The Call to do Good

Why should one ‘do good’?  What does that look like?  The meaning of goodness will be different for different people based on their cultural/social experience.  However, for the sake of this discussion, I am defining goodness as it pertains to positive impact on oneself and others as a result of ones behavior and/or actions.  I am aware of the infinite possibilities of relative goodness.  For example, 2 warring parties practically wiping out one another including civilians is considered good within their ‘relative’ cultural/social imperatives.  As strange as that may sound, it seems to be a shared opinion among some ‘political pundits’ the world over.  Nonetheless, for this discussion we are speaking of goodness as it pertains to virtuous living.

It is often suggested that one do good for the sake of doing good and the rest will take care of itself.  There are those who come this world bent towards goodness for whatever reason and grow up in an environment that nurtures it.  There are also those who cultivated goodness and who now do it out of natural proclivity.  However, many of us have grown up in psychologically and physically challenging environments that strained our notion of goodness.  We therefore need to be reminded of why it is recommended.   We are in need of incentives.   Incentives are our friends as we navigate through this life journey.  Even those saints who reached the pinnacle of goodness were motivated/inspired by what goodness offers.  So, what is it that goodness offers?  What are the incentives?

Many religious/spiritual traditions suggest doing good in order to attain peace, in order to reach heaven or because this holy book says so.  For some this is a sufficient answer.  However, in my own conditioned experience, I found that I needed a little more detail.  The world appeared to be filled with so much pain and suffering.  I was disillusioned with the dog eat dog world.  Therefore, I often forwent goodness for the sake of instant gratification and preservation of the ego.   In my culture there was more of an incentive to participate in things that gave pleasure at the expense of virtuous behavior.  In threatening situations there was more of an incentive to protect and preserve the fragile personality.  When I take a close look at the overwhelming condition of the human experiment, I often cringe at the suffering. I have found that preservation and gratification of the person looms underneath most of our undertakings.  Though we have been suggested by religious traditions to do good, we ‘cultured’ humans tend to indulge in ‘not so good’ behaviors for a simple reason; they gratify the ‘person’ within a cultural/social context.

I do not refute the recommendation from our wisdom traditions.  However, I do feel that a little more elaboration is warranted.  So, what is the treasure at the end of the rainbow?  Let’s look at what we have been told; to reach heaven, to attain peace and so says the saints and holy ones.  Heaven?  I suggest that heaven is not some distant far away place. Heaven is not a place to get to per say.  It appears that way because we are so engrossed in our mental stories about ourselves and others as well as the past and the future. Heaven is available right here in this very moment.  Peace?  Peace is moment to moment stillness and equanimity.  This stillness is dynamic.  It is a ‘letting it be’ as events arise.  It is being it self.  The holy ones and saints?  These are those women and men who abide in heaven.  They live in peace.  So, in them you may find inspiration by their example.  In any case, one must engage ones faith.   That is faith in this notion that heaven and peace is available to one in this present moment.

There is an important connection between goodness and the present moment. When one does good there tends to be a certain kind of release or letting go sensation.  This is not necessarily the same as the release that one gets from an adrenaline rush.  Though an adrenalin rush may ensue under certain circumstances of enacting a good deed, ie jumping to save a child on the street from an on coming car or truck.  Excessive adrenaline can incur significant stress damage to the body and mind that lends one to unnecessary suffering, ie anxiety, neurosis, poor digestion, ulcers, heart damage, blood vessel damage etc.   To the contrary, this letting go that I am speaking of is associated with abiding in presence.  It connects one with what is transpiring in the present moment.  It connects one with other than the individual self.  This connection is love.  The truth of love brings us out of imaginary stories of the past and future, me and other and brings us to the present moment.  Therefore, doing good becomes a practice which facilitates love in ones life.  It is a practice of cultivating present moment consciousness.  It ultimately leads one to freedom from suffering.  Suffering transpires when one is engaged in mentation removed from presence.

So, the ultimate incentive to do good is to be free from suffering.  Goodness and virtuous living is like paving the way to self-realization.  That is realizing our true nature, which is this moment.  A life of goodness is like clearing a mirror in order to see who we truly are, and that is pure being, moment to moment.  By doing good we clean our mirror in order to see our innate beautiful.  Doing good facilitates the realization of love.  It is a means to realize the truth of our interconnectedness with the world.  We are connected in the natural web of life and we are only separated by the stories we tell ourselves.  Therefore, let us all do good!!! Let us come to know ourselves as the everything and everyone of this very moment.

Hari Om