Sooner or later, everyone thinks about the meaning of life, about why he comes to this planet and what he leaves behind. We read philosophical treatises of the best thinkers from different eras and understand that regardless of time, human values remain unchanged. Countless attempts have been made to classify the benefits, but so far no one has come to a consensus. 
The deep foundations of being
In order to determine the meaning of being, it is necessary to consider several aspects at once. First, find the value of man and society within life itself. Everything that is inherent in the natural processes of being is beautiful in itself. Each person values his life and realizes that he came to this world not in vain, but with some kind of mission. Awareness of one's own need, the search for an important mission, already fill a person’s existence with deep meaning.
Simple, but such important human values have a sensual and emotional beginning. We talk about love and friendship, devotion and honesty, selflessness and kindness, mercy and compassion, respect and reverence. All these feelings, coupled with fidelity, hope, courage and conscience, help a person cope with internal demons, with the contradictory imperfection of being. Speaking about the highest values of man, one cannot fail to mention spirituality, which fills being in the aggregate.
Combined action
Philosophers say that man cannot use the deep foundations of being separately. In this case, the deep meaning is distorted. All the qualities that we have listed cannot work separately. Thus, the desire for love without selflessness and compassion can turn into egoism. Courage and courage without good and conscience turn into cruelty.
Each person in the process of being is repeatedly given the right to choose. Man's existence is contradictory, but it is impossible without overcoming difficulties, without struggle with temptation, without freedom. After all, only having inner freedom, we gain value. A person can be taught to value life even through suffering, hardship and hardship.
What is happiness?
In this regard, happiness is never an absolute state. As you know, the path that he goes to achieve his dreams is important to a person, not the fact itself. The more thorny and winding the road leading to happiness, the deeper the awareness of the meaning of being. People of creative professions who are not placed in the strict framework of conditions always experience happiness. They enjoy the process, sometimes, despite the lack of material wealth. These people are sure that they found the meaning of being in their works (paintings, sculptures, songs). These works reflect all the best that is in our lives, and this best will live forever. So we gradually approached the second aspect of human values, to what awaits a person outside of life.
Religious component
Leaving behind a legacy, people are able to perpetuate their existence in the memory of posterity. And each of us at least once thought, and what awaits us after death? The highest values of a person cannot be considered without a religious component. Various theological teachings say that people did not come to this world in order to die, but in order to live forever, having been reborn after a physical death in a different guise.
It is believed that the soul of every person is immortal. It will exist in the other world forever.And in the power of each person to make this otherworldly eternity be filled with peace, harmony and goodness. For this, it is only necessary to abandon many worldly goods, pleasures and material values. People leading an ascetic existence, deeply religious personalities, are sure that their soul, after the physical shell dies, will surely go to heaven.
The search for the meaning of life by an individual
In addition to the deep vital foundations of being and religious teachings, there are unexplored human values. Personal values are formed depending on each specific individual, by searching for them during their stay in this world. Such values do not have a given meaning once. A man comes into this world in order to find and identify them. Each person has the right to decide whether the highest values are absolute, whether it is an axiom, or whether this concept is purely individual. A differentiated philosophical approach to this issue indicates that there are only self-sufficient values, for example, justice or happiness. Everything else in this world is relative.
Depending on eras
Each epoch of human existence brought something of its own. For example, ancient Greek philosophers promoted theocentrism. In their opinion, people come to this world in order to lead a modest existence and prepare for eternal life in heaven after physical death. Ascetic values in human life in ancient times were replaced by searches for happiness and earthly bliss in the Renaissance.
So many individualists flourished at that time, believing that the meaning of life lies in being itself. Asceticism was forgotten for a long time, it was replaced by all kinds of worldly pleasures. However, this is a dangerous path for the development of the individual, because, in this way, he contrasts himself with society. It is necessary to develop your abilities comprehensively, so that they bring maximum benefit to society. True, the Renaissance gave us something more: it highlighted the principles of humanism, relegating religious essence to the background.
Modern approach
And today, philosophers argue about the meaning of life, they adhere to different trends and create completely new theories. However, values are increasingly seen as a specific subject that can benefit or satisfy human needs. The world has become increasingly financially dependent. This is not our only difference from ancient or medieval representations of values. Also in modern society, the social values of a person come to the fore.
Classification of Values
It is conventionally accepted to adhere to the following classification of values. They are divided according to the content and the form of being.
Content is not only consumer and material values. This includes moral, religious, political, spiritual, aesthetic, social values.
The form of values includes spirituality, commitment to ideals.
Morality and piety do not go hand in hand. If religion teaches a person to care only about the representatives of his community and think about the afterlife, then morality is directed at all representatives of society. People learn to be merciful, show compassion not only to their neighbors, but also to all who need it. So patrons and philanthropists appear. Each person forms his idea of good and evil, of good. So spiritual ideals appear. Spirituality in our classification is placed both in the content and in the form of being.
The concept of value, hierarchy
The very concept of value is quite difficult to characterize, most often it does not have a shell, but it matters. This is how one person relates to another. It is directed at the will of man and makes us comprehend our own existence. There is a hierarchy of higher values:
- Health;
- Good, truth, beauty;
- The desire for good, for the knowledge of the truth;
- Achievement of the goal, the use of volitional qualities;
- Reaching a state of rest (nirvana).
In stages, values undergo a transformation, however, at the same time, there is no substitution of one concept for another. Neither of the steps can dominate the other.
