Q&A: Values and a Secular Lifestyle
Values and a Secular Lifestyle
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In one of your columns you discussed aesthetic values, which in your view (if I understood correctly) are values that do not belong to the moral or religious sphere, but rather values that involve cleaving to the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He.
My question is this: do you find that religious people tend to be more value-driven in that sense?
I thought about this question in the context of the parable of the empty wagon and the full wagon. Is it really correct to say that religious people live more value-driven lives? (I mean non-religious values.)
This is your opinion, if you have one. Of course, you have no way to examine the situation empirically.
Thanks in advance,
Roi
Answer
I think the aesthetic values of religious people are different from those of secular people. I do get the impression that religious people have more of them (such as modesty, the family unit, preserving traditional customs), whereas among secular people the trend is one of gradual decline. Whatever is merely aesthetic can be questioned and abandoned. It is not binding.