“I’m a good person.”
And to all those who oppose the man who wraps his identity in being “good”…then he who is “good” will have no choice but to consider your opposition a great evil. Oh Goodness! You are the most jealous, most callous of all gods. Are you really so self-absorbed that unless you’re facing a mirror, all you see is the Devil? And yet, even as you stare upon those in which you claim to be devils, you simply can’t help yourself to make a mirror out of them too! Only a madman tries to put out a fire with a flamethrower. Oh Goodness, you’d throw a nuke at a nuke if you could.
Today, so many people walk this Earth pleading to the world of their goodness, condemning all those who oppose them. “I’m vegan,” and therefore your meat is murder. “I’m Christian,” and therefore your atheism shall rot in Hell. “I’m fit,” and therefore the obese deserve none of my sympathies. “I’m a scientist,” and therefore your faith is the work of Satan. People want to see themselves as ‘good’, for they believe being ‘good’ is a fundamental aspect of their identity. Yet, the man stranded on an island knows nothing of good nor evil, for no one is around to congratulate or condemn him.
In a time where validation is a click away, humankind is hungrier than ever for it. Social proof that they are in fact ‘good’—that they were right about their identity—is what they crave above all else. If they believe wealth is good, then perhaps they post a picture of a fancy dinner. If they believe love is good, then perhaps they post a picture of their new girlfriend. If they believe hard work is good, then perhaps they brag about their accomplishments on LinkedIn. In the modern era, everyone has become their own PR representative with the ultimate objective of positing their life as a fundamentally ‘good’ business of affairs.
If being good is a fundamental aspect of your identity, then any belief you have must likewise be believed to be good, for all beliefs form one’s identity—especially moral beliefs. Long ago, morality was mainly learned in churches, and being ‘Christian’ was the primary moral identity of western peoples. That which opposed ‘Christian’ values was deemed to be evil. 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote that “God is dead, and we killed him…this tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time.” And indeed, we see the lightning and thunder now. In the absence of God, humans will cling to any ideology that offers them some form of validation that they are doing the right thing. While it once took no more than the words of a pope to send Christians off to fight in their Crusades, it now takes no more than a Tweet to send Democrats and Republicans off to uselessly battle behind their phones.
So many people have suffered in the name of goodness. It has indeed always been the evilest of men who were the most irrevocably convinced of their morality. For in their fight against their devils, they would commit any and all acts to abolish that which they deemed evil, dragging along any validation-hungry coward with them to fight in their horrendous moral crusade. Any action, even genocide, can be justified if one’s goal is deemed ‘good’. A nation at war would prefer to continuously let its citizens die in the name of achieving ‘retribution’ upon the army who invaded them; in the name of ‘what is good’, war will be favored over peace. This is why Jesus famously proclaimed, “Resist not evil!” in his Sermon on the Mount. For in our resistance of evil, we become evil ourselves.
Man is a moral animal. Not because he is ‘good’ or that God created him to be ‘good’ or that he has some built in moral compass that guides him, but rather because he seeks to belong. We seek love, friendship, and comradery. That…and we seek to live. Our ancestors lived in tribes for two-hundred-thousand years before anyone ever heard of the word “morality”. What was ‘good’ was that which the tribe liked. What was ‘bad’ was that which they didn’t. If you did something the tribe didn’t like? You better start running.
Though, what about the hero who stands above the angry mob, defiant and fearless against their evil? The hero, who defends the oppressed as they lay beaten and broken, spitting blood as they are kicked and insulted by the herd? The hero, who is willing to die, either socially or literally, in order to protect another? Does he seek belonging or life? Why stand up for what one believes to be right if such would put them at risk of dying or losing their membership to a tribe? Is there something fundamentally ‘good’ about them? Do they want the ‘power’ and status involved with being a hero? Do they simply love the oppressed person that much? Why does the hero stand above the crowd?
And if a man kills a child, are you going to spend any time thinking to yourself, “Well, I can’t call him evil, as morality is subjective. And the good man sees the whole world as evil, and therefore I am bias!” Such thinking would be absurd, as any functional society cannot allow a man like that to freely walk around.
There is a tribe in the amazon who believe that they must eat their dead, lest their soul will not remain with the tribe. The act of eating the dead body of one’s loved one would be considered a great evil to anyone in civilized society. For the people of the tribe, however, this act is fundamentally ‘good’, as they believe it preserves the souls of their dead. I even relayed this story to a friend of mine who told me, “No! That is absolutely evil! I know in my heart that is evil!” Yet, corpses do not feel pain, so who is being hurt here except his moral framework as a man living in western society? Now, if you were to go down to the amazon and see them doing this, would you, knowing that you are ‘good’, kill these people in judgement of their ‘evil’ beliefs?
Is good and evil merely a set of conditioning? Something which is learned and therefore nothing more than a pattern of behavior in which we label as good or evil, depending on our own conditioning? If a robot is programmed to do the dishes and is capable of putting a knife in the dishwasher, then so too is it capable of putting a knife in you. If it chooses not to stab you, would you consider the robot a ‘good’ robot?
Luigi Mangione, the man who killed a health insurance CEO a couple months ago, has been proclaimed by millions as a hero. By so many, the health insurance industry has been condemned as evil, and therefore the killing of one of their CEOs was considered a great act of goodness. But if this health care CEO was nothing more than a cog in a multi-faceted machine…then could he really be ‘evil’? If Luigi was radicalized by content that arrived at his fingertips through super-advanced algorithms, then were his actions really his own?
I’m not writing to debate free will. Nor am I writing to debate what is good and what is evil. Nor am I here to spout Nietzsche quotes like, “The good man sees the whole world as evil.”. In fact, I’m not even here to tell you that morality is subjective. But what I am going to tell you is this: the scariest thing about morality is how grey, blurry, and deceptive it can be. How it can convince us that we are good as we slaughter millions. How it can get us to abandon those we love to fight for a cause led by a man obsessed with power. How it can make us think we’re better than others as we shit, piss, and fuck just like everyone else.
You don’t need to believe in God to be moral or ‘good’, but what you do need to believe is this: you are not God, and therefore you do not know what is good nor what is evil. We’re humans, and all we can do is guess. But raking leaves for your grandma, or giving your wife flowers, or hugging a friend in tears, or calling your dad and telling him you love him, or laughing with a stranger at a bar…I might be guessing, but I think these are good. You aren’t a good or a bad person, you’re just a person, and your guess is as good as mine.
A friend told me once that we should never justify our means for the ends but rather make our means the ends. If you want a world of kindness, then be kind. If you want a world of peace, then be peaceful. If you want a world of love, then be loving. That’s it. It’s that simple.
Okay…one more Nietzsche quote, then I’ll be done:
“Love goes beyond good and evil.”
‘Good’bye 😉