Good People

Trey Smith

What is more, I have come to the conclusion that whether or not a person is a religious believer does not matter much. Far more important is that they be a good human being.
~ from Ethics for the New Millennium by the Dalai Lama ~

I wholeheartedly agree with the above statement. I think there are good people who call themselves agnostics, atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, New Agers, pagans, Taoists, Wiccans and any other belief system known to humankind. At the core of every major belief system -- as far as I am aware -- is the notion of compassion and care for others. This ideation of the good is dressed up in different outfits according to each belief system's dictates, but the core element is the same.

While we can and do debate the varying components of what "the good" should or might entail, I think that all people (with a few exceptions, possibly, for sociopaths and the like) understand "the good" deep in the recesses of our hearts. It is when we take this elemental component of our being and expose it to language (words) that it becomes less clear.

In trying to define "the good" in words, it typically gets messed up because, intertwined with a definition, are religious dogma, political ideology and nationalistic jingoism. It is my feeling, though, that if we were able to scrape away all this hubris, we would be surprised to find a sentiment that almost every person could agree with.

Not only do I believe there is a common non-cognitive understanding of "the good," but I fervently believe that this good resides in each person. Put into Taoist terminology, I would call this our True Nature. We each struggle to allow our True Nature to shine forth, but it is there, nonetheless.

I know that for some the next thing I will write will be blasphemous, but I believe that individuals like Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden possessed the "good" core just like everyone else. I believe that, in some aspects of each of their lives, they showed compassion and caring for others.

But like all the rest of us, they compartmentalized their being so that "the good" was not expressed universally. It was shared only with particular individuals and groups; callousness was shared with the rest.

While the degree with which they expressed a callous disregard for their fellow humans might be far greater than yours or mine, we too share this same trait. In their lives, we see our lives, if we allowed our craven desires to know no ends. In many ways, this I why I think we loathe such people so much -- they magnify our own blemishes to the point in which we can't avert our eyes.

This is where our various belief systems come in. Understanding the human propensity to block "the good" from full flower, each seeks (in its own particular way) to breach the dam to allow "the good" to flow freely.