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Do you believe humans are inherently good/bad/neutral and why?
LostLight
Veteran
It's an interesting debate topic. I'd love to see responses.
0
Comments
Watching the love a child gives freely is an excellent example of this.
People aren't inherently good or bad. People are inherently stupid.
We're not good. We're stupid and petty and vindictive and bigoted. But we're not bad. We think our every action is justified and right. We make the same mistakes over and over and believe what makes us feel better about ourselves, in spite of evidence to the contrary.
We're stupid, bless our hearts. We can't help ourselves. If someone tries to tell us there's a danger ahead we sling poo at him like a pack of monkies because we don't want to hear.
So I'll continue fighting the good fight. But I'll stop expecting people to learn. I'll stop beating my head against a brick wall of bias and bigotry and plain, stubburn stupidity.
But there are those whose lives have been transformed from "bad" to "good" by religious & otrher experiences - so there's always hope I guess ...
I think the reason it seems people are born good is that from the minute a child is shown love by the parents, the child is strongly influenced toward the positive. So as long as there's this chain of mothers and fathers showing love to the child, most children will immediately begin to be conditioned positively. We can see, in cases of abuse and neglect, how this can go the other way as well.
But there are past lives and karma to consider, too--I always think of that when I see a child born to a great family who nonetheless becomes unusually violent and negative at a young age, or a child born into horrible conditions who nonetheless ends up kind and sweet (I've seen both).
But we can get into it with the evolutionists, regarding the positive conditioning--why did the first mother behave positively toward the first child, for example? They'd likely say it was for simple survival of the species, rather than some mystical force called "love." But even if you just think of the fact that life is organized in such a way that, overall, it's usually healthier for yourself to not kill a member of your own species--that seems to be some kind of inherent positive leaning to me. We fight sometimes, but overall the nature of the species is to propagate itself, thrive and live, rather than destroy itself. I think that "thrive momentum" is interesting.
Ignorance of the reality of the world.
Correct?
/Victor
http://users.commspeed.net/guzzi/images/godskitchen.JPG
even the stream entrants, and once returners are the same
(according to Buddha's Teaching)
if one has no hate with him he never come back to this world as a human
:clap:
/Victor
And no, humans are not animals in the Dhamma.
“Hard is birth as a human being,
hard is the life of mortals.
Hard is the hearing of the sublime truth,
hard is the appearance of the Buddhas.”
(Dhammapada v 182)
"Monks, suppose that this great earth were totally covered with water, and a man were to toss a yoke with a single hole there. A wind from the east would push it west, a wind from the west would push it east. A wind from the north would push it south, a wind from the south would push it north. And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"
"It would be a sheer coincidence, lord, that the blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole."
"It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, arises in the world. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world. Now, this human state has been obtained. A Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, has arisen in the world. A doctrine & discipline expounded by a Tathagata appears in the world.
"Therefore your duty is the contemplation, 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress.' Your duty is the contemplation, 'This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.'"
Chiggala Sutta: The Hole
Yes, but we can make a conscious effort to change our behavior.
Oh, there are really amazing great people in the world, so I have NO RIGHT to judge anyone else. I'm just as much a part of the problem as anyone else, living in my own tiny pocket of 'reality'.
Myself, According to this website:
http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2008/06/09/from-the-slushpile/
my alignment would be neutral good, I suppose. Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
Which one are you?
The US psychiatrist, Stanislav Grof, aptly describes 'reality' as we perceive it as a 'game', because in essence we and the whole Universe (and that includes all experiential realms, not just the physical universe) are nothing more than a figment of the Creative Principle's imagination
http://www.ascensiongateway.com/spiritual-articles/authors/paterson/gods-game.htm
Yes, from a biological point of view, we are animals. From the Buddhist point of view, humans are in their own realm or category primarily due to their more developed mental faculties. In fact, that's precisely the definition of the Pali term denoting humans, manussa, which means 'those who have an uplifted or developed mind' (mano ussannam etesam).
When it comes to whether we're inherently good/bad/neutral, I'd say we're not inherently anything. As human beings, we appear to be a highly adaptable species, and as such, don't have a set nature. Moreover, we're conditioned by a number of factors, many of which lie outside our immediate control, from biology to our upbringing and surroundings. We're also conditioned by our choices; and if you believe the teachings about rebirth, by an array of underlying tendencies that accompany us from life to life as well. Taking all of that into consideration, I'd say that our natures are malleable for the most part; although we don't necessarily start of with a tabula rasa, and it's often difficult to challenge, let alone transcend, our conditioning.
My two cents, at any rate.
......until he learns some wisdom.
When an individual sees and lives in accord with true reality they act in a way that is harmonious and beneficial with others.
So I'd say that beings true state is that of goodness. It is ignorance of reality that leads to harmful actions.
http://conscious-transitions.com/your-essential-goodness/
Cheers