PART II. 2: Interpersonal Development---Competency Two (2): Ethics, values, aesthetics, and spirituality

Part II: 2. Interpersonal Development

Competency two

Ethics, values, aesthetics, and spirituality

Introduction

The second competency deals with “values, [virtues], aesthetics, and spirituality” which, apart from spirituality (which belongs to theology and metaphysics), are part of axiology. Axiology, in turn, is made of ethics (values) and aesthetics (beauty, see Knight, 2016, pp. 37-43).

As said in competency # one, the definitions of competencies and skills having been provided in that previous competency, will no longer be reflected here.

Definitions

Axiology

Axiology is the branch of philosophy that deals with ethics (values) and aesthetics

(art and beauty), see Knight, 2016, pp. 37-43.

Ethics

Ethics refers to “a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values”

according to the Merriam-Webster English Dictionary (also see Knight, 2016, pp. 37-40).

Values

From the Merriam-Webster English Dictionary, we learn that values are considered as “relative worth, utility, or importance, . . . something (such as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable,” a standard that is set as a norm.

Virtues

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary considers virtues as “conformity to a standard of right,

. . . a particular moral excellence, . . . a commendable quality or trait.” In other words, a virtue is

an internalized value, a value that is lived by somebody.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is the part of axiology that deals with art and beauty (see Knight, 2016, pp. 41-43).

Spirituality

Spirituality refers to “the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” Another dictionary source adds that “In simple terms, spirituality is a worldview and a way of life based on the belief that there is more to life than what meets the senses, more to the universe than just purposeless mechanics, more to consciousness than electrical impulses in the brain, and more to our existence than the body and its needs” Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Some competency components

The various components of this competency (competency # two) are constituted around

(1) a set of key principles (2) my personal & professional values, and (3) my worldview.

Set of key principles

Work ethics

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, work ethics is: “a belief in work as a moral good : a set of values centered on the importance of doing work and reflected especially in a desire or determination to work hard, and that is what I have learned to do with my newly acquired knowledge.

Healthy behavior

This refers to a kind of behavior that does not make people frown but rather, generally speaking,

makes people like to see you around, a behavior that is generally accepted by social standard norms.

This will help me relate to people around me (at work and in society).

Decision-making

Decision making is “the act or process of deciding something especially with a group of people,"

according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I will plan to apply this key principle wherever I find myself

from now on.

Relationships with others

This refers to the kind of rapport one develops and displays vis-à-vis other people around him/her (at home, school, workplace, in society at large, etc.), and I usually have convivial rapport with others.

Personal & professional values

My personal & professional values can be presented (listed) and defined as follows:

Humility: As far as I am concerned, I consider humility the golden value, the greatest gifs apart from the gift of life itself, and Murray (1895) seems to concur with me when he stressed about humility as follows: “Humility: The glory of the creature” (pp. 1, 39, 75). In fact, if I may argue in looking into Scriptures, one can easily see that even God cherishes humility in a special way. Paul, describing the hymn dedicated to humility strongly holds that Christ “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). Peter and James, quoting Prov. 3:34, stress that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; 1Pe 5:5). Moreover, God, considering the humility of David, called him “a man after His own heart” (1Sam. 13:14).

Mercy/grace: Mercy or grace is a faithful companion even a sister to humility. A humble heart will definitely be ready to grant grace or mercy to those around.

Truth: Another key companion of humility and mercy is truth. Humility and grace or mercy should never be expressed at the expense of the truth. All, whether mercy or humility need to be expressed in all truth.

Integrity: Because of humility, mercy and truth, integrity which is another way of talking of faithfulness and practicing justice or righteousness, becomes the best way of living. With integrity, we have faithfulness, time management principles such as punctuality, regularity, etc. also covered.

Freedom: God created human beings a free will, the freedom to choose. Trying to suppress or control or alienate that becomes a serious ethical issue. In other words, depriving human beings of their freedom brings about the concept of what the French will call “chosification” of humans, which is translated in English as objectification.

Courage: History is full of examples of people who tried to dictate, control, and suppress other people’s conscience and freedom. The Hitlerian Nazi Movement, the communist or socialist regimes, etc., are some of the examples. Therefore, one needs strong courage to defend and protect freedom, truth.

Unity in diversity: Because of all of the above, there cannot be any forced unity. True unity should be in the context of diversity, not uniformity because uniformity has never been the true reflection of authentic or genuine unity (usually, uniformity hides dictatorship behind the veil).

Altruism: Altruism is another important moral value to me. I always need to remind myself of the idea of consider the other person as it is commonly admitted that “my freedom ends [or stops] where yours begins [starts]” (Pinto, 2019, p. 1).

Tolerance: Because nobody is an island, as we consider and value the other person as stated above, we need to learn to be tolerant. Without tolerance, there cannot be any real moral value to uphold.

Worldview

As presented in competency # 1, a worldview refers to, according to the Merriam-Webster

Dictionary, a worldview is “a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world especially

from a specific standpoint.” Moreover, Clay (2018, January 6), stresses that “a worldview is a way you look at the world. It’s the lens through which you [perceive,] interpret all your experience and through which you make decisions (p. 1). Furthermore, Stanley (2019, April 16) adds a specific dimension to the above definitions, whereby, “our worldview is how we define what we belived and how we look at the world . . . “ (p. 2). This means, therefore, that my personal and professional values shown above is definitely colored with the lenses of my worldview. That’s very important to remember which may not necessarily be the same as anybody in this world since we are usually told that every human being is unique.

Acquisition of competency

In life, there are things that are very difficult to explain. How would one explain the fact that, from birth, Jacob already behaved in a treacherous way (Gen. 25: 24, 25)? Likewise, from my childhood, I knew I was a born artist, loving aesthetics, things that are beautiful (paintings, pictures, nature, etc), and trying to always make things be thorough and look neat, nice, and beautiful, except when I am under pressure or under circumstances beyond my control (then I do things anyhow for the sake of keeping to time which is another key value in my life). I grew up with that kind of spirit up till today. Moreover, I love principles, policies, and enjoy abiding by them because those are principles that shield us against unnecessary mistakes and attacks.

One of the key elements that impressed my supervisors during the past six years of work at Custodial Services, was that spirit of neatness, thoroughness, and beauty. Many times whenever they visited me at my workplace, they would make comments about that, and the staff in both Physical Therapy Department and Administrative Building where I used to serve were happy because of the display of my values in terms of neatness, thoroughness, and beauty. I am usually happy to do things a certain way to reflect that character.

I also gained a lot during the past six years through the reflection postings on LearningHub by my professors (Dr. Henry-Saturné, Dr. Jay Brand, Dr. Siebold, Dr. Gregorutti, etc.) as they taught us their various classes. Every time, I had to remind myself of the ethical, moral, and spiritual value of what I was doing and show integrity, reliability, and teachability in all humility. Those added significantly to the little I already had through my upbringing and profession that I had exercised before joining the Higher Education Administration program.

Of course, there are many things to improve upon. One of them is that I never was able to develop my artistic skills in the area of music or fine arts because I was not privileged to grow up in an environment conducive to the development of some of my innate gifts. I am still contemplating the possibility of doing something about that during retirement.

Conclusion

This competency relating to values, aesthetics (axiology) has revealed and taught me many things. It is interesting to see and know how we can be shaped from childhood, and our adult life, in many cases, reflects the character traits that were sown in early years. My personal and professional values and principles are just the reflection of such a reality.

As I keep on learning in order to refine those values, it is always important though that I be ready to admit and know that I am unique. Therefore, I need to realize that other people also have their own unique worldviews. That’s why, tolerance, respect of others’ point of views is paramount in life as we interact with one another because the personal values and development will make sense only when they will help.us fit well into the social environment we find ourselves.

EDRM 637:Issues in Research

EDAL 675: College Student Development Theory (Cross cultural interview)

Reference

Interglot: Translation Dictionary. (nd) ” Objectification.” Retrieved from https://m.interglot.com/fr/en/?q=chosification.

Knight, G. R. (2016). Educating for eternity: A Seventh-day Adventist philosophy of education. Berrien Spring, MI: Andrews University Press.

Murray, A. (1895). Humility: The beauty of holiness. Abbotsford: WI. Life Sentence Publishing, Inc.

Pinto, R. (2019, May 27). My freedom ends where yours begins. Journey to Messiah. Retrieved from http://www.journeytomessiah.com/discipleship/my-freedom-ends-where-yours-begins/#:~:text=We%20forget%20that%20our%20freedom%20ends%20where%20another’s,live%20begins.%20With%20freedom%20comes%20responsibility%20for%20consequences.

Stanley, J. (2019, April 16). Dear Theophilus: Worldviews and culture. Grand Canyon University. Retrieved fromhttps://www.gcu.edu/blog/theology-ministry/dear-theophilus-worldviews-and-cultures.

White, E. G. (1891). Lt 7MS, par. 11. Retrieved from

https://egwwritings.org/?ref=en_Lt4-1898&para=5108.1.