def: That which meets my arbitrary standards.
When things meet my standards, I call them “good.” When they fall short of my standards, I call them “bad.” And I can’t confirm anything objective about it.
“My standards” are nothing but an opinion emerging from what I believe about what I’m thinking.
It’s tempting to believe in an absolute good and bad but when I get quiet and really look, I notice that I have no access to any outside standard without it passing through, and being processed by, my inside thoughts and beliefs.
In order to “know” any absolute “good” or “bad,” the notion has to reach my attention and then I have to believe it. And when the entire mechanism for identifying and processing “outside” information resides entirely inside my thinking and believing, it’s impossible to know for sure whether a notion really came from outside it.
In other words: there’s no way to tell if anything I’m thinking and believing is independent of what I’m thinking and believing.
I find that everything I “know,” is simply a thought I’ve come to believe, that all of my “absolutes,” are nothing but “thought-to-be-absolutes,” including this one. They’re mine. Because of my thinking and believing. Theres no other way to “know” anything. And for that reason, what I “know” shifts and changes as my thoughts and beliefs do.
I may say, “Scripture tells me x is good.” But that just means, “I’ve had a thought of a thing called ‘Scripture’ followed by a thought that Scripture says ‘x is good’ and I believe it.
I may say, “Science tells me x is good.” But that just means I’ve had the thought, “I read and confirmed some research” followed by the thought “the results mean ‘x is good’” and I believe it.
I may say, “I was there” or “I did the experiment” but that just means, “I’m having the thought that I was there or did the experiment, followed by the thought that I witnessed direct evidence that ‘x is good’ and I believe it.”
In the end, it’s me.
And who am I, really?
I find that even I am nothing but what I think and believe I am.
When I can release myself from the pride of belief in a separate self that knows things outside itself, the notion of good and bad evaporates, leaving everything whole.
And if I think that’s good or bad, well, I’m just believing my thoughts. And that’s not a problem.
Unless it is.
And if it is, I can question them.