Here I would like to share my thoughts about value of life and view on it in modern society. I am not promoting any specific ideology or religious concept, neither I intend to demean, humiliate or discriminate anybody. What I am writing here are my questions about the topic that is interesting to me and I would like to initiate a discussion and learn other opinions. Please feel free to write your opinion on this topic here.
What is value of life? How can you assess it? Is it possible to assess it and in relation to what? Or is it an absolute value? Can it be that one person’s life has higher value than others? And what about animals? Does their life have the same value? Or less? How can we answer all these questions?
You can find a lot of information about assessment of life. Insurance companies use different methods to assess your value for calculation of your insurance. Hospitals assess value of your life, and sometimes days or weeks your life can be prolonged using medicine in regard to cost effectiveness of the treatment. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7573617/
What makes human life so valuable? Is it because people are aware that they are mortal, and they are afraid to die? Or because life of an individual brings some special value to society, nature, planet? What kind of value do you bring to Earth and people around you? What kind of value could be generated living an “eat-sleep-consume-pollute-die” life?
There is a lot of research made on this topic, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239387302_An_analysis_of_the_valuation_of_a_human_life and there is a number of universities worldwide offering courses on estimation of human life focusing on different aspects.
But I have more philosophical question. How come that the human life is set above all? Above the nature, animals, plants, and all other living beings. And within human society there is always a kind of competition or fight for own value and importance. Those who feel themselves more valuable, more important, kill or oppress those who in their eyes are less valuable. Politicians and governments use this principle very often, proclaiming wars, oppressing people, seeking own good at the expense of other people.
When it comes to the nature, then there is no even discussion whose life is important. For example, when a meaningless tourist intrudes into natural domain of polar bears, just because he wanted to watch solar eclipse https://www.thelocal.no/20150710/czechs-charged-after-polar-bear-attack and the bear attacks him, we readily kill the bear (whose species are already almost extinct) and use a lot of resources to safe life of this “offer” of the bear. Vanity of one caused death of other living being representing almost extinct species. (Of course, the tourist got fines, but will it substitute the dead bear?).
As the matter of fact, we kill some living being every day. We consume meat and poultry almost every day. We pollute nature by our garbage and our way of life causing deaths of many species. However, not so many people are aware on their impact on the environment https://www.livekindly.co/british-survey-bacon-pigs/
So, what makes human life so valuable? Is it because people are aware that they are mortal, and they are afraid to die? Or because life of an individual brings some special value to society, nature, planet? What kind of value do you bring to Earth and people around you? What kind of value could be generated living an “eat-sleep-consume-pollute-die” life?
Is value of your life relative to your social status and network? When a celebrity or a politician dies, a lot of people, entire countries mourn and cry. However, if a homeless man dies, nobody actually cares.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/dec/03/the-homeless-death-statistics-are-shocking-but-the-true-total-may-be-even-higher Nobody knew his name; he had no relatives to care about him and to bury him. He will probably be put in a nameless grave and nobody will know he has ever existed. Is his life being less valuable than a life of a director of a corporation (abusing people and nature, but wealthy and well-known)?
Why can’t we stop being obsessed with own importance and value and dominate the nature and other people? Become aware of our place on the planet and its history. To realize that we are part of the nature and we have to live in harmony with it and appreciate life in all living beings, show reverence for life.
Only awareness, understanding of Self and connection with it, will allow you to understand your own value, value of the world and your connection to it. You will start appreciating life as it is, no need to boost your ego or show your importance to others. No need to consume things to get inner comfort and satisfaction. You will be satisfied with your Self. And no thing and entertainment can compete with self-contentment. Find your Self.
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