(1 John 4, 16)
Human values: LOVE
'God is Love, live in Love' Sathya Sai Baba
Sathya Sai Baba, a Divine incarnation living from 23 November 1926 to 24 April 2011, from the south of India, has extracted five human values from the Veda's ( ancient sacred texts from India). Though there are five, they are all based on Love. They are Love expressed on different levels, which is interesting. Could these values give us some clarity on how to live in Love?
1. Love
2. Truth (Love in speach)
3. Right conduct ( Love in action)
4. Peace (Love in thought)
5. Non-violence (Love in understanding)
He created educational programs for both adults and children with them, called EHV. Many people all over the world have studied them and benefitted from them.
As I always like to find my own way with things and believe in checking in with my inner compass, I must admit I have never really studied them even though I consider myself a Sai devotee. They somehow seemed to me like outer values that I would have to make myself adapt to, with will power.
But when I asked Sai Baba inside 'What shall I write on Steemit, what will benefit people?' He answered: Human values. I was a bit surprised as I didn't have a strong connection with them and I might even have had a little resistance up till then, but maybe the time was ripe now. I felt inspired or at least curious to give them a try. I was joyfully surprised to find that:
Human values are the qualities that are already present within each of us. They come with our human blueprint. The five human values are the essential human traits that need to be remembered and brought in to our daily consciousness so that we can become what we were meant to be: the salt of the earth. Beings that benefit society, rather than harming it. Human values are that which unites us in our apparent diversity as they live in each of us.
While I was reading up on them, I found that each value has sub values to give us more substance to the Five values, which are all based on Love. To shine light on its many forms of appearance and expression.
I also noticed a similarity with the value/needs lists that I found in my previous studies of non-violent communication by Marshall Rosenberg. Non-violent communication is teaching us to become aware of the needs and values that drive our actions and to own them by becoming aware of them so that we get better at realising them and in communication we can be more transparant and authentic. Today I am exploring LOVE, the first value on which all the others are based. I think these sub values of the basic value LOVE that you can find below can do the same for us as the needs/values lists of Non violent communication do. We can use this list to remember them and to become aware of which sub values lie closest to our heart at this point and we feel inspired to express Love with throughout the day.
In other words: What would you like to spread?
Love
· Bliss
· caring
· compassion
· dedication
· devotion
· empathy
· friendship
· forgiveness
· generosity
· helping
· human dignity
· inner happiness
· joy
· kindness
· patience
· purity
· sharing
· sincerity
· sympathy
· tolerance
· wisdom
(21)
( Values list taken from: http://www.saibaba.ws/teachings/subvalues.htm)
To become reacquainted with the ones we may have lost touch with, we can dedicate our attention to one of these sub values each day and see what it brings up for us and what it may possibly bring out in us! My experience in life is that things will flow better if we give these things first to ourselves. For example when we choose tolerance, we give ourselves the gift of tolerance first and then when we feel the Love flowing in that sub value we can start giving it to others too. In fact I think that will happen all by itself at that point. Are you ready to become reacquainted with the five gems inside of you? I invite you to pick one of these sub values today, the one that attracts you most and see what it does for you and the world around you. If you feel inspired to do so you can pick more values for the other days of this week, I will do so too. At the end of this week I will share my experiences with you that I had with this journey with the sub values of Love. It could get very interesting. It actually already is. I journeyed with the sub value 'compassion' today, as that was what spoke to me most when reading through the list. I'll tell you all about it in my next post and next week I'll be taking on the second value: Truth. I would be very interested to read about your journey with the sub values of Love in the comments, if you feel like sharing.
Love Clara