Principles of Universal Human Values (UHV-II) for Harmony
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Universal Human Values (UHV-II): Foundations for Harmony
The Need for the Course
The necessity for Universal Human Values education arises from pervasive issues observed at various levels of human existence:
- Individual Level: Marked by rising depression, psychological disorders, stress, insecurity, and loneliness.
- Family Level: Experiencing the breaking of joint families, mistrust, inter-generational conflict, insecurity in relationships, and divorce.
- Societal Level: Includes terrorism, communalism, casteism, racial struggles, wars, and the fear of nuclear warfare.
- Environmental Level: Concerns involve global warming, pollution, resource depletion, deforestation, and loss of soil fertility.
Value and Human Values Defined
- Value is defined as a unit's participation in the larger order, remaining definite over time, place, and person.
- Human Values are related to a human being's participation in the larger order, leading to mutual happiness and prosperity.
- Understanding human values involves understanding one's participation and role in the larger order.
Understanding Value Education
- Value Education is defined as understanding one’s participation in the larger order.
- It involves developing a holistic perspective, clarity of program, and ethical competence.
- It should enable individuals to decide on their own values and priorities.
Basic Guidelines and Content of Value Education
- Value education should be universal, rational, naturally acceptable, all-encompassing, and and lead to harmony.
- The content of value education should cover all levels of living and dimensions of human beings.
- Dimensions of the human being include understanding, thought, behavior, and participation in the larger order.
Process of Value Education
The process involves self-exploration, logical reasoning, and verification of values on one's own right.
- It is a dialogue between oneself and one's natural acceptance, aiming to be self-referential and self-confident.
- The course explores one's role in nature, society, family, and with one's own body.
Self-Exploration: The Core Process
This process involves dialogue, self-investigation, and self-evolution.
- It includes knowing oneself, one's relationship with every unit in nature, and living in harmony.
- Key aspects include understanding desires, aims, and the process of achieving them through self-verification.
- Natural acceptance is a key component, differing from acceptance influenced by others, and is invariant across time, place, and person.
Basic Human Aspirations and Their Fulfillment
- Basic human aspirations are happiness, prosperity, and their continuity.
- There is often a gap between our desires and our state of being, which needs to be explored.
- While physical facility is necessary, it is not adequate; relationship and right understanding are also crucial.
Relationship and Right Understanding
Despite recognizing the need for relationships, conflicts often arise, indicating a need to examine our perspective on relationships.
Right understanding about relationships is essential, leading to clarity and the ability to fulfill them.
Human Consciousness vs. Animal Consciousness
- Problems arise when human beings live with animal consciousness, focusing solely on physical facility.
- Human consciousness involves right understanding, relationship, and physical facility, leading to fulfillment.
- Resources are plentiful, but the issue lies in right utilization, distribution, and relationship.
Transformation and Holistic Development
Holistic development involves transformation to human consciousness, which education should enable.
- This includes right understanding, the capacity to live in relationships, and the capacity to identify physical facility needs.
- The current state often lacks the identification of physical facility needs and the willingness to produce, leading to accumulation rather than sustainable production.
Outcome of Human Education (Sanskar)
The outcome is mutual happiness and prosperity through the understanding of harmony.
- Human education should lead to values-guided skills and living in harmony at all levels of being.
- The program aims to facilitate understanding and living in harmony at all levels through natural acceptance and experiential validation.
Understanding Happiness and Prosperity
- Happiness is defined as being in a state of harmony, while unhappiness is disharmony.
- Continuous happiness involves harmony at all levels of being: the individual, family, society, and nature.
- Excitement and temporary pleasures are often mistaken for happiness, but true happiness comes from right understanding and right feeling.
- Prosperity is the feeling of having or producing more than required physical facility.
Contemporary Challenges: Individual and Family Issues
According to the principles of Value Education, the main problems facing individuals and families today include:
Individual Problems:
- Rising problems of depression
- Relative confidence issues
- Psychological disorders
- Suicides
- Stress
- Insecurity
- Psychosomatic diseases
- Loneliness
Family Problems:
- Breaking of joint families
- Mistrust
- Conflict between older and younger generations (inter-generational conflict)
- Insecurity in relationships
- Divorce
- Dowry tortures
- Family feuds
- Wasteful expenditure in family functions
Fostering Harmony in Society and Nature
Value education aims to foster harmony in society and nature by promoting the following principles:
- Universal and All-Encompassing Content: Value education is designed to be universal and applicable to all human beings, transcending sect, creed, nationality, race, and gender. This universality fosters inclusivity and mutual respect among diverse groups within society.
- Rational and Verifiable Principles: It encourages logical reasoning and critical thinking, enabling individuals to question beliefs rather than accept them blindly. This empowerment fosters understanding and dialogue, essential for harmony.
- Holistic Perspective: Value education seeks to address all dimensions of human life—individual, family, society, and nature. By understanding the interconnectedness of these levels, individuals can cultivate relationships based on fearlessness, trust, and respect rather than conflict and mistrust.
- Development of Ethical Competence: By encouraging clarity of beliefs and ethical decision-making, value education helps individuals resolve conflicts and work towards solutions that benefit both society and the natural environment.
- Facilitation of Harmony: The overarching goal is to enable individuals to live in peace and harmony both within themselves and with others, including the rest of nature. This is achieved through self-exploration and the understanding of human values that promote coexistence and sustainability.