What is relevant?

The world we live in today is a complex world. It has always been complex and will always remain complex, but nevertheless, it has always been, and will always be an important world to us. 
Life can therefore be seen as a complicated process of aligning and attuning ourselves to that world, and to the source that made us. 

The complexity and intricacies of this world, pushes man to always be seeking for something, but he may not always know what exactly it is that he seeks. As his journey in life continues, and he seeks further, he comes to a realization that what he seeks is a ‘balance’ i.e. a harmony of relationships between all that he comes in contact with and within himself.

The question of what is relevant therefore refers to those things that will enhance man’s Mental and Spiritual well-being. Many people today ask the question, “What is relevant?” Are the standards which have been passed down through the generations to us in Religious, Political, and even Ethical traditions relevant today?

Exposure to modern education, which incidentally includes a much better outlook on the whole of the human race than it did some years ago, allows individuals to look back over comparatively recent history and observe that within the past century, man's life has experienced radical changes through disasters, economics, major wars, and slaughters as well as by individuals who are looked upon as political, or even religious leaders. It is therefore not surprising that individuals, especially young people, question the relevancy of the social, political, religious, and traditional forms of behaviors and principles that are generally accepted as abiding social norms and values today.

This common trend, leads us to two quite interesting questions;
1.   Is it not within the rights of an intelligent and analytical person to examine whether or not he needs to adopt the practices from the early part of the century in so far as his behavior is concerned, in order to be seen as living right or constructively? 
2. Is it relevant to him that he accepts the same standards that previous generations have accepted when the results have sometimes been disastrous?

We can most certainly sympathize with those who ask such questions, but cannot always sympathize with the methods that some adopt in reacting to their perceptions and personal interpretations.

History has proven it countless times, that revolutions did not always make things better. 
For an individual to throw out everything that everybody has previously held of value because it does not seem relevant to the moment is not a solution to his problems, or to social problems. But surely an individual or collective assessment of what is relevant, is something that should be encouraged.

The search for relevancy is not new. Every generation in time has asked the same question as to what standards or morals from previous generations can be kept or discarded.

As intelligent beings with a creative capacity to think and analyze, we should objectively study and try to examine the relevancy of all procedures and traditions that are accepted in various sections of our society. 
The question before us is not if it is wrong to query relevancy, the actual question is - how do we arrive at a choice of those things which are important and relevant to today’s needs?

Attempting to answer this question indicates a search by the individual for value. It is a known fact that that every intelligent being is always searching for things that are worthwhile to him, things that have value. It is therefore safe to state here that, what is relevant is simply that thing which gives us value.

According to Wikipedia on the theory of Normative Ethics, value in itself, denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live.
It may also be described as treating actions themselves as abstract objects, putting value to them. It deals with right conduct and living a good life, in the sense that a highly, or at least relatively highly, valuable action may be regarded as ethically "good", and an action of low in value, or somewhat relatively low in value, may be regarded as "bad". What makes an action valuable may in turn depend on the ethical values of the objects it increases, decreases or alters.

What is relevant today has always been relevant and will always be relevant. Examples are values which endure, values which have met and survived a test of time regardless of man’s history, and which show every indication of existing beyond the scope of man’s existence.

In other words, the values that lie beyond and outside the materialistic tendencies of today, those values that generate peace, love, harmony, goodwill, justice, tolerance, forgiveness, and all the other beautiful attributes of the human entity that are constructive. These are the values that are relevant. Seeking for these above values does not alienate us from this world, or put us out of step with it. It also doesn’t mean we are nerds or that we are opinionated. These are values that are critical and important to human nature. They are a fundamental part of the inner being of the human soul.

The development of a personal philosophy based upon these lofty ideals, will connect us more closely to the basic realities of life, and allow us to live in consonance with human and natural laws. Such a philosophy will enable us to select the phases of behavior relevant not only to a social system, or a set of man-made laws but to the living of a life above materialistic concepts.


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