CHAPTER TWO

Self-exploration as the Process

for Value Education

e saw in the previous chapter that the process used here for value education is self-
exploration. As the name suggests, the process is to find out what is valuable to me by
investigating within myself. Since it is me who feels happy or unhappy, successful or
unsuccesstul, therefore whatever is right for me, true for me, has to be judged within myself.

We discussed previously that the value of an entity is its participation in the larger
order. In the case of the human being, to understand what is valuable, we need to study
ourselves and the "larger order" around us, which is, everything around us. When we look
around, we find other human beings; we find animals, plants, birds, insects etc. and then
things like air, water, soil, stones, metals, etc. All these are things we live with and there is
a need for us to understand our relationship with all of these things.

This is depicted below:

Human Being Nature/Existence (all that exists)

(other humans, animals, plants, soil, etc)

Participation
We live with this entirery - we live wich our family, our friends, air, soil, water, trees
the nature around us and we want to understand our relationship with all these.
Understanding ofall these is to be done by me the 'self'. To understand my relationship
with all these, I need to start observing inside.

.
rarting to Observe Inside
Normally, we are used to exploring outside. For example: we keep looking around, we
observe trees, animals and other human beinga. Seldom do we observe "what is going on in
 and Professional Ethics
12 A Foundation Course in Human Values

me while I am observing outside". Thus, it remains only external observation. When we sav
we want to self-explore, it means we have to now start observing within ourselves too and

not observing just outside.

Let's take the example that we are seeing a trec. When I see a tree, here is what is
the information is
happening: the image of the tree is available on my cyes. From there,
passed on to me, and then I say: "I can see a big tree, and it is about 100 meters away and
so on. This is an example of observing outside. But when I start to observe what relationI
have with the tree or, how does the tree relate to me, it is observing inside.

Now lets take another example. When I get angry, I "know I am getting angry. In
other words T, can 'see' the anger, in 'myself". I am no longer using my yes to see the

anger, but I am observing this anger inside my own selft.

hat is Self-exploration? What is its Purpose?

Let us ponder over the following points to appreciate self-exploration and its purpose.

1. It is a process of dialogue between "what you are" and "what you really want to be.

2. It is a process of self-evolution through self-investigation.

3. It is a process of knowing oneself and hrough that, knowing the entire existence.

4. It is a process of recognizing one's relationship with every unit in existence and fulfilling
it.

5. It is a process of knowing human conduct, human character and

living accordingly.
6. It is a process of being in harmony in oneself and in harmony with entire existence.

7. It is a process of identifying our Innateness (Svatva) and moving towards Self-

organization (Swatantar) and Self-expression (Swaräjya),.

Now, we will go over the above points in detail.

1. It is a process of dialogue between "what you are" and "what you really want to be": We
will look into ourselves and find out what we are today, and how this contrasts from
what we really want to be. If these two are the sane, then there is no problem. If on
investigation we find that these two are not the same, then it means we are living with
this contradiction (of not being what we really want to be) and hence, we need to
resolve this contradiction, this contlict within us.

Ask yourself this question: Am l what I really want to be?"

 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education 13
When we look into this, we find that mostly we are not what we really want to D
These two are difterent and each one of us is faced with this contradiction.
something and we want to be something else. This basic dichotomy, this basic
We ac
contradiction has to be resolved. This dichotomy creates a conflict in us, which is a
continuous cause ftor our unhappiness. What we are
today- is the result of our pre
conditionings, our predispositions, our impressions and our beliefs. What we realy
want to be- comes from deep within us, that is naturally acceptable to us. This is
something intact in us. It needs to be explored and found out.
"What I am" "What I really want to be".
This dialogue needs to be started berween what you are and what you really want to
be. On investigating into it, you will find that the contradictions are not outside of
you. These contradictions are inside you. In fact, the contradictions that you see
outside are
mostly a retlection of the contradictions within. For example, we end up
believing imany things that are instilled in us since childhood- like "living is basically
a struggle for survival". And based on this belief, we plan our whole life. But have we
even asked ourselves the question of whether this is the way in which I really want to
live? We find that most of the time, we don't even care to know whether the things we
have assumed are really true. We are defining our entire lives, all our desires, based on
such assumptions, without even knowing whether these assumptions are naturally
acceptable to us! This is a serious matter worthy of our attention.

All our unhappiness, all our discomfort, all our unease is because of this contradiction
within between what we are and what we really want to be. Each one of us lives with
this feeling of discomfort, the unease within that keeps telling us "something is missing".
Each one of us is faced with contradictions and problems in various aspects of life
contradictions within ourselves, in our behaviour with people, in our interactions and
thoughts about society, and in our interactions and notions about nature. And
irrespective of where you are placed: in a nice school, in a great college, having a good
job, having a lot of money etc., this discomfort is continuously present.

On careful self-exploration, we will find that we are being driven by a number of

assumptions/ beliefs which are contrary to our natural acceptance and they cause
contradiction within us. We have to start looking at these carefully.

Many times, you will find, we want something, we think something else, we say something
ese, we do something else, and the results of our actions do not match with the expected
outcomes! This kind of dichotomy continues to exist in us, resulting in a state of

unhappiness and as of today we dontbe doing anything at all in order to

seem to

address these contradictions, whereas it is the basic issue that needs to be resolved.

2. t is a process of self-evolution through self-investigation: By self-investigation, we

shall work towards being what we really want to be. Hence, the self-exploration leads
14 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

to our own improvement, our own self-evolution - we will become qualitatively better.
We can be more in harmony within ourselves.

find out the contradictions in

We saw in the earlier point that it is necessary to
do this? Since the
ourselves, to see that we are in contradiction. Where would we

that we investigate into ourselves

contradictions are in ourselves, it becomes necessary
lt is not about
to find this out! Hence, it is necessary that we do self-exploration.
have to start exploring ourselves. Through
exploring outside us, but inside us, in us. We
self-evolution. This process of self-
this process of self-exploration we can achieve
each one of us. Once this dialogue
investigation needs to be started. It needs to start in
we become comfortable
within ourselves has been established, and we start evolving
-

this self-
within ouselves. The very process of being in this dialogue starts facilitating
improvement.
existence: Thus,
3. t is a process of knowing oneself and through thas, knowing he entire unaware of
self-exploration leads to us knowing ourselves better. Today, we are largely
Our own characteristics, our own assumptions, beliefs and pre-conditionings. We will

go beyond these beliefs to know ourselves. Once weourselves, and we

have known are

sure of it, we can then also know all the things around us correctly. This way, we
be sure of these things in our own right, we can be authentic about them. We don't
have to continue to live merely with assumptions about these things.

Ask yourselfE Do I want to know myself Do I want this self-investigation? Am I satistied

in living my life without having known myself If1 don't know myself, am not sure of
myself, how can I be sure ofwhat I want and what I do? - One finds that the need to
know ourselves, to understand the self, is an innate need of every human being. This
need to know does not have to be instilled from outside, once our attention has been
drawn to tis fact. Each individual would like to know himself/herself and can carry
out this self-exploration and self-evolution.

As we know ourselves correctly, we are also able to relate ourselves correctly to the
things around us. We can then understand the people we live with, the [Link] we are
born in, the people in society we interact with, in fact all the entities in nature/
existence. Ask yourself this question: Are you satisfied with just knowing the immediate
things around you, or do you also get curious about the larger reality around you?
Each human being wants to know everything. Once we have known ourselves, we can
also know the entire existence. This process starts with the self, and once we are sure
of ourselves, we can, through that, also know the entire existence.

If we look atthe basic fallacy in our current

approach of understanding things around
us, it is that we try to understand things around us without first being sure of ourselves.
Since we don't know ourselves correctly, and it is we who understand the worla, hence,
all the pre-conditionings we have within, the contradictions we have within, reflect in
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education 15

our perception of the world, and we start interactine with the external worla,
the things around us based wi
on these
assumptions, based on these pre-conditionings:
Theretore, it is important to know
myself first, and when I am sure about my
that there is no
'colouring' there then, I can know about other things properly. 1 ne
I can be sure about the things know,
I since I am sure of myself.
4. t is a process of recognizing one's
it: Once we start
relationship with every unit in existence and fulfil1ng
knowing ourselves and everything beside us, we shall understana
our
relationship with them i.e. we shall understand our
relationship with other humans,
animals, plants and matter etc. We shall then know how we have to live in
harmony
with all these things.

What are the things

live with today? We live in our families with out parents,
we

grandparents, brothers, sisters, we live in society - we interact with our teachers, WIth
various people engaged in making available goods and services in the society. We live
With nature - with animals, birds, plants, insects, materials, etc, and of course, the

larger existence - all that space, and all those planets, stars and other entities that are

suspended in it.

Do we know our relationship with each one of these entities? Do we know and
understand our relationship with our parents? With our teachers? With the person
next door? What happens when we do not understand this relationship? You would
find that this lack of understanding leads to problems. For example: if you wrongly
assume that animals may breathe away all the air, and hence all animals need to be
killed so that there is enough oxygen left for human beings, it would be disastrous!
We need to start seeing various interactions in which we face problems: for example,
the problem of misunderstanding in relationships, the problem of wars and crime in
society, the problem of pollution in nature, etc. Are these not due to the lack of righr
understanding of our relationship at various levels? We find that our problems in our
relationship with various entities around us are due to our assuming certain things
abour these relationships which are not really true. For example: if we assume that
mistrust is basic to a human relationship, we shall have problems, since all the time
we shall mistrust people we come across, and mistrust is not acceptable to us, not
acceptable to any human being!

The fact that we are related to all these entities can easily be observed in our day to
day life. We don't have to create these relationships. These relationships are already
there. We have assumed something else about these relationships. What is needed for us
is to correctly understand our relationship with each of these entities. When we are able
to understand this, we are able to fulfil our relationship with them. For example,
when we that trust is basic to a
understand that it is trust which is
relationship,
become and are able to orient
naturally acceptable to every human being, we at ease

ourselves correctly and our relationships becomes mutually fulfilling. Similarly, once
 16 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

that nature itselt is in harmony,

we see that we want to be in harmony with nature,
if we
our interactions with nature lead to prosperity. On the other hand,
mutual
at loggerheads,
then we shall
continue to assume that human beings and nature are
continue to have problems in multiple ways.
ourselves, we understand
Thus, we start understanding ourselves, and then through
with
with all entities in existence and then
the rest of existence, and also our relationship
fulfil this relationship.
conduct, human character and living accordinghy:
5. It is a process of knowing human mind, our own behaviour
None of live with uncertainty. If o u r state of
us wants to
and
we are not comfortable
with ourselves. We all desire for certainty
keeps changing, also understand what is our
true nature, we will
stability. Once we know our own
with the other things we live with this is the ethical human conduct
-

participation When we know

or the humane conduct. This is
what characterizes a human being.
it in a natural manner.
this true human character, we start moving towards
their innateness, by their specific
All the entities in the existence are characterised by
this innateness. What
characteristics which are invariant. We recognize any entity by
to exhibit different
is then the innateness of a human being? Is a human being expected
characteristics at different times and with different people?

whether you definite character or indefinite character

If you ask yourself, want a
what is the answer? The answer is, we all want to have a definite character, a definite
conduct. We are not satisfied with having an indefinite conduct, though we are living
with indefiniteness. Example: We cant be sure of how we are going to be this very

evening!We are not sure what our mood will be tomorrow morning. Sometimes, we
are not sure about what mindset we are going to have the next moment! Are we
comfortable with this state of affairs? Or do we want a definitiveness in our conduct?

Explore.
There is a need to understand this definite conduct in a human being and how it can
be ensured.

Once we know, through self-exploration, our own true nature and the things around
us, we shall also know what our relationship and participation is with the other things
we live with, all the things around us - then we will be able to rightly understand
ethical human conduct or the humane conduct. Thus, the process of Self-exploration
will enable us to identity the definitiveness of human conduct and to live
accordingly.
6. It is a process of being in hamony in oneself and in harmony with entire existence:
Through the process of Self-exploration, I establish a dialogue with my natural
acceptance. This enables me to be in harmony within myself. Through the same
process, I am able to explore into the harmony in the entire existence. We slowly come
 the Process for Value Education 17
Self-exploration as

to realize (and we will keep ralking about this in the entire book) that there is an
innate harmony in the existence. I only need to discover this. And once I do this, I can
learn to live in harmony with the entire existence. Thus the process of Self-exploratiorn
helps me live in harmony within myself and in all my interactions with the world
around. Would you desire to be in such a state? Well, we need to work for it.

7. It is a process of identifying our Innateness (Svatva) and moving towards Self

organization (Swatantrat) and Self-expression (Swarjya): When I identify my
innateness, what I really want to be and establish a dialogue with it, it enables me to
become Self-organized, i.e. I attain harmony in myself. This is Swatantrat . When l
start living with this harmony, it starts expressing itself through my harmonious
behaviour and work, and it naturally extends to my participation with the surroundings.
This is working towards Swarjya.
Swatantrat : Being self-organised Being in harmony in oneself

Swaraiya :SelF-expression, Self-extension : Living in harmony with others, and

thus participation towards harmony in the whole existence

Ask yourself this question: Are you self-organized right now? Are you able to be in
harmony with others?

If you are living in contradiction, then it means you are not self-organized. If you are
living with pre-conditionings, wherein you have assumed certain things, have
accumulated desires without having first evaluated them, then it means you are
partantra (enslaved). If you ask this question: whether we are swatanra or partantra.
what is the answer? Till there is a difference berween what we are and what we really
want to be, we are not swatantra, because we will always be in conflict. Hence, since
we ourselves are not in selt-organization, our expression in living: be it in behaviour
with other humans or in our interaction in the form ofwork the outcome is going to
be one of conflict.

So, through this process of Self-exploration I begin by identifying my innateness

(Swatva), what I really want to be. Then, living accordingly enables me to being in
harmony within myself (Swatantrat) and finally being in harmony with the whole
existence (Swarjya).

ontent of Self-exploration
In the light of what we have discussed so far, the content of Self-exploration can be visualized
in terms of finding answers to the
following fundamental questions of all human beings:
1. Desire: What is my basic aspiration?
 18 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

2. Program: What is the process to fulfil this basic aspiration?

Do you find these two questions relevant?

We will try to find answers to these questions by exploring within. These are very

important questions since everything we do is related to some desire or the other

trying to fulfil.

This is what any human being would like to kmow and work towards its actualization in

life.
And if you have the answers to these two questions, is there any other question that
remains to be answered?

We are going to observe and explore ourselves, our lives, what we do, why we do and
how we do. We will study what human beings want, we will study what we really want. We
also want to know how to fulfil what we want. We want to explore into what is valuable for
us. Each one of us can
explore this within ourselves.,

ocess of Self-exploration
In the sections above, the need and content of
we saw
Self-exploration. We will now move
on, and find out how we will carry this out.

Following points are to be kept in mind regarding this process of Self-exploration.

"Whatever is stated is a
proposal".
Dont start by assuming it be
to true or
false.
Whatever we state here, is
proposal. Dont accept it as it is, or assume it to be true. We
a
seem to have assumed many
things to be true till now. If we asume what we are
here to be true as well, it would
only add to our set of assumprions and belies and discussing
instead of
being an aid for us, instead of helping us, it will only end
being burden for us
a

Alright! we dont assume it, how will we

If
it? verify
"Verify it on
your own
right"
You need to rigorously
verity all the statements and
own right. No one else can do this tor proposals being made here in your
you; you have do it yourself. It has to be self
to
investigated by you. Veritying in your own
right implies the following;
"Don'tjust accept or
reject it-
 for Value Education 19
Self-exploration as the Process

on the basis of scriptures

on the basis of instruments

on the basis of others

Note: By the above proposal, we are not trying to undermine ihe importance of seriptur
instruments or the guidance obrainable from wise persons. Not at all! We are only suggesting that
one should take all these as valuable proposals uworthy of your own serious exploration and then

acceptance.
Let us understand these in more detail:

Don't try to verify on the basis of scriptures/ what is written:/

is written in
By this we mean, lets not compare what is being proposed here with what
some book, something that you have read or are reading i.e. we think we know certain

However, we are not

things, because we have read about it somewhere, and remember it now.
talking about a comparative study between what we have read and what is being proposed
here. Rather, we are talking about verification of these proposals direciy within yourse

Not on the basis ofinstruments

Don't assume these proposals as being true or false based on the conclusions somebody
have after conducting experiments with physical instruments. The instruments
might given
only give information about some physical phenomena, but the conclusions we make are
based on our own perception about the phenomena. Such perceptions also need to be
subjected to self-verification.

"Not on the basis of others:

Again, you may have heard something that has said. You may believe
some great person
what this person says to be true, and hence end up comparing what is being proposed here
with what you remember as being stated by that personaliry This would not mean verifying in
your own right; it would mean accepting on those geat personalities' right!

Firstly, verif the proposal on the basis of your narural acceptance"

Natural acceptance is a faculty that is present in each one of us. It is intact and invariant.
We only have to start paying attention to it, to start "seeing" it. For example, ask yourself

this question:
Is trust naturally acceptable to me in relationship, or is mistrust naturally acceptable?
What is the answer? lt rurns out that trust is naturally acceptable to you in relationship

Similarly, ask yourself another question: "Do I want to live in relationship with others or
do I want to live in opposition with others?" The answer is live in relationship with others.
 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics
20
The answers
We find that get the
we answers from within ourselves and it is spontaneous.
the natural acceptance.
are there in us, naturally. We only need to trace them. We call this faculty

For every proposal being put forth here, we hrough our own natural acceptance.
shall pass it
it is true for
i.e. ifit is naturally acceptable to us,
ft passes through our own natural acceptance,
it does then it is not rue for us and we can drop
the proposal. Lets not assume what is
4.
1f not,
that you pass every proposal through your
owm
stated here to be true! You need to ensure
being
natural acceptance!
Lets ask ourselves another very basic question:
Do I want to be happy? The answer is a
natural acceptance.
this answer? Of course, through your
very quick yes! How did you get
this becomes a very powerful way for
This mayseem simple to begin with, but we shall see that
very
us to know what is ultimately righr!)
will be able to start
Once you start asking the question deep within yourself, you
is there in each one of us, it is
answers yourself. This natural acceptance
accessing these
what we most spontaneously, most naturally desire. You don't have to import this natural
outside; you don't have to learn it from somewhere! For example, when
acceptance from
you asked the question "whether trust is most acceptable to me in relationship", did you
ask anyone else for the answer? Did you read or learn the answer from somewhere? Did you
have to refer to some instrument? The answer is NO. This answer came from within you.
Similarly, about the answer to- "Is living in relationship with others is naturally acceptable
to me". Did you have to learn this from others? Again NO!

Thus, as first part of the self-verification, every proposal being put forth here, is passed
through our own natural acceptance.

"Secondly, live according to the proposal to validate it experientially."

To verify the proposals, I need to live accordingly in my interactions with the world
around. This involves two things: behaviour and work. If the proposal is true.

(a) In behaviour with other humans,

i) it will lead to mutual fulfilment

(b) In work with the rest of nature,

(ii) it will lead mutual

to
prosperity.
I desire mutual fulfilment in my relations with other
humans and mutual
with the rest of nature. This way, I validate the prosperity
truthfulness of the proposal.
 the Process for Value Education 21
Self-exploration as

The whole process of self-exploration can be represented as follows:

=**********
It is a
proposal
Don't assume it to be true Process of Self
Verify it in your own right
Not on the basis of Exploration
Not on the basis of
scriptures
Not on the
readings from
basis of others
instrument

Self verification
* *

Proposal Live according to

behaviour Work with

with human rest of thhe
Verify on the basis
of your natural leads to naiure leads
mutual to mutual
acceptance
happinesS prosperity

atural Acceptance
At this point, we can make the following observations about natural acceptance:

(a) Natural acceptance does not change with trime: The natural acceptance does not change
with time. It remains invariant with time. This can be easily verified. For example, our
acceptance for trust or respect does not change with age. People hundred years ago also
had the same natural acceptance. We can try to verity this within our span of observation.

(b) It does not depend on the place: Whether we are in New Delhi, New York or Abu
Dhabi, if we address our natural acceptance, the answer would still be the same!

(c) It does not depend on our beliefs or past conditionings: We may be told frequently not
to trust people of other religions or castes, but is it naturally acceptable to us? No
matter how deep our belief or past conditioning, as long as we ask ourselves the
question sincerely, as long as we reter deep within ourselves, the answer will always be
the same.

(d) This natural acceptance is constantly there, something we can refer to: lry this
think of cheating or exploiting someone. The moment you think of/this, you sense a
yourselt
contradiction within and feel unhappy that very instant! It happens very quickly, and
we may not notice it, but it does happen! Similarly, the moment we think of
22 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

disrespecting someone, we become unhappy. The very thought is enough to cause a

contlict, a strain within us. Thus, this natural acceptance is always there, and if we
start paying attention to it, if we ask ourselves every time, for every thought and every
desire we have, "Is this naturally acceptable to me?", we will get an answer. Whatever
We do, this natural acceptance is within us, it is telling us what is right. Every time we
do something not readily acceptable to us, i.e. every time we think or do something
not acceptable to us, there is a contradiction in us, because the thought/ deed conflicts
With our own natural acceptance! The moment we think of cheating, we become

unhappy. We dont have to carry out the action. It will become clear to us that
even
while we want something else at the level of our natural acceptance, we think or do

something else, based on our beliefs and preconditioning, which is contrary, it creates
a disharmony in us; this is the cause for our unhappiness. Take for example, one may
proceed with the act of cheating under the influence of say, an extraneous pressure
but one keeps feling unhappy about it and may even repent over this act in the
course of time. If somebody asks, why do you cheat?', one starts offering explanations,
inventing justifications. This is because it is naturally unacceptable.
(e) Natural acceptance is the same for all of us: it is part and parcel of every human being
it is part of humanness:/Let's start exploring into this. We will find that no human
bcing finds disrespect acceptable in relationship. No matter who the person, however
bad or good, one always expects respect in relationship. For example, let us say a
person 'A' disrespects 'B'. This man 'B' may bear a grudge against A and set out to
"teach him a lesson". This is because B' does not find disrespect acceptable and when
he
doesnot get respect, it offends him. This may actually end up leading to a large
scale conflict!

We can start checking and verifying this for ourselves. All of us have acceptance which
are same, at a
very deep and basic level. Our assumptions and choices, our likes and dislikes
may be different, but on some
very basic and common issues like need for
happiness, trust,
respect, prosperity, we are all the same, all of us have the same basic
acceptance.
Thus,
Natural acceptance is there in all of us. It is within us, all
the time and we can refer o
it, access it to know what is right for us. We
in this book needs to be evaluated on the basis
only have to start referring to it. Each proposal
of your natural acceptance.

hat is the State Today?

Today, we are not oriented enough to evaluate our beliefs or
assumptions and we treat them
as our personal domain. we 8eneraily Keep them secure in the
name of personal life and
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education 23

[Link] usually become very sticky about them without really

varitying them.
wie
these come in conflict, we try hard to search out justifications and make all efforts to defend
our own assumptions. In the process, we cheat ourselves as well as others. But are our
assumptions not taxing for us? Are these not costing us our own happiness, the stability
and cordiality in our relations? These definitely are, and we need to focus attention on
these.

Since we dont verify within ourselves, we continue to live with a set of assumptions and
beliefs which may or may not be true. Hence, we are usually not sure of what we 'believe
since we have largely assumed these things and have not verified them for ourselves.

Since we do not verity it in our living with people and with nature, we are not sure of
what the results are. In fact, this is quite obvious, since we find today that while sometimes
we may have fulfilling relationships with people, may a time we don't; sometimes we
contribute to enriching nature but, mostly we end up exploiting it. It shows that today:

Neither are we verifying our assumptions/ proposals put to us on the basis of our
natural acceptance,

Nor are we verifying what we think we know, in our living!

hat is the Way Out? Whot do we Need to Do?

We have to start verifying our assumptions, beliefs on the basis of our natural acceptance
and experiential validation. Living on the basis of natural acceptance makes us more authentic.
As long as we are living on the basis of assumptions, there is no authenticitry in what we are
thinking, no authenticity in what we are doing. Since we have not verified for ourselves, in
our own right, we don't have the contidence about things. Ultimately, we are the judge of
what is right for us, we have to verify and understand it.

Realization and Understanding

We saw earlier that the process of Self-exploration involves two steps:

1. Verification of the proposals on the basis of our natural acceptance.

2. Experiential validation by living according to it.

As we do this, as we continue with this process of verification of the proposals stated

results
on the basis of our natural acceptance and test it out in our living, it ulimately
here
in "realization" and "undgrstanding" in us. This means, knowing something to be true
for sure, within [Link] will discuss this in more detail in the Chapter 6.
24 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

The realization and understanding is denoted below:

be depicted as below.
Accordingly, the complete process of self-exploration can

*********************************

It is a proposal
Don't just assume it to be true
Verity it in your own right Process of
Self-exploration
Not on the basis of scriptures
Not on the basis of readings from instruments
Not on the basis of others
Self-verification
*********************************************************

Proposal
Live according to it

behaviour Work with

with human rest of the
leads to nature leads
Verity on the basis
mutual to mutual
of your natural
acceptance happiness prosperity

Results in
Assurance
Realization&
Understanding
Test Satisfaction
Keep asking again and again: what is
my natural acceptance? Universality
Applies
toall

Time space individual

The answers we having realization &

get on
understanding are:

(a) Assuring: "I am assured of the answer or

understanding in myself".
(b) Satisfying: "I am satisfied that the answers are fulfilling for me.

(c) Universal:
"I know or realize that the answers I have got are the same for everyone.
They are invariant with respect to:

Time: These answers are the same at all times: past,

present and future
(ii) Space: These answers are the same at all places or locations
(iii) Individuat: The answers are the same for every human being
If the answers we get do not fulfil any of the criteria of
being assuring, satisfying and
universal; it means the answer is most
likely coming from your past beliefs/conditioning
and not from your natural acceptance. Hence, you need to re-verify the answer!
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education 25

Let us not
accept the
proposals stated here because they are being repeated all the time
Far from i Each one of us needs to start asking ourselves these questions and see what is
acceptable to us! You have to start
asking these questions yourself!
|This process of repeated self-verification of the proposals on the basis of my own natural
acceptance and validating it experientially, and also testing the answers for assurance, satisfaction
and universality ultimately resules in what is called "Realization" and "Understanding". When
we have this realization and understanding, when we have this knowledge, it remains intact 1.e.
it stays with us at all times and is not moved or disturbed by external circumstances. In fact, it also
starts expressing itself, in the most natural manner and starts impacting the environment an
since it is true, it is readily acceptable to others
too.])
For the remainder of this book, will basic
we explore into these two questions
Desire: What is my basic aspiration?
Program: What is the process of fulflling this basic aspiration?

ummary
We need to undergo Self-exploration because we want to find out what is valuable to
us, and secondly we want to understand our relationship, our participation with the
things around us.

Self-exploration is

a process of dialogue berween what you are and "what you really want to be".

a process of Self-evolution through self-investigation.

a process of knowing oneself and through thar, knowing the entire existence.

a process of recognizing one's relationship with every unit in existence and

fulfilling it.

a process of knowing human conduct, human character and living accordingly.

a process of being in harmony in oneself and in harmony with entire existence.

a process of identitying our Innateness (Svatva) and moving towards Selt-

organization (Swatantrat ) and Self-expression (Swar jya).

The content of self-exploration is exploring into two fundamental questions

basic aspiration is; and the program to fulfil this basic aspiration.
 A Foundation Course in Human Vakues and Professionel Ethics

Frocess of self-exploration involves rwo things, firstly, verifying on the basis of natural
acceptance, and secondly, validating experientially by living accordingly. When the
proposal is verified on both the bases, it leads to realization and understanding.
Understanding is assuring, satisfying and universal with respect to time, space and
individual.

Natural Acceptance does not change with time, individual or place and is not tainted
with our pre-conditionings. It is innately present in each one of us and we can akways
refer to it.

REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Sef-exploration is a process of dialogue between 'what you are' and 'what you realy wantto be'. Explain
and illustrate.

2. "I want to become a doctor"

"I want to do research in astronomy"
I want to serve the society"

"I want to be a film star

"I want to earn a lot of money and fame"
In the above cases, what is the basic
aspiration? Justify your answer.
3. What is the content of self-exploration?
4. Explain the process of self-exploration with the help of a diagram.
5. What do you mean by your natural acceptance? lustrate with examples. Is it invariant with time and
place?
6. What do you understand by the terms Svatva, Swatantrat and Swaräiya?
7. What are pre-conditionings? What is their source?
8. Do you feel that you have some
pre-conditionings? How do you evaluate them?