Why be good?

[scorpia]

'Diogenes took a journey once and came to a stop when he reached the steep bank of a deeply flowing river, where his progress was obstructed. A local man, who was used to crossing the water at that place, saw Diogenes was perplexed. So he went up to him, lifted him on his shoulders and obligingly carried him to the other side.
Once they had reached the other side, Diogenes began reproaching himself for his poverty, which prevented him from showing his gratitude for this favour from his benefactor. While he was pre-occupied with this dilemma, the local man saw another traveller who could not cross, ran up to him and began to carry him over as well.
Diogenes reproached him and said:
"I am not grateful for what you did to me, for I see it was not an act of judgement on your part but a manic compulsion which makes you do what you do.' - Aesop's fables.

Now I hear comments about those who feel so great about not needing any purpose in life and that they don't need any reason to stop themselves from doing wrong or do something right. If that's the case what if it is just some compulsion they have, and is it really all that righteous?

[sledheavy]

Never read the book I'm afraid

But it's right about one thing. What you put out, you get back.

But it isn't that easy. If say I do give to charity it isn't because I want someone to give something to me. And if I punch someone in the face I may not really care about the consequences; getting punched back. What if I'm a masochist who wants so much "getting back" to me? What about all those cases where people get away with what they do, or get rewarded for it? What if someone did something that was right in another's eyes and get rewarded for it yet another person sees whta the first person did was wrong?

Don't blow it out of perportion just yet.

Maybe I'm not being clear enough.

Remove the idea of good and evil for a second. Don't consider good or bad, just consider only your motive. I can't say what's going through the mind of a masochist much less any evil-doer because you're right, the majority of these people don't consider their actions, they just put blame on someone or something unpertaining to the situation.

The point is, you have a choice. You can choose to make that choice and try to recognize the indirect consequences that follow, or you can choose to not do them at all and let life happen and get upset about it.

You have to consider that one: if you go outside the lines of moderation, you're setting yourself up for your own problems. And this is a key point. If there's an unequal amount of one thing in your life, the pendalum will swing the opposite direction as fast and as hard the first.

And second, we have to try to identify the situation, even if it's not in front of us, and handle it from an objective standpoint.

Imagine, I'm sitting at a red light. I'm thinking about the possibility of making a left as someone makes a right and we nearly pass by an inch. The other person driving might get upset and claim it my fault when it was his choice to turn. Because I've considered what my actions will cause me to do, I decide to pull back as the next person makes a right and I wait for them.

My neutral inspiring thoughts lead me to less and less confrontation, and soon I begin to see how others could prevent confrontation, but don't.

Same things we should consider in everyday life.

It's not supposed to be easy. My life is so ironic the thing I expected least tends to happen first, but that's the enjoyment of life. Things I would get upset over 5 years ago don't upset me now. Because I've heard it before, I know where it's leading (half the time) and I have an idea on what to expect.

Honestly, I hate hearing "why do they act so mean?" or "how can you say that?". For any situation, when you provoke it, it's going to effect you. People that don't consider what they do or why things tend to happen aren't mature enough to handle real problems.

Do we eliminate the right and wrong from the ethically sound? no. but like all things it's not black and white, it's just in moderation.

[scorpia]

Remove the idea of good and evil for a second. Don't consider good or bad, just consider only your motive. I can't say what's going through the mind of a masochist much less any evil-doer because you're right, the majority of these people don't consider their actions, they just put blame on someone or something unpertaining to the situation.

The point is, you have a choice. You can choose to make that choice and try to recognize the indirect consequences that follow, or you can choose to not do them at all and let life happen and get upset about it.

You have to consider that one: if you go outside the lines of moderation, you're setting yourself up for your own problems. And this is a key point. If there's an unequal amount of one thing in your life, the pendalum will swing the opposite direction as fast and as hard the first.

And second, we have to try to identify the situation, even if it's not in front of us, and handle it from an objective standpoint.

Imagine, I'm sitting at a red light. I'm thinking about the possibility of making a left as someone makes a right and we nearly pass by an inch. The other person driving might get upset and claim it my fault when it was his choice to turn. Because I've considered what my actions will cause me to do, I decide to pull back as the next person makes a right and I wait for them.

My neutral inspiring thoughts lead me to less and less confrontation, and soon I begin to see how others could prevent confrontation, but don't.

Same things we should consider in everyday life.

It's not supposed to be easy. My life is so ironic the thing I expected least tends to happen first, but that's the enjoyment of life. Things I would get upset over 5 years ago don't upset me now. Because I've heard it before, I know where it's leading (half the time) and I have an idea on what to expect.

Honestly, I hate hearing "why do they act so mean?" or "how can you say that?". For any situation, when you provoke it, it's going to effect you. People that don't consider what they do or why things tend to happen aren't mature enough to handle real problems.

Do we eliminate the right and wrong from the ethically sound? no. but like all things it's not black and white, it's just in moderation.

True.

The last two paragraphs are good points too

[sledheavy]

thank you,

you forced me to do some good thinking.