Are morals and values the same thing?

You see them used interchangeably often enough.

Values and morals both guide your behavior. 

But something tells you they’re not the same.

One feels more native to you than the other.

One of them feels more like the product of your environment. 

Which is which?

And what other differences separate the two? 

Read on to find out. 

What Are Morals and Values? 

The morals you learned guide your behavior as a member of society. They come from external influences and become an internalized “moral compass.”

The values you were born with compel you to do one thing rather than another, based on what’s more important to you.

Values come from within and serve as intrinsic motivators.

What Are Some Morals Examples? 

Depending on your belief system, you’ve probably learned and adopted specific moral rules. Consider the following well-known examples:  

• Don’t cheat, lie, or steal. 
• Respect your elders. 
• Don’t drive while intoxicated. 
• Treat animals with kindness and consideration. 
• Be a good steward of your resources (money, time, etc.). 

Your morals are often revealed in the way you talk about other people’s behavior — and how it measures up to your (learned) expectations: 

• “She crossed a line when she said that.”
• “He shouldn’t have done that to you. That was wrong.”
• “She should have known better than to do that.”
• “I expected better from him. I’m disappointed.”

What Are Some Values Examples? 

While it’s possible to express values as statements like the ones for morals, most often, you’ll see them listed as single words like the following examples:

• Honesty 
• Integrity
• Kindness 
• Friendship 
• Passion 
• Commitment 
• Creativity 

Your values come up when someone describes your personality or your character: 

• “She’s such a passionate person.”
• “He’s so ready to take risks. He’s not afraid of making mistakes.” 
• “She’s as kind as she is creative.” 
• “His commitment to personal growth is obvious in everything he does.”

Morals vs. Values: 7 Key Differences Explained 

We’ve identified seven core differences between morals and values. Read through the following and see if you can think of examples specific to your own life. 

1. Morals are usually expressed in statements or rules; values are more abstract. 

Ask someone what their morals are, and they’re likely to express it as statements like the ones listed earlier. They might even sound familiar: 

• Thou shalt not murder;
• Love your neighbor as yourself; 
• Thou shalt respect the teachings of thy holy faith. 

With values, people are more likely to use solitary, abstract words like the ones listed above. If you’re unsure of your own, check out this list of values to consider.

Focus on the ones that call out to you. 

2. Outside influences usually form morals; values are inherent and less subject to external influence. 

Morals make an individual more acceptable to the society in which they live. That acceptance, in itself, serves as an extrinsic motivator. Morality, as a product of your environment, depends mainly on extrinsic motivation, but not entirely. 

Your values are what provide your intrinsic motivation for doing things. The values themselves are independent of external influences, but as a human being living among other people, you feel and internalize that influence from an early age. 

3. Morals can change if your influences change; values tend to remain the same.

If your primary external influences change, your morality can change right along with them — especially if the new morality is more in agreement with your personal values. 

The more aware you are of those values — which have always been there but might have been bullied into a closet by an oppressive belief system — the easier it gets to discard any part of your adopted morality that clashes with your primary code. 

If you still embrace the same morality you learned as a child, then chances are you’ve never questioned it. And there’s more than one possible reason for that: 

• Your religion forbade any questioning of its “infallible” teachings; 
• Dissent from your parents’ morality had traumatic consequences; 
• The morality you learned as a child is a close fit with your personal values. 

More Related Articles

25 Good Character Traits List Essential For Happiness

77 Sweet Text Messages To Make Him Smile

29 Funny Philosophical Questions To Make You Think And Laugh

4. Morals help the individual judge between right and wrong; values motivate the individual to do something. 

Morals are all about what’s right and wrong, which makes them similar to ethics. But morals feel more personal than ethics because there’s an emotional component to them. 

Attack someone’s morality, and they’re more likely to take it personally than if you criticize their ethical standpoint. 

On the other hand, values aren’t so much about judging between right and wrong as about identifying the source of someone’s intrinsic motivation. Your values motivate you to do one thing rather than another or choose one thing over another. 

With values, you’re less concerned with what is morally right and wrong than with whether a particular action or choice is consistent with your internal drivers.  

5. Morals can be based on values; values come before morals.

The morality you live by depends mainly on personal values that become social norms for a group of people. But when those morals clash with a deeply-held personal value, you’re more likely to act on the latter — which had been part of you before the morals took root.

Values are more deeply rooted. If your morality is perfectly in sync with your values, you’re unlikely ever to question the former. 

Only when you see (or feel) a conflict between the two do you feel pulled in the direction that diverges from the society-approved moral path. 

Generally, though, living by your values is more crucial to your integrity and happiness than adhering to someone else’s. 

6. You’re more likely to act against morals than against your core values. 

Your internal guidance system, governed mainly by your core values, has a stronger hold on you than externally-imposed morals. 

If, for example, society expects you to be a submissive Christian wife, but one of your values is independence, you’re more likely to defend this value than subjugate it to your spouse. 

If commitment is another one of your values, you probably won’t cheat on your spouse. But you’ll look for other ways to honor your values and live in agreement with them.

The cost of repressing those values to conform to society’s expectations is high, but it tends to be more hidden and more personal. 

The cost of disregarding those morals might come with a higher price than you’re willing to pay or to impose on someone else (especially your kids). 

• Divorce your spouse, and you reclaim your freedom — but your kids suffer; 
• Stay with your spouse, and your kids might still suffer, but their suffering and yours is easier to hide (or explain away). 

What you do will most likely depend more on your values than on your morals. 

7. You’re more likely to be judged for your morals than for your values. 

Or, to put it more clearly, you’re more likely to be judged for NOT having the same morals as the people around you — or for not living by those morals. 

Your values are personal; they’re part of who you are. But since we’re not mind-readers, we’re more likely to notice whether someone’s behavior fits societal norms for morality than whether it’s consistent with their values. 

For example, your value of compassion for others might justify lying rather than truthfully disclosing their whereabouts to someone intent on harming them. 

But if that person happens to be a fugitive from the law, society won’t look kindly on your aiding and abetting them, even if the law is unjust. 

When slavery was legal in the U.S., those who helped slaves to escape and claim their freedom were considered lawbreakers, at best. Abolitionists saw it differently because their values and the morals they learned from others guided them in a different direction. 

Now that you have a better handle on the differences between morals and values, which of the points in this post were most helpful to you? 

Source link

The post 7 Differences Everyone Should Know appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

Meditation is a hot topic nowadays.

So many people swear by its benefits, and maybe you”ve already discovered some yourself.

Perhaps you’ve also found solace in prayer — or you know someone who has. 

What if you pray and meditate?

As you’ll see further on, for all their differences, the two are not mutually exclusive.

Praying and meditation can even complement each other.

So, how are they different?

And what’s with the stigma against meditation in Christian circles?

What is the Difference Between Prayer and Meditation? 

Before exploring the differences between praying and meditation, let’s address a question that often comes up: Can people who pray to God still meditate? More specifically, can Christians meditate? 

It’s understandable, given the widespread confusion as to what meditation really is.

So, allow us to clear up a few things:

• Nothing about meditation is anti-Christian or anti-monotheism.
• Both prayer and meditation help in cultivating gratitude and peace of heart
• Prayer can deepen your meditation — and vice-versa. 

In this post, you’ll find no reason to abandon either practice. In fact, we encourage you to try both and to find the methods and approaches that help you most. 

Why limit yourself to one when they play together so well?

Can You Pray While Meditating? 

While prayer and meditation are different, as you’ll see more clearly further on, it is possible to combine the two in a meditation prayer — or praying meditation. 

The Christian Bible is full of references to meditation, including this well-known prescription: 

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8

To dwell on words is to meditate on them. Christians, as a rule, don’t have a problem with this type of meditation, which is more about chosen thoughts than involuntary ones. 

By contrast, mindfulness meditation doesn’t impose thoughts on the present; it acknowledges and accepts whatever is already there. 

A praying meditation can make room for both. 

Meditation vs. Prayer: 11 Key Differences 

While meditation and prayer have some benefits in common, here are 11 key differences that set them apart. 

1. Prayer goes outward. Meditation goes inward.

With prayer, you’re seeking a connection with someone or something outside yourself. This someone is typically a deity or spirit guide of some kind. 

With meditation, you connect with yourself — with your intuition or internal guidance system. You don’t need words, but if it helps, you can repeat a mantra. 

All regrets about the past and worries about the future fall away. You’re left with your present self and its present thoughts, sensations, and feelings. 

2. Prayer depends on religious faith. Meditation does not. 

In prayer, you address external deities or spirit guides. A prerequisite to prayer, then, is a belief in those beings. Take away the belief in any external guide or benefactor, and you take away the reason for prayer. 

Meditation doesn’t require belief in a personal God or benevolent spiritual entity. You’re tapping into your own inner wisdom, not asking other minds for guidance. 

3. Prayer is considered a requirement for some religions. Meditation is not.

In many religions, prayer is considered a requirement. It’s something expected of religious adherents who take their faith seriously. For a religious person, to be devout is to be prayerful (and vice-versa). 

Meditation is not a required practice for anyone, though it brings nothing but benefits to those who make a habit of it. 

4. Prayer teaches the duality of God and believer; meditation teaches oneness.

In prayer, two people are interacting with each other. In meditation, there is only one. 

With prayers, the duality between God and believer is essential to the relationship you’re trying to build. 

With meditation, the oneness between you and your inner guide is essential to the attitude of listening, acceptance, and self-love. 

In practicing this attitude toward yourself, you become better at listening, accepting, and loving others. 

5. Prayer teaches childlike submission toward God; meditation does not.

When you’re praying, you assume a submissive role — whether as a child to a parent or a student to a teacher. 

Meditation, on the other hand, doesn’t require a submissive attitude. If you believe in a spiritual being larger than yourself (but also part of you), you’re sitting in their company. 

You do this not as a supplicant but as a trusting extension of their love and wisdom. 

More Related Articles

The Mind-Blowing Power Of Visualization Meditation

14 Best Meditation Books For A Mindful Life

How To Meditate Properly + Guided Meditation

6. Prayer is speaking. Meditation is listening. 

With prayer, you’re speaking to someone. You’re using words of your own or prayers formulated by others to address a spiritual being external to and more powerful than yourself. 

With meditation, you listen to what’s going on in your mind and heart — what you’re thinking and feeling. You also pay attention to bodily sensations and impressions from your environment. Words are unnecessary. 

7. Prayer involves movement. Meditation is about stillness. 

While you might adopt a specific posture for meditation, you’re not required to. Meditation is about stillness, not movement. 

Prayer often involves specific postures (prostration and kneeling being the most common), gestures with the hands, and an uplifting of the face toward heaven. 

Christians believe the way you pray influences what you believe (lex orandi lex credendi). Bodily movement and postures are as much a part of the prayer as the words spoken. 

8. Prayer is asking. Meditation is accepting. 

With prayer, you’re usually asking for something you don’t yet have or asking for something to happen (or not happen). You’re petitioning for a benefit you seek. 

Meditation is more about becoming aware of all that’s going on inside you and in your immediate environment. 

Like sensations, thoughts come and go without your control; the point of meditation is to accept those transient thoughts and feelings without judgment.

9. Prayer is relational. Meditation is individual. 

Prayer involves a relationship between the petitioner and the one being petitioned. The goal is to build on that relationship to encourage honesty, childlike audacity, and trust.

Meditation is an individual experience, independent of any relationship other than the one you have with yourself. 

That said, a habit of meditation can benefit every relationship you have. 

10. Prayer is easy for youth. Meditation requires some maturity. 

Prayer is an easy thing for youth to learn. As soon as children in religious families learn to talk, their parents teach them how to say their prayers. 

On the other hand, meditation requires some maturity and is likely beyond the patience of the average toddler. 

School-aged children can learn the benefits of meditation as part of their education, without reference to any religion or spiritual practice.

11. Prayer addresses past, present, and future. Meditation is present-focused.

When you pray, you touch the past, present, and future. You might confess a past sin, remark on a present situation, or ask for a future blessing. 

Meditation is focused entirely on the present moment and all the thoughts, feelings, and sensations you experience in that moment. It doesn’t look to the future or revisit the past. The only reality is the present one. 

It doesn’t have to be meditation vs. prayer. They can exist together.

Though prayer is directed to someone outside yourself, you don’t have to embrace religion to pray. Belief in a loving and present creator doesn’t require religion. 

If you believe in a god that is part of you, apart from you and filling everything and everyone in the universe all at the same time, you can address this entity in prayer as easily as you connect with them in meditation. 

There is no contradiction — or there doesn’t have to be. 

Source link

The post What Are The Key Differences? appeared first on Heal your health yourself.