Good

Only One Good

I try to focus on truth, and I try to label things that are purely my opinion as purely my opinion, and what I am about to state is purely my opinion, and I cannot prove it, and I cannot imagine that it ever COULD be proven, BUT it is the cornerstone of my personal philosophy.

I believe that whatever is truly "good" for me is truly good for all people, including you, and whatever is truly "bad" for you is truly bad for all people, including me. "Good" and "bad" are "relative" only with regard to the fact that one thing may be "better" or "worse" than another thing -- but things always retain their same position with regard to each other, and this has nothing to do with your point of view.

I like to visualize this concept as a numbered straight line, with perfect good at one end and perfect bad at the other end -- let's say perfect good is at one hundred and perfect bad is at zero. Anything that HAS a "good" or "bad" quality -- many things have no such attribute -- falls at some precise point on this line between perfect good and perfect bad. I do not claim to know at WHAT point it falls -- mere mortals can never know WHERE on this line a thing falls -- but this is irrelevant. The important idea is that each thing falls at one precise point on the line.

To illustrate: Imagine that a pickpocket steals my wallet, and I never see it again. It's tempting to view this scenario as "good" for the pickpocket and "bad" for me, but I believe that this event falls at some precise point on the line -- perhaps "forty-two", which would be more bad than good. Whereas it might have more of an immediate "bad" impact on my life than on the pickpocket's life, I believe that in reality this event is JUST as bad (or good) for the pickpocket as it is for me. Or imagine that the pickpocket is caught and prosecuted, and I get my wallet back with all its contents. This event would probably fall somewhere else on the line, but I still believe the outcome would be equally good or bad for both the pickpocket and me.

I absolutely cannot offer any proof that this is true, but it is the cornerstone of my personal philosophy. I claim no ability to know WHERE anything falls on the line between absolute good and absolute bad. The crucial idea is that anything with a good or bad value falls at a precise point that has nothing to do with perspective. I do not claim that this is undeniably true, but it is an important idea in my life.

The cynical and the selfish could say, "Okay, then give me all of your money and possessions and do everything you can to please ME, because that will be good for ME and therefore good for YOU." This example actually illustrates my point. It is probably NOT "good" for me to give you all my money and possessions and work to please you, and it probably will not even make YOU happy. On the other hand, this is pretty much what some cult leaders say, and perhaps sometimes it works out for everyone, and IS good.

The challenge lies in trying to do the "right" thing, the thing that will be "good" for you and for everyone else. I am not recommending that anyone think only in terms of their own self-interest -- I do not believe that will make ANYONE happy, in the long run.

I freely admit that this philosophy cannot be proven, and has various weaknesses. Some would say that since we can never KNOW what is truly "good", the whole concept is irrelevant, and there is no point in trying to do the "right" thing. I say that even though we can never know, if you THINK you are doing the "wrong" thing, you had best not be doing it.