Personal Principle

                                                     Personal Principles

A principle is a moral rule or belief that helps one know what is right and wrong. Therefore, personal principles are a vital component to human beings, principles behave as compasses guiding us through the journey of our lives. Personal principles are essential in teaching rules of being virtuous human being.  However, most of the “personal” principles that are held dearly are not personal in the slightest sense because they were taught to us by our parents and our society. Nonetheless, as we grow older we continue to adhere to said principles because firstly the principles are comfortable and secondly they are sociable acceptable. Upon receiving this assignment I had to think about my personal principles and how they were fostered, I had never realized how few of my personal principles were actually cultivated by me.

The principles for which I adhere to most ardently in life have been presented to me by my parents who believe in God and being well mannered.  I recall my parents specifically quoting the bible if I ever tried to express an opinion that was contrary to their ideals. They would say “Honor thy father and mother so your days may be long upon the earth” utilizing this quote seem to always be successful in ending the conversation. The environment I was raised in believed in being respectful, polite, and helpful to everyone but most importantly to the elderly. As long as I can remember I have been taught that I must be respectful to my elders or people in authority over me (such as teachers) regardless of whether or not the person was being respectful.  It was also taught that elders are wiser and therefore I should always obey them. Due to the environment I was brought up in I developed a bias to the elderly, I always feel the need to assist them whether or not they requested my help.  Before entering this class I completely believed that this was a very noble act however upon the first discussion we had in class I realized that by treating the elderly in this fashion meant that I didn't really respect them but more so pitied them.

In class we were exposed to various schools of thought, however the school of thought that I found most captivating was Taoism. The Taoist’s reference to the uncarved block is truly remarkable, the uncarved block can become so many things when it is not attach to worldly materials it makes them free to make decisions that are truly just and beneficial to mankind. A society that is emancipated of the the retrains of material and obtaining wealth is a society in which there is not a top one percent that obtain a great deal of wealth by stepping on the backs of hard working people and destroying the environment  in order to increase their profit margin.  I strongly believe that the introduction of modern Taoism in our society would be beneficial because before this class I have often thought about the society for which we currently live in and how corrupt it is, I wondered if this is the way I would like future generations to grow up and the answer is absolutely not.  The Taoist way of life is more likely to sustain our planet not only by sustaining the people but also the physical aspect (the earth) by the fact that they believe that everything should occur naturally.  The Taoists ability to be spontaneous and to partake in activities that make them truly happy is also very inspirational for the reason that if a person is participating in the things that make them happy they are not going to be stressed which resolves in better interpersonal relationships and physical health. The concept of water in the Taoist practice is one of great importance for the reason that in life one must be able to adapt to their environment and adapt to their circumstances while being determined in order to survive.

In sum, having personal principles are crucial in directing how we treat fellow human being. It is essential that we reevaluate our personal principles constantly to insure that we are in sync with “the truth” and “not our truths”.