Where is good and where is evil is not always easy to understand.
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Good is the creative beginning of life and the results of its creation: houses, cities, people — who care about people, nature and life in general. As a life circumstance, good is that which in people of the highest personal development (mentally healthy, with positive motivation) will cause the greatest energy to improve life. To increase the amount of goodness in the world. In a worldly sense, the term «good» refers to everything that receives a positive assessment from people, or is associated with happiness and joy. Wider — with light, light, white. Evil — with darkness, dark, black.
At the same time, what exactly is good and what is not is not a simple question. As a rule, it is better to be healthy and rich than poor and sick. Generally, peace is better than war. At the same time, one cannot absolutely state anything here. Once health turns out to be an evil, and war a good circumstance, these concepts are relative.
The good health of one man (this is good, right?) Allowed him to live year after year like hell, drink, smoke, walk at night — and everything is fine. The result — a man turns into a beast. And the other man’s health was weak, and when he was near death, he thought about life. Then he recovered and turned into a man.
Or: a young man fell in love, the girl reciprocated, they got married and calmed down on this in life. Happily rotted. Another young man fell in love unrequitedly and realized that he needed to develop — he began to quickly grow wiser, got used to developing and became a high-quality, elite man and person.
The well-known phrase “the victory of the forces of good over the forces of reason” reflects skepticism towards the female view of the good, where sympathy and compassion often obscure a sober view of what is happening. One can argue how creative this or that kindness is, but in general, kindness and the cultivation of kindness are a guideline for most people who value human culture. A collection of examples of beautiful kindness is pleasing. Shall we rejoice together?
Good must take care of itself. If goodness is not protected, there will soon be no goodness. How to take care of the good is another question. Stanislav Kunyaev wrote:
good must be with fists
Good must be harsh
To flew wool shreds
From everyone who climbs for good.
The forceful approach to the protection of good is not close to everyone, the humanistic and feminine approach is more often looking for opportunities to support good with good, and in relation to evil — by inaction, non-participation in evil deeds.
From the point of view of higher morality, good should be done completely disinterestedly, however, from a pedagogical point of view, it is better if children see: a good life is rewarded, not a good life is punished. People become kinder because they see good examples, and when they feel the meaning and interest in a good life, when being kind is reasonable and cost-effective, vitally promising. Good and evil do not fight on their own, people do everything when they are interested in doing good.
An old Indian tells his grandson: “Inside each person there is a struggle very similar to the struggle of two wolves. One wolf represents evil — envy, jealousy, selfishness, ambition, lies … The other wolf represents goodness — peace, love, hope, truth, kindness, loyalty. The little Indian thought for a few moments and then asked. «And which wolf wins?» The old Indian smiled, «The wolf you feed always wins.»
I think that the meaning of life is to live joyfully and efficiently, doing good. So that today is joyful, and tomorrow becomes better than today. So that our children live in an even more beautiful, clean and rich world. So that after us gardens, cities, clean water and sun remain on earth.
I am glad that many people share with me the once strong motto born:
It was objected to me that no one could define exactly what good is. Well, object this to the Buddha, who left us in the Dhammapada:
For the mind of one who is not in a hurry to do good finds pleasure in evil.
Explain this to the dim-witted man Benjamin Franklin, who wrote after suffering:
The best representatives of mankind had an idea of what good is, they were convinced that without this, human life loses its meaning. It is true that it is not always easy to define “good”, but the choice of the direction “to live in the direction of good”, and not just “how it will be more satisfying and easier for me” makes human life different: human. At a minimum, this is an obligation to think, search and work, and this is already a lot.
It is curious that in the Russian mentality the desire for goodness is usually associated not with the mind, but with the impulse of the heart. In our culture, reasonable expediency is practically synonymous with selfish, selfish behavior and is not honored as something «American». It is difficult for the average Russian layman to imagine that it is possible to act reasonably and consciously not only for oneself, but also for someone else, therefore, selfless actions are identified with actions “from the heart”, based on feelings, without a head.
A typical example: in the article “A Son Is Twelve: Raising Responsibility,” a smart dad wrote how he cultivates in his son the habit of thinking “why” he does this or that. Commentary on this article: “I see an adult young man with a question, why should I take care of my parents, show respect for them, for what purpose? Now I’m independent and I don’t need my parents anymore.»
We responded to this comment with: “Hmm. Do you think that parents can be loved only if for nothing, “without a head”? If parents really brought up children, children have values, and not just needs, and children already know how to take care of worthy people. That is, about the parents — in the first place, and precisely because the parents themselves set an example for them in this.