, penetratingly

Reflecting on how religion is the foundation of the generally perceived

European progress more than any other part of the world having permeated the
social fabric, Christopher Dawson asks:
Why is it that Europe alone among the civilization of the world has been
continually shaken and transformed by energy of spiritual unrest that
refuses to be content with the unchanging law of social tradition which
rules the oriental cultures
In answer to this question Dawson pointed out that in the West the spiritual
power has not been immobilized in a sacred social order like Confucian state in
China and the Indian caste system. On the contrary, the spiritual sphere has had
far-reaching effects on every aspect of social and intellectual life. Accordingly
Dawson writes
“It is because its religious ideal has not been the worship of timeless and
changeless perfection but a spirit that strives to incorporate itself in humanity
and change the world.” Religion practiced properly wakes up the desire to
address the factors of change and just as it does not forget the metaphysical
problems of being in the world