I have come to believe our moral values are formed through experience as we accept ideas and beliefs as values. I also know that various external forces, some of which affected us long before we came into this life, influence and inspire our moral values. Many values can change as we gain understanding and openness, but some core values remain constant and unchanging if we are really being true to ourselves.

Many of our values come from our families and the groups we consider ourselves a part of. During our domestication as babies, toddlers, and youth our parents, grandparents, and in some cases older siblings may subject us to their moral beliefs. While we are making our way in the world it may be natural to adopt or at least live according to this family moral belief system if we want to be loved, accepted, and get what we want within the family system. As we accept these family beliefs as truths we may make them our values also. Being labeled as good or bad within this family system may very well be based off of compliance to the norms or moral values of the family. In many instances these beliefs or values have been passed down for several generations as family tradition and pressure to comply often is great.

Similarly to the family system of implied moral values, most groups whether they be religious, cultural, or affiliated have a system of beliefs, and part of membership is the expectations to live by those norms. For this reason many moral beliefs are inherited or adopted through membership. Since these moral values where inherited, many times a duality in between the way one lives publicly and privately will show which morals are truly and deeply believed. There obviously are times when a person does not live up to values that they really do espouse due to other pressures and or issues. Having a moral compass does not mean we are always right on the trail.

I wish to explain my belief that many values we have are innate. I believe our spirit or soul comes into this life knowing what morals are right or wrong for lack of better terms. I prefer the terms light or dark myself because so many moral beliefs can be in the grey area and really need to be a personal decision. I also believe we can feel what is right or wrong not based on some dogma but based on feelings of the heart, insights of the mind, and inspiration from the universe. I don’t know if it’s that important if we believe that those external forces of inspiration come from a higher power, God, Creator, Jesus Christ, Buddha, nature, the universe, or the cosmos. What I think is important is that we learn to recognize that inspiration and come to trust it as something larger and truer than our own understandings. As we turn more towards light and transform to a point of allowing these insights and inspirations to guide us towards doing what is good, noble, and true we will let go of a bit of those domesticated moral beliefs and be more open to learning that most morals are not black and white.

Moral Values to be accepted, shown, and lived need to be believed in your heart of hearts. This only happens when we deeply learn and honor such beliefs. Since we are far from perfect all sets of moral values need to include forgiveness of self and others as being important, since even when deeply felt and believed all values are difficult to live by. It may be hard to walk our talk and truly live by what we believe. Even though certain values may make us rise to the occasion to meet expectations, if our values are truly ours, we will to a high degree succeed at living by them.