The act of overcoming various challenges in life is arguably one of our universal values. Yet, the more rigorously we seek the essence of “universal value,” the more it begins to feel like something singular and unique. I cannot help but feel that when we define universal value with strict precision, it inevitably becomes something deeply personal.
Take, for example, the concept of “learning from the past to know the new.” This feels like an endeavor to transcend “nostalgia.” While this phrase is often used to mean gaining new insights or learning the causality of things by studying history, why do we bother learning from the past in the first place? I believe it is because nostalgia exists there. But what is nostalgia? Is it a memory of good times or bad? It could be both. We feel nostalgia for the times that were good, and even for the times that were painful. In either case, it refers to a familiar environment that is “not now.” Why do we yearn for such familiarity? If the past was good, the present must seem worse by comparison; if the past was bad, the present should be better. Regardless, we feel nostalgia for a past, familiar world that differs from our current one.
When we sense a change in our surroundings, we trace back the past, thinking, “It was like this back then.” This process is accompanied by nostalgia, which serves as the driving force for revisiting the past. By harnessing this force, we are able to discern causality. While causality can be defined as the relationship between one thing and another, “value” can also be seen as a relationship—someone’s relationship to something. Whether it is the value of money or a gemstone, without someone to perceive it, value does not exist. The same applies to “values” as a mindset or perspective. If values dictate how we think and see, then they are inherently a relationship between an observer and an object.
If a universal value exists, it must maintain the same relationship for everyone. But is such a thing truly possible? I am not saying that universal values do not exist. However, if they do, I believe it boils down to what I mentioned at the beginning: the act of overcoming everything in order to live. The methods of doing so are diverse—and they should be. Overcoming life’s hurdles is the sole universal value, yet the way we achieve it is entirely individual. This is why I cannot help but feel that the more rigorously and in detail we pursue this “universal,” the more it reveals itself to be something entirely unique to the individual.
