How can we be a Force For Good?

4005

Introduction

There is room of course for discussion for what is Good, (or some might say 'of God'). However our contention is that Man has an instinctive sense of the distinction between Good and Evil. Alternatively we could say that God's law as to what is Good or Evil is universal and that it is possible at least to try and determine what this is in an absolute way, independent of particular religious and political traditions. This is not to say that we can step outside a particular culture in our search for what is Good, but simply that in the end there is only one yardstick as to what is Good and all ways of behaving can be judged by how well they do in the situation they are faced with.

So What is Good?

A good starting point seems to be to consider different states of mind. We naturally feel that happiness or joy is better that distress or pain. There are some things we like better than others. Some things we tend to gravitate towards, other we tend to avoid. It seems when we are joyful then everything is going right, all the movement around us is in harmony and the soul can 'sing freely'. However when we are distressed it is as if different forces reflected within us are fighting against each other - there is clashing and discord.

If we accept this then we could go on to say that a Good World would be one where most people and other creatures spend much of their time in a Good state of mind. A Bad World would see most people unhappy or distressed in their life.

A Perfect World - what some might call Heaven - would see all the movement within it encourage all the different parts of the souls of all beings to sing harmoniously. We might not be able to achieve a Perfect World here on earth, but at least we could aim for a Good World, which approaches it as best we can.

Now we could conjecture that when a person comes into life they are at peace in themselves. From then on forces act upon them causing movement within their soul, and perhaps different parts of the soul move in different ways, some parts reacting to what is going on around them, other parts reflecting the experience of the past, other parts again guided by other sources of inspiration.

Actions & Effects

Each of us has a degree of free will. We are able to direct our own personal activity in different ways.

Often our personal activity runs according to habit - we tend to react in the same way faced with the same situations day after day - and so we may forget all the possibilities that are actually open to us.

When we do consciously decide between different options, then our choice will be affected by what it is we wish to move towards (whether this is out of immediate desire or a longer term goal), and our beliefs as to the ways that are open to us to get there. We will then make a decision as to the best way to act in order to try and achieve what it is we wish.

Now our goals are naturally subject to our instincts, but they can also be affected by our beliefs as to what we should be doing, and this in turn can be influenced by what those around us think we should be doing.

Also our understanding of how to achieve a particular goal is dependent on many factors. When we come into life we probably have little understanding of how our actions can effect the world around us. However we experiment and gradually learn what the connections can be. Very soon also we can start to get help from those around us who already have greater knowledge of what are good patterns of behaviour to achieve particular outcomes. Where patterns of behaviour and effect are transmitted across whole populations of people then we call this their culture.

Often patterns of action and effect can be followed blindly like a cooking recipe without knowledge of why they work. However alternatively there can be an intermediate stage in which a person builds up a mental model of the world, and uses this to predict what the outcome of a particular action should be from this internal map.

Now if we imagine one person exploring the world on their own - it is really very difficult for them to discover very much of the possibilities of the world in a lifetime. If we imagine a group of babies all born together - given no assistance as they grew up from others, except to survive, - then they would not be expected to develop very far. We wouldn't expect them to develop a proper language, nor be able to draw, nor be able to do much much except look around for food. If they then had their own children, then they might just be a little more capable than themselves, and then gradually down the generations, given the right stimulus, we could expect a more advanced culture to develop. The point here is that all of us are very dependent on others to tell us what possibilities of action lead to what results. If nobody tells us then we are very unlikely to find out for ourselves. Thus we really need to be shown as we grow up and later on what all the past generations have managed to discover. (This is called 'transmission of culture').

Action for A Good World

Now let us suppose we believe that one of our goals in life is to try and move the world a bit closer to being a Good World. In other words perhaps we want to try and make the world a bit happier overall.

Well put like this, it is a daunting task, but here are some things to consider:

Firstly: We need to distinguish between the goodness of the 'effects' of out actions, and the actions themselves. Some will argue that the attitude of mind in which actions are taken is important in it itself apart from the effects that action actually has. Others may judge an action only by its effect.

Secondly: We need to remember that there are very likely courses of action open to us that we have not thought of so far. So we need to try and seek out new ideas.

Thirdly: We should remember that any action we take could have lots of effects, some good, some bad. Also often we will not be able to tell what all the effects will be. So we need to think carefully about how to can improve the chances that our action will in fact lead to good on balance.

Fourthly: We have something of a choice of different guides:

a) We can use our instincts as a guide. We can imagine our instincts as a kind of rough and ready way of deciding what is good and bad. They won’t always give us the best answer, but they are there for a reason and it is best to know why we override them when we do.

b) Secondly we can use tradition as a guide. Our cultural heritage is a package of tried and tested ways of acting that have produced good results in the past. Sometimes this comes in a conveniently transmissible form, such as The Bible. Other times it is spread across many texts, or in our environment, or in the behaviour and memories of those around us. The problem though with tradition is that it may not give a complete answer. If our ancestors have met the same situation as today before, and found the best way through, then we may have a record of what they did that we can use.. However if today's situation is in someway different to what has happened before, then we may have no option but to think for ourselves what should be done.

c) This leaves our last option which is to use our intellect as a guide. We may use our stock of past wisdom as a resource of ideas, but we will try to look at the world as we find it without preconceptions and try to make sense of it with fresh eyes.

Conclusion

In conclusion we believe that it is possible for people to affect the world, and move it in the direction of being a better place to live overall. However success in this depends not just on their resolve to fight for Good, but also on their ability to discover the best path.

Spring 4005 ZHE

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