It would be really neato.

Well i do good because it makes me feel good makes me happy..What a wonderful guy i am..

I do good because it comes naturally. Not to mention guilt and shame rag on my mind, and causes too much unnecessary suffering. I find happiness in being an honorable person. Good leads to the path with the least resistance.

... in all seriousness.

I do good (or rather, I should say I try to do good) because how it makes me feel. I suspect that my outlook places a high-value on caring for others (since I know what it's like not to be cared for), showing compassion (since I can feel what it's like to need and not receive it) and honesty (since I've seen what the effects can be - on a personal level - of deception).

But having said this, I have to again remind myself that this is an "endeavor", a "quest". Always there enters ego; selfish and bitterness that - I believe - we must always be wary of. I also believe that the instant I forget about this constant battle to be good and sit back; chest puffed with pride, I'll fall right back into that which I'm trying so hard to avoid.

Why should we do good? Because we care; about our friends, family, comrades, community, nation and even our species. Those who don't are condemned; enrapt in their own tangled putridity (read: the closed, bitter mind), they exist at the center of all meaning where nothing else has importance, no other needs matter and no other view has potential other than their own.

Thanks

I know people do good because it feels good, natural and honorable, but I'm talking about the significance after youre dead. I know many religions tell you to do good and youll be judged. My theory is that if there is some sort of judgement, its a more scientific one, like a simple filter. I found this thought interesting

I wonder if this idea grew out of the idea that Aristotle postulated that humans cannot achieve eudaimonia until the end of one's life, and in order to achieve that one must live the good life.

I think it is interesting idea that evil could be filtered out, and only the good remains, but that would require that there be an afterlife of sorts. While it is certainly possible, it is definately not knowable in this life time.

Ah ok, sorry; you hit a cord there with me and I just kind of ran with it! :whistling:

I don't honestly know. It's an interesting thought though. For my part, "why I do good" has nothing to do with what might happen after I die. Could there be a filter of some sort? Sure! Negative energy goes this way, Positive energy goes that way... I could buy off on the possibility. In some way, it seems to jive with electron-polarization. What correlation that might have to being 'good' or 'bad' would - at least to me - remain a mystery.

Nice postulate, thanks

Withawhy,
If I might comment, you are on the right track. Your are using terminology you have been progammed with as you use the word "good". Good is too subjective, try substituting the word "compatible". Good is too attached to the "I" and the ego as the individual efforts to seek what is good that will "satisfy" that ego or the self.

Compatible is that understanding that instills in us a "we" mentality. "That" is what we carry into the next life as the "I" is, as you say "filtered out" to the extent in which it "takes" from another to reach that satisfaction as "we" learn to cooperate together and become to realize what "good" truly means and can be enjoyed by all. It is then the "we" will "satisfy" the "I" in ways we cannot conceive. That is harmony and that is love. A word we use everyday, yet we don't have a clue as to what it really means.

You got a small glimpse of what the "core" of that love and harmony is all about. Can you imagine what that would mean when all of us begin to re-unite with that "core" (God). That's when life truly begins.

Just remember we are eternal beings and death is but a consequence that is, at this time in our existence, a part of that eternal life. It's been a "live and learn", a "trial and error", and a "truth or consequences" kinda thing. It had to be that way.

William

What we have to do in this thought experiment, is to consider what we would do if we were God. (Anyone else been a role play referee?)

Karma has to be absolute.

If the evil were filtered out, then there would be every reason to thieve and pillage, and then use the proceeds of that to do good. Thus it would be more advantageous to do evil and good, than merely good. Society would collapse pretty quickly with such rules.

It all comes back. The good and the evil. And it is even magnified.

Pay attention to your dreams; get in the habit of writing in a dream diary; they warn you of the evil and remind you of the good you have done; as well as that of others around you.

Life after death is certain
Free short story : Love After Death

;-j

Thankfully most of us are good. And I would say people are good because they have to live with themselves.