Looking For The Good Of Others We Found Ours

The boomerang effect or the principle of action tells us that “every cause has its effect and every effect has its cause.” Therefore, thoughts, feelings or actions that are positive affect us in a favorable way. On the other hand, if they are negative, the opposite will happen. Therefore, when we pretend the good for our fellow human beings, whether through a thought, a feeling or an action, we are automatically opening the doors for our own good.

Hence, the importance of being attentive to our way of thinking, feeling and acting. Think that what we do will modulate the consequences we face . Giving a glass of water in exchange for a glass of water “only” complies with the principle of reciprocity. True greatness is returning stocks of greater value.

Everything we do to others, in some way we also do to ourselves. The key is to feed our good deeds from our own actions and not from what we receive in return or what we have received before. Most people who stand out for doing good and for doing it despite the circumstances are moved precisely by their own energy that inspires what they do and not by what they get in return.

Punish those who envy you by doing good to them

They say that great changes begin with oneself and although the world sometimes seems to be a hostile place, there are small actions that make us reconcile with it. We have all heard the popular saying “do good and do not look at whom” which consists of doing things for our internal values, no matter where the benefits go.

This popular proverb teaches us  that you don’t need approvals or comparisons to do the right thing. From this perspective, good is almost always linked to a disinterested way of proceeding and that is where we find our reward.

Wishing others evil has a negative impact on us, causing us feelings of discomfort and resentment. No one  is fully happy wishing the misery of others. Generally, it is the person who feels bad who wants the other to feel worse.

The notions of right and wrong

The part of philosophy that studies human actions, qualifying them as good or bad, is ethics. Ethics tends to achieve the good, but not all philosophers understand the same for that purpose. For ethics, the good is the desirable, the opposite of the evil, which is the unwanted.

Cultural relativism accepts that there are different conceptions of the good, an idea against which ethnocentrism is less permissive. But even so, there are actions that are intrinsically good or bad, because they are morally acceptable or repudiated by anyone. Helping others is the highest expression of goodness and attacking others for the sheer pleasure of hurting can be considered one of the highest expressions of evil.

The dispute over good and evil shows that ethics is the field of litigation. But that is also precisely what shows that it is not something purely relative. It shows that certain behaviors are better than others, better at all, not better for someone or in relation to certain cultural norms.

Let us not be confused by a few murderers or terrorists, the good is the majority but it is not noticeable because it is silent.  In the words of Facundo Cabral, “A bomb makes more noise than a caress, but for every bomb that destroys us there are millions of caresses that nourish life.”