Why It Is Right To Do Good To Others

Hi Stile, I was merely making an observation of you taking a sentence out of context. The proof is all through your posts but the understanding lies in the whole paragraph, not in a single sentence.
E G. You disputed my saying 'we are all the same' but the sentence preceding that says 'we are all a product of our life experiences without exception'. This didn't seem to register with you.We become that which we have experienced in total, emphasis on BECOME. If I was given exactly the same experiences as you, I would think, feel and do as you do. Then there would be no need of you, would there? Of course we are all different. We are human beings but is it a case of, 'there but for the grace of god go I'?We are all a product of our whole life experiences from mother Teresa to adolph hitler. One judged to be good and the other judged to be bad but given their life experiences we each could have been exactly as they.It isn't choice. It isn't about morals or rules. It is about how and why? How can one little man like Hitler be responsible for all the atrocities? He was not alone. If no-one had listened to him, he would have been perfectly harmless. Why did the people follow him? Why is it still happening? Do you think George Bush's motives and intentions are any different to Hitler's? The consequences are the same. Death, destruction, atrocities, despair.War is the consequence of 'judgement' of good and bad. Us and them. We cannot ignore that which we judge as bad. War is bad but we ignore the cause. The cause begins in the mass consciousness belief system of, "we are good, you are bad. I am right, you are wrong." This belief system cannot be objective. It will always be subjective.The judgement of good and bad is not a solution. The jails are full of our judgements of bad. Has that solved the problem of crime? How come these 'criminals' (who also happen to be human beings) have come to be? Why did they do what they have done? The truth will bring it's own solution.The concept of judging good and bad from a different perspective is not a difficult one, but opening ones mind to something outside of ones own experience is almost impossible (for most). This seems to be the problem, if there is indeed a problem. Maybe we are all like parts of a jigsaw puzzle and we haven't mannaged to fit the pieces together yet?

The understanding that we are fundamentally the same (a product of our life experiences) would surely bring equality.
Your number one ideal is equality but how you propose to bring it around is by "stopping the BAD people." Can't you see the contradiction here?
There are no good people or bad people. People do good things and bad things. We don't need to know how and why a person does good things but they are for exactly the same reasons as why people do bad things. They are a product of their total life experiences. We each are a product of the mentality and consciousness to which we are born and grow up in.
The sum total of who we are is not only contained in our minds but in our whole being. The truth, the fundamental truth of how and why bad things are created in our human experience will bring a solution.There is cause, effect and consequence in every experience. The cause of bad behaviour is rarely known.A method of investigation could be applied to humans that is applied to plane crashes. The cause is found and is made common knowledge. The cause\problem is then rectified for all future aircraft.In the case of human beings, knowledge of the cause is also contained in a little black box that is seemingly indestructable (so to speak). The 'crash' would be the crime(effect). The cause would be a flaw or mistake in the consciousness. Once discovered it would be made common knowledge for the greater good of future generations.
This concept may be difficult to get one's head around as emotions kick out objectivity.However, supposing the human cause was a total lack of empathy. The effect was murder. The consequence was devastation of at least two families and loss of innocent life. Pretty rough hey, just because someone lacks empathy? But do we blame them for lack of empathy or do we take responsibilty?We are all human beings doing the best we know how and we are all responsible to make 'equality' of us ALL the number one priority.
So in answer to your final question of 'am I proposing that if we simply figure out why some people kill others..then they'll stop? With a change of heart and some creative thinking..YES

Hi Stiles, I see we have our wires crossed. It seems you are percieving from the mind\physical consciousness and I am percieving from emotional\belief consciousness. That's great. Somewhere in the middle we may find serenity.
I am advocating the cause of 'bad' goes much deeper than knowledge of right and wrong. We have laws to tell us and plenty of them but they don't work. I believe the physical problems are caused from the emotional\belief consciousness e.g lack of empathy. Empathy doesn't come from laws. Many in the judicial system lack empathy also. It is learned or not, through experience.
This is just one example of where the human race needs some new creative thinking. The point I am making is that your ideal of
"people are equal with respect to their rights for life and pursuit of happiness" are the same views held by those who are judged as 'bad'. It doesn't work!
Stile, I have no idea how old you are or even your gender but the mind set you hold is becoming out-dated and needs to be so. Maybe your experiences of good or (especially) bad is the reason you cling to the ideals that are clearly unequal?

O.K, the only ideal I am proposing is to 'stop judging others as good or bad'. That is all.Your ideals are based on your ideas of an ideal world and are idealistic and not realistic. Your moralistic ideals exclude a portion of the human race. Even worse, your self-righteous ideals
DE-humanize a portion of the human race.I know this is never the intention, however it is the consequence.

I don't believe good and bad are human traits at all. Stile, have you ever been 'bad'? Have you ever made bad choices? Have you ever been unjustly punished? I have and I was innocently pursuing what I believed were my rights to happiness, or just being myself, or doing the best I could under the circumstances.
I was not intentionally trying to cause harm or intentionally being good or bad. I was being human. These experiences have had a profound effect on my life and how I perceive the world. None of it is good, so I speak from personal experience that the judgement of good or bad is harmful. It does nothing to bring peace and harmony. The judgement of good v. bad is about power not human rights.
Once this judgement is removed from the human experience, good and bad will just disappear, but not in a puff of smoke.
The human race will begin to regard each other from a different perspective. Every human being will be treated with compassion and understanding, including Bin Laden and George Bush. Empathy and humility will be placed in the human experience from an early age. This is an ideal that would create equality. It may take a while but it is possible.

Hi Stiles, do you really believe people do bad things out of confusion as to the right or wrong of an action?

I really don't know how to respond to this post. It took the wind out of my sails. You don't appear to have much faith in the human race and what upsets me is that you might be right.

Hi ikabod, the truth has a nasty habit of bringing me down, but the truth is the truth. I agree that peace, harmony and justice are ideals and unrealistic. DOH!

Thanks Stile, I understand about pressure (to conform)from others, the need to belong and fear can create a follower who may be confused also. Even knowledge of wrong will not stop this happening under these circumstances. It is so difficult being a minority of one against a number of others.
I believe it is the leaders who lack the integrity and it amazes me how thousands can follow the likes of Hitler, but they do. It seems to me that right\wrong, good and bad will exist as long as we do.

Hi ikabod, I can't sleep and I'm still wrangling with my idealistic view of the world that cannot exist. That view is rapidly changing and I've held it since childhood. You really have caused my wall to come tumbling down and I thank you for it.
I have imposed this idealistic view of peace and harmony on to my children (who are now adults) and they in turn strive for the impossible.
I am beginning to believe that to live in an ideal world would deprive our children of spiritual growth. I think the experience of 'bad', sponsors expanded consciousness. We only seem to pay attention when it is 'bad' and without this discomfort, the consciousness stays where it is, in cuckoo land ha ha.

I've been pushing this ideal of peace and understanding without success for many years. It is only now that I see why it fails. It fails because humans cannot understand well without experience. It is not within their consciousness because it is from my life experiences, not theirs.
My ideals come from experiencing tragedy, so how can I expect others who have not experienced tragedy to understand from my view point? Maybe more will have to before we place the highest value on human life. I hope not,I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
However, I see my ideal is not based in reality as is right now. It is better for me to let go and upon realization that there is f..k all I can do, maybe I can find my own peace and harmony within? I'm due!

Hi Stile, I believe fundamentally we all know the difference between good and bad behaviour within the human experience. Good creates pleasure and bad creates pain. There really is no other definition without having a list 10miles long to cover every little move we make(which I think we may already have).
We would go a long way if we judged only the behaviour and not the human. You yourself have referred to people as con-men, bad people, evil doers and this is a form of de-humanizing. We are many things including good and bad. We grow and learn within this realm of pleasure and pain and there is no substitute for experience. Edited by dameeva, : No reason given.

Your words really move me, ikabod. I hope many others truly hear them too. It really is too close to the bone for me and I come out attacking rather than feel my pain again. I know it's crazy. I want to bang peoples heads together and say, "love each other!" A contradiction in what I wish to achieve.
But I do hear you when you say to tell why I feel this way. No one has ever understood my motive or actions because I don't tell them. Oh god, here we go again, you opening me up like a can of worms. I am so grateful for your common sense observations. Please keep them coming.

It wasn't much of a compliment. I didn't say smart, wise or gifted. ha ha. Life experiences and eyes wide open is good enough for me.