Are You Good

[Earthspirit]

Well are you?

I am going to make it easy and ask you to describe only 3 events that would define you as a good person. Or for any resident recidivists and lawyers in the house the 3 things that would define you as 'bad'.

I am not going to answer it myself before before giving it some thought.

Why the philosophy section? Well hopefully this will steer in this direction.

Earthspirit

[XANTO]

Great posting Earthspirit but this is absolutely meaningless. Because "good" has no tangible reference, it is a subjective and context-sensitive word.

If something tastes good to an individual, it is because the contact of the food on the tongue releases chemicals in the brain which makes someone feel good. The feeling is the tangible reference and is equated with good.

In order to define what it is to be a good person, we have to look at the desired results.

What is it a person does in order to be defined as good?

For me it is someone who can cultivate their own happiness with no detriment to anybody else. If we were all able to focus on cultivating inner happiness the world as a whole would be a better place.

If we need to look at the characteristics of individual happiness then we can do. For me it is a sense of peace, fearlessness, the ability to be fearlessly spontaneous, honesty, respect and sensitivity towards others and the world.

xanto

[Purplewitch]

good cannot exist in isolation -- goodness is not a totality. What you, the individual deems to be good, might not be good for me, another individual. Who decides what is right? True? Good? I cannot define good. To try to define good, without including specifics cannot be done. Good in what context?

Is apple pie goodness? It is tasty. It is sweet. It is satisfying. Easy to make.

But... it's not so good if you're allergic to apples. I cannot define goodness. Goodness is an artifical construct.

Purplewitch

[shadowfox]

Postive, negative; good bad; yin yang. These are all forces in the universe. But our concepts of good and bad are man made. Created by society that has lost sight of the true meanings of these concepts. What society deems as good, and bad. Are not the ways of Universal Yin and Yang.

Society, and therefor ourselves see good in bad in every action, or reaction to any situation, but depending on the circumstances good can be bad and bad can be good.

here is an example. A murder takes a life, This is deemed bad by society, yet a man protecting his family must kill, this is deemed good. Yet both have taken a life.

Yet we look at all the religious, and even spiritual practices, do they not say life is sacred? So which is right, and which is wrong?

This is not for us to judge.

But this is my humble opinion.
Shadowfox