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Haley Goranson

Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience,

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Which is more important, to do right or to do good?

A rich man walks down the street and drop a 20 dollar bill. You know he will not even notice it is gone. On the side of the street sits a beggar who looks really hungry. The good thing is to give the money to the beggar, the right thing is to give it back to the man who dropped it.



- Maybe instead of taking this question , as a question of right and wrong or judgment, perhaps what we can take from this is that there are a variety of opinions and many people have different ideas of what is morally right. That is beautiful to me. This is just an example that good and right are almost undefinable, or at the least the definition is always changing for everyone.

Topics: money poverty
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  • Eric Nei

    • +1
    Jan 6 2013: For me, I have to look behind the concept of 'right' and 'good.' Some will say subjective. Some will say objective. For instance, I think it was Garrett Hardin that wrote about Lifeboat Ethics. Earth as a Lifeboat with limited resources. Sure, there is debate about the capacity of the lifeboat, but there is a limited capacity. So, he would suggest we do no favors for the human species by lifting individuals out of the gutter that can not lift themselves out of the gutter. You are disabling the species, from an evolutionary stand point, by helping the weak, lame and those of lower IQ. From a purely biological species stand point, to do so is wrong and bad. On the other hand, what is morality? From one culture to another cultural norms vary, but I believe it was CS Lewis that identified 12 or 13 moral norms that occur in virtually every culture he could examine during his time. Myself, return the $20 to the owner and take the other person out for a meal.

    • Mark Meijer 100+

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      Jan 7 2013: Have you ever actually taken a beggar out for a meal?

      Ever?

      In your whole life?

      Or wait, you just didn't get around to it yet. That's it, right? Or you didn't have the time just then. Or maybe you've never encountered a beggar yet. What excuse do you have? Or are you forced to admit that you were just talking BS. about what YOU would do.

      • Eric Nei

        • +1
        Jan 7 2013: Mark, I took your advice and read your other posts. From my point of view there is not much worth reading. I guess I would call it convoluted, amorphous, circular, judgementalism that fails to make any cognizant point. Your opinion seems to be that all us other slime life are trapped in our cognitive soup and seem to have joined in corporate back patting for self aggrandizement and emotional massage while getting boiled alive without knowing it as the heat of the soup rises. In the mean time, I can't figure out if you are one of us, or you stand outside of us. Seems like you are a little reluctant to take responsibility for your own views. Much more, "Come on, we are all this way and you all know it." You talk about all of us, then write you are not part of all of us. Do you actually live as you write? I know a gazillion people, give or take a few, that have certainly risen at least a little above how you view humanity.

        • Mark Meijer 100+

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          Jan 7 2013: What I'm writing is one side of humanity, that's what "a view" always is - one sided. But I wouldn't write anything about it at all if I didn't think there were different sides to it as there are to everything. I wouldn't bother if I didn't think we could do much better. I can accommodate many different points of view, and so can you if you give it a try. There is not one single point of view that tells THE truth about anything, but there is a great deal to be learned by trying on different ones for size. Even - or especially - the unpopular ones.

          No I don't consider myself an exception. I clearly stated as much, and on many occasions I've been the first to admit that I'm a hypocrite, including on this site. And while it seems rare, I know for a fact that I'm not the only one willing to admit that, and not the only one willing to talk about the less than glorious side of ourselves. So yes, I live as I write. Do you consider yourself an exception?

          Keep an eye on that defensive and indignant tendency. You clearly see my comments as an attack, and that's a very reliable indicator and invitation to find out what's really causing you that discord. You asked what honesty is in your other reply. Honesty is being willing to consider the possibility that you're wrong about something, and being willing to find out the truth about what someone else might be pointing out, because that is more important to you than defending your own one-sided view.

          Honesty is taking that responsibility that you say you care so much about. The burden of proof is not with the one making claims, it's with the one who wants to know the truth. Honesty is the opposite of your trying to "win" the argument and taking the shotgun approach to every other word that I wrote. I'm not trying to sell you anything, and I'm not trying to tell anyone "how it is". Mark has neither spoken nor settled anything. He's just made some observations, and either you're willing to honestly look into them, or you're not.

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