What Does It Mean To Be Good?
So I’m watching this crazy show on Netflix called, You. It’s actually very intriguing because the main character is a good guy/bad guy. I mean the truth of the matter is he does some very horrible things, yet he also does some really nice things and he makes you like him for it. I’m annoyed that I sympathize with him so much.
He’s very complex, as most people are. He pretty much kills anyone who gets in the way of him doing good. Which is an interesting concept and which brings me to my next question: What does it mean to be a good person?
Everyone likes to think they are a good person. And everyone thinks that in the realm of their own reality, what they are doing is right. Or perhaps maybe there are those who are aware that what they are doing is wrong. But how do we as individuals gauge what is right and wrong to do?
From my previous posts you may have gathered that if some company mistakenly gives me something for free, I’m not going to return it. Is that bad? In some people’s eyes, it is. In my eyes, most huge companies are ripping me off, to begin with. I will not purposely steal things, but if some financial transaction happens in my favor, I will not correct it either. Once my student loans gave me an extra six-thousand dollars, you better believe I did not return that money. The fact that I have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for college is bunk, to begin with.
If I can justify it, is OK?
This whole notion that we have of good and bad and right and wrong, we sort of makeup as we go along. But then again, there are things that are definitively wrong. Things like child molestation and being a Kardashian.
It is wrong to hurt innocent children and it is wrong, in my eyes, to think you are great when you have done absolutely nothing with your life. There are also things that I think we can all agree are good, like love and happiness and kindness.
But where are the subtle lines between good and bad? Is it good to kill bad people? Probably not, I would say that everyone has the right to live, even horrid human beings. Although I might celebrate, I would still think it is wrong if someone killed Donald Trump. In my eyes he is a horrible person, who is hurting millions of people, but even he deserves to live.
But what about the idea that if he dies, many people will be in a better condition in life? Is his life worth sacrificing for the good of all? As much as I would like to say it would be a good thing to cut off the heads of the dictators of the world, I’m not sure about that. Who decides if what we are doing is wrong or right?
And after all, does it matter if we do the right thing? If you believe in the theory of karma, which just simply means that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, then it does matter. If you put good energy out into the world, you get it back. I personally don’t believe
In that way, it matters that we be good. But who decides what is good. I think Democratic Socialism is good. Some people think pure Capitalism is good. I think everyone deserves health care, I think that is good. There are those who disagree. Are they thinking bad things, or are they just looking at things differently?
I like to think my way is the good way. But perhaps there are other good ways too. It’s even humanly possible that everything I think is not right. Could it be? But there is that age-old question of if you do not know something is wrong, are you doing a bad thing? I have no idea. You could just be really stupid. If stupidity is not a sin, it should be. But stupid people also get what they put out there.
I don’t like to think of karma as punishment. I used to think of it that way, but I have begun to believe that is a misnomer. I think karma is something that happens as a result of our actions, not as a reward or punishment. It’s like farming and the age-old cliche, what you sow, so shall you reap. If you plant shit, bugs are going to grow. Plant roses and they will bloom. With thorns. Don’t forget the the thorns.
If I sleep all day, I will probably not get my work done and I will have to do double the work tomorrow. That is simply a logical fact, it is not a punishment for me being lazy, but a result. Karma is a result, I don’t think it has the intention of harming us. I don’t think the universe is out to get us. In fact, I think the universe and god kind of likes us, that is why they made us.
It’s a matter of working with the way things work. Like if you think negative things, guess what, you will be miserable. If you think positive things, you will be happy. No duh. I’m not telling you anything you do not know. The trick, however, is to think good things even when bad things happen, so you don’t suffer as much. Or maybe at all.
I mean I guess you’d have to be enlightened to not suffer at all. Congratulations if you are, but if you are like the rest of us, suffer you will. However knowing how the universe works, helps us suffer better and even less.
The common ideology in most spiritual thought is that thought, word and deed create your reality. We are often blaming our circumstances for why our life is so bad. However, our circumstances can only change when we change our thought, word, and deed about them. Our situation, whether it be having Cancer of being the most beautiful bulimic bride alive, is usually the product of karma from a past life, that is my belief.
We can’t change that. If you were born ugly, sorry, you have to either make a lot of money to get plastic surgery or you have to see the beauty within you. We can’t change certain things, but we can control how we react to them, what we say about them, and what we do about them. You can be a beautiful person even if you are not physically attractive. People will still love you. But you have to think you are beautiful, no matter what you look like.
What we think about what we are, and what is happening around us is more important than the simple facts of the matter. Think good, you’ll get good. It’s really quite simple. I hate to sound preachy but I think that I have caused all the bullshit in my life one way or another. And if I didn’t cause it in this life, I can guarantee I did something in my past life to cause it.
If you don’t believe in reincarnation, that is OK. Just worry about right now, that’s all that matters anyways. What’s happening? Can you change the way you think about it, what you say about it, and what you do about it?
There was a day when everything kept going wrong, like annoying things, the final straw was when I couldn’t find my phone in my bed. Have you ever lost your phone in between your sheets and blankets? It can really hide in there. So I just burst out, “Whatever you are doing universe, stop it! I won’t let you do this to me! You are not going to get to me!”
I’m not saying talking the universe or god or whatever, works or doesn’t work. I like to talk, so conversations work for me. Maybe you are more of a doer or a thinker. Whatever your way, communicating with the forces that are ‘controlling’ things can be OK.
We ourselves are in fact that force that is controlling things. We are creating our reality whether or not we realize it with our every thought, word, and deed. I wasn’t just talking to the universe when I said that stuff about my phone, I was talking to myself.
I am the universe.
I am a part of it and I am all of it at the same time.
So are you.
Let’s use our power for good, whatever that is.
nina