These narratives ultimately affect the way we approach the way we assign value or the way in which we find<\/em> value.\u00a0 How do wearrive at our conclusions?\u00a0 Sims writes, \u201cHow we arrive at value judgments, and, indeed, whether we\u00a0can<\/strong><\/em> arrive at value judgments, are now at least as important considerations as what<\/strong><\/em> the actual value judgments themselves are.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 What drives us to these different levels of theory?<\/p>\n One of the fantasy series that I\u2019ve been reading is called The Legend of Drizzt<\/em> by R.A. Salvatore (put on your nerd\/geek glasses and bear with me for a moment).\u00a0 The basic story is that Drizzt Do\u2019Urden is a Drow (a dark elf) from the underground city of Menzoberranzan, the major city of Drow Elves.\u00a0 In the world of Faer\u00fbn, the Drow are among the most feared races due to their history of violence and torture in the service of their goddess Lolth, the Spider Queen.\u00a0 However, Drizzt is different in that he sees the tenets of Lolth for what they are and his own moral compass refuses to allow him to follow her decrees.\u00a0 After exiling himself to the surface world, he finds that his own morals align most closely to the goddess Mielikki, the goddess of the forest and of rangers.<\/p>\n The epic narrative of Drizzt (which currently spans around thirty-four books) sees Drizzt trying to reconcile his identity as a Drow on the surface \u2013 where people\u2019s natural reaction is to be afraid of him because of his heritage \u2013 with what he knows to be true in his heart.\u00a0 In the latest trilogy I\u2019ve been reading, however, his morals and allegiance to Mielikki are called into question as he finds that the values of this goddess do not align perfectly withwhat\u2019s in his heart.<\/p>\n This reaches its climax in the book Maestro<\/em> where Drizzt must face the Demogorgon after the barrier between the Prime Material Plane and the Abyssal Plane.\u00a0 To keep a long story short, Drizzt\u2019s question of reality and morality come to a head during this time as he formally acknowledges that he does not believe in the tenets of Mielikki or any god, but rather the tenets of himself.\u00a0 He sums this up in a journal entry at the beginning of the next book in the series, Hero<\/em>: \u201cThe only truth is that there is no truth\u2026no reality, just perception.\u00a0 Because if perception is reality, then what matters?\u00a0 If this is all a dream, then this is all simply me.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 (You may put on your scholarly glasses again).<\/p>\n I bring up this passage because it calls into question the way in which we think about the world.\u00a0 How do we come to our conclusions for what narrative we choose to align ourselves with?\u00a0 Is it through reason?\u00a0 Is it through our emotions?\u00a0 Is it through experience?\u00a0 Is it something else?\u00a0 A combination of all the above?<\/p>\n Since moving to Hong Kong, I\u2019ve noticed a trend in the people I knew in high school.\u00a0 Coming from a small town in Kentucky, you could say that my old friends and I came from fairly conservative backgrounds.\u00a0 I was chatting with one of my old friends recently and was asking him how our old group is doing (it\u2019s been almost seven years since I\u2019ve spoken to any of them; the most I\u2019ve seen has been the occasion meme on Facebook).\u00a0 As he unfolded their various stories, the common link that I saw was that where at one point they had been some of the most conservative people I knew, they now leaned toward the far left.\u00a0 I asked what had changed and my friend told me it boiled down to the various experiences they\u2019ve had.\u00a0 For better or worse, their values had shifted because life happened.\u00a0 Now they call for the end of capitalism and for social reform (which I find fascinating in my current context).<\/p>\n While experience can be a valuable tool in discerning values, we must temper it with reason without losing our emotional nature as a by product.\u00a0 If we make a value claim, we have to know why we have chosen that value.\u00a0 I find Sim\u2019s discussion of the Synthetic or \u201cMagpie Approach\u201d to be interesting.\u00a0 We live in a a world with so many narratives and theories floating around that it\u2019s inevitable that they would eventually cross pollinate in some capacity.\u00a0 It even begs the question of whether there is<\/em> a pure form of thought in that regard or if it\u2019s all mixed in in some way.<\/p>\n We already live in a time where the act of critical thinking is foreign to some as we mindlessly gorge ourselves on information and theories.\u00a0 My prayer is that we would wake up from our stupor and actively engage in our values.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/1g-7NcjhvVteOq7tsSevvsw-300x249.jpg\")
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