HUMAN VALUES AND ETHICS: Final Paper Questions (4 – 5 pages
double spaced)
Choose at
least 10 questions from the Zen and the Art of Making a Living worksheets that
were handed out in class, and write your final paper about your values and
goals in life based on these questions. Do not choose just the first 10
questions: select from throughout the list. In addition, reflect back on your
journals, my hero assignment, and essay about the initiative you chose as you
respond to these final questions:
•
What have been the three most significant insights for you in this
class?
•
Has anything shifted for you in your relationship with yourself,
others, community, and the world? Explain
•
What will you need next (from school, your friends, support
organizations, etc.) to move forward with your next goals in life? And how will
you take care of yourself and nurture your own core values in this next phase
of your journey?
Choose 10 questions from the Zen and the Art of Making a Living
worksheets:
Your vision
for the world, nation, or community you would like to live in:
What
insights do these answers give me about the direction I would like my life to
take?
As a child,
what did you most want to give to the world?
As a child,
what situation in the world most hurt, disturbed, or upset you? What did you
want to do about it?
When you
were a child, what did you most love to
do?
If you
could wave a magic wand, and the world would instantly be the way you want it
to be, how would it be different
What
insights do the answers to these questions give you?
What
situation in the world, in your nation, or in your community do you notice
yourself complaining about the most? “Somebody really ought to do something
about…”?
How could
you ultimately be most effective in working on these problems? “If I were to
take responsibility to do something about this, I would”
What
elements of human suffering speak to your heart?
After
reviewing what you have written above, ask yourself “What insights do my
answers give me about the direction I would like my life to take?
Now imagine
yourself on your deathbed. Imagine that you feel at peace with the world and
ready to pass on. You are surrounded by your friends and family. You feel as
though you have completed or accomplished what you came here to do in this
life. What do you consider to have been your most important accomplishments?
More than
anything, what do you want the message of your life to have been when all is
said and done? How could you best exemplify this?
Your
philosophy of life: If you could share one bit of wisdom with the whole world,
what would it be?
Is there anything
you would be willing to put it all on the line for? If so, what?
What has
been the most important lesson you have learned in your life? Why was it the
most important?
Briefly,
what is the basic philosophy of your life?
Personal
bill of rights and responsibilities: what you will and will not tolerate: of
yourself and others
Imagine
that you have been told you have 5 years to live. In terms of your work life,
what is it that you most want to accomplish in your reminding years?
Instant
recall:
Recall
times when you have been most creative: These are times when you created something
(an event, a thing, a product, a system)
Recall
times when you have been most committed. These are times when you were deeply
involved, emotionally co0mmitted, and determined to persist in spite of all
obstacles
Recall
times when you were most decisive. These are times when yo knew exactly what to
do. You know you were right, and you acted deliberately and confidently,
perhaps even in spite of the doubt and objections of others
Recall a
time when everyone said you couldn’t do it, but you knew you could, and you did
it anyway. What was it? How did it feel?
Recall
times when you have been so absorbed in what you were doing that you hardly
noticed the time. What were you doing?
What do you
consider the greatest accomplishments of your life? Why?
What is the
most exciting thing you have done in your life? Why?
When have
you taken the strongest stand in your life? What were you standing for?
Review your
answers to the question above with a view toward what they might suggest to you
about your life’s work. Look for patterns, redundancies, events that you
repeatedly recalled. What insights do you answers suggest?
Look at the
list of values on page 196 from Zen and the Art of Making a Living worksheets..
Put a check in front of those that are most important to you. Check no more
than ten (you can also look at the values list from your Nonviolent
Communication worksheets you received).
Which
values do most characterize your life?
Overall,
which values are most important to you in your life?
Prioritize
your top values and list them below.
Then,
define each of these values in terms of its significance and meaning to you:
Your
mission statement: Review all your answers above, then write your mission
statement: “What am I here to do on this earth”
Now review
what you have written, and write a condensed Mission statement: State the
mission of your life in no more than two sentences:
Tapping
into what you enjoy:
What do you
enjoy most about your current work? (even if you dislike most of it, there may
be one feature that you enjoy)
What do you
most enjoy doing when you’re not working (Hobbies, recreational interests,
etc.)
What do you
most enjoy learning about?
What do you
most enjoy making (What do you enjoy as a beginning-to-end process?)
If you were
financially independent and money was not a factor, what kind of work would you
do?
Take the
talent quiz (p. 224 from the handout Zen and the Art of Making a Living): Rank
each of the following talents on a scale to one to ten
Take the
personal strength quiz (p. 228 on the handout): What are your five strongest
character traits or personal qualities? Would you add any to the list in the
worksheet that are more descriptive of you?
