8.0.2.4.5 Goodness Is Within

Version 1.2 December 2016                          (Previous Version)

Some people are unable to understand or accept that goodness, our knowledge of what is good, such as it is, must come from within ourselves, and cannot be imposed from “outside�. 

We need to explain:

a)     Some have been convinced that almost everyone is basically sinful or bad.  There are very ancient Hindu texts saying we are born with a debt to Death.  Many Christians believe in original sin, that we inherit sin as soon as we are born, or that somehow fleshly bodies are intrinsically selfish or evil.  Some people believe they themselves are bad, perhaps because they actually did some bad things, but perhaps because they are sometime tempted.  That doesn’t matter.  Here we are talking about how we know what is good or bad, not whether we ourselves or our neighbours are actually good or bad.  You do not have to always be good to know what being good is.

b)     Some people are so used to following rules set out by others (in a sacred book, the laws of the land, or tradition and custom) that they cannot grasp how we can discover sensible rules for ourselves.  They think that unless the rules are imposed from outside, then we will only choose selfishly.  But this is not what most real people actually do, and not what we do if we follow these ‘global beliefs and values’. 

c)     Some people incorrectly believe that science tells us that we are essentially greedy and selfish, and that humans are designed primarily to compete with others to survive.  But humans are also designed to cooperate and to share and to have compassion.  We need to take both aspects into account, and not base our fundamental beliefs on only one of them.

It is a revelation to many people that:

●  firstly we all do need to decide for ourselves what is good and bad; and

●  secondly most of us (most of the time) actually do try to do what is right. 

Our religious differences are mostly due to different knowledge and understanding.