and another person is good,

or that a certain thing that happens to us

is a bad thing,

while another is a good thing

But how do we determine

when a person or thing

is bad or good?

And, is there anything at all

that is absolutely good or bad?

What is the essence of good and bad?

What determines them?

In this video, you will find answer

to these questions, and much more…

We can easily see that when something happens to us

which serves our interests,

our goals or desires,

we call it a good thing.

For example, when we earn money

we say it is good because there is a part of us

that has a goal or a desire to earn money.

When something happens

that goes against our desires or goals,

we call it a bad thing.

For example, someone calls me an idiot,

and as a result, I get offended.

It hurts.

Like everyone else I have the interest

to feel good and avoid suffering.

Therefore, for me,

it is bad when someone calls me an idiot.

It is against what I wish for.

It is important for me to note

that when I use the term "goal"

I don't refer only to a conscious goal

that someone defines for himself,

but also to any desire, need or interest,

whether conscious or unconscious,

of his entire being

or only of a part of it.

When we say that a certain person is bad,

it is because he behaves in a way

or does something

that goes against our own interests.

It is easy for us to understand that

we say that a thief is bad

since we fear he will steal our property.

But, what about a thief

on the other side of the globe?

Surely we do not fear he will steal our property,

but nonetheless, we say he is a bad person.

Do our definitions of bad and good

in this case

transcend our personal interest?...

Not really.

If we observed ourselves carefully,

we would see that in this example,

we have a specific interest.

For example, we may feel compassion

towards people in general,

and we don't want anybody to suffer.

In this case, our interest, our goal, is to prevent suffering,

and therefore, anyone who performs an act

which goes against this cause,

that is, creates suffering,

as in the case of stealing,

is bad for us.

Or we might have a moral belief

that one must not steal,

and we want all people to behave that way.

In this case, we have an interest, a need,

that all people would act according to our belief,

and we perceive any action of any person

that goes against our belief, as bad.

If we really didn't care at all about stealing,

we would not call someone who steals a bad man.

Just as we don't call a man eating lettuce,

a bad man, for example.

We have no interest, neither personal nor general,

that the act of eating lettuce contradicts

Even though the lettuce itself

might have an interest not to be eaten.

Think of the leader of your country.

You might think he is a bad leader because

he has raised taxes which shrink your income,

Or because he invests the state resources in industry,

while you think it should be invested in education.

But from the personal perspective of this leader

and the perspectives of the people who support him,

he is a very good leader.

For them, he raises taxes to balance the state's budget

and to prevent a financial crisis,

and he invests in industry to create more Jobs.

So, is he a good leader or a bad leader?

Is he a good man or a bad man?

I hope that now it is clear enough for you

that what makes us determine

whether a certain person is good or bad

is only our personal perspective,

based on our interests, goals, values, needs, beliefs and desires.

This means, that there isn't such a thing

as absolute good or bad.

The good and the bad are always relative.

Q: "Wait, wait,

is there no thing that is bad in its essence?

What about killing?

Killing must be an absolute bad!"

Well, let's look into it…

If killing is absolutely bad, then eating meat is bad.

This means all predators are bad,

not to mention the animals killing plants…

Even if we limit our examination only to the killing of people,

can we say that killing as an act of self-defense is bad?

Can we say that euthanasia or abortions are always bad,

no matter what the circumstances?

Don't get me wrong, I do not say these things are good, or bad.

I simply wish to demonstrate that even killing

is not necessarily something which is absolutely bad.

The same is true for what is good.

Is there anything that is absolutely good,

regardless of the circumstances or different points of view?

Think about your country, and imagine that it has the perfect leader.

A man who honestly wants to do good for others.

Can you think of a single thing he could do,

which everybody would think was good?

Even if he performed a simple act, such as

helping an old lady cross the street,

there would be those who would complain and say it is bad.

They may say:

"he should spend his time on more important things",

or: "It's really a shame he didn't carry her bags".

Can you find anything that is absolutely good or bad?

If you do, please write it in the comments.

I haven't found such a thing yet.

Therefore, this is my conclusion:

The good and the bad, in themselves, do not exist.

The good and the bad exist only in relation to a goal, an interest.

Q: "Wait a minute,

even if I accept that the interest

is what determines if a thing is good or bad,

how can you explain the fact that there are things

that are both good and bad at the same time?

For example,

eating a bucket of Ice-cream is good.

There is nothing better.

But at the same time it is bad,

because it makes me fat and unhealthy".

Okay,

in order to understand this contradiction

we need to re-examine the thing which we call "I".

Most often we think of ourselves as a single entity,

because we have one name, one body and one brain.

Yet this brain hosts a huge number of different mental entities,

having different world views and different interests

that are sometimes are even contradictory.

Do you really think that the part of us

that wants to eat

and the part of us that wants to lose weight

are the same part?

In fact, if I do something,

it is just because the part of me

that perceives this thing as good,

is stronger than the one that perceives it as bad

at least at a specific moment.

The interest to do something must be stronger

than the interest not to do it.

Otherwise, we wouldn't do it.

You might as well say that I, my entire being,

do a certain thing

only if I see it as more good than bad.

This leads us to a very interesting conclusion.

We are not capable of doing the bad.

We can only do the good as we understand it.

Q: "wait a minute…

what about criminals, people who steal or kill?

Even they don't think they are doing bad things?"

Of course not!

When a man steals, he usually doesn’t think:

"I am such a bad person"

No.

He thinks that what he is doing is good.

For example, he thinks:

"This society is corrupt,

it is their fault my life is hell.

I don't care who I steal from.

It is time to do something good

for me!"

It doesn't matter if what he thinks is right or wrong.

From his point of view,

he has a full justification for stealing.

If fact, even when a man confesses

that he did something bad,

(and remember,

this is because another part of him has an interest

that conflicts with the thing he did),

he will say that he was unaware

that the thing the did was bad,

or that he had no choice.

He might also say that his actions

were not voluntary.

Meaning - he,

the part of him that thinks the deed is bad,

didn't manage to overcome

the need or craving to do it

– that is, the part that sees this deed

as something good.

check it for yourselves...

can you recall anything you that did

intentionally and willingly,

that at the moment of doing it, you thought was bad?

Think of the cruelest men in history.

Do you think, they thought

they were doing something bad?

Absolutely not!

In fact, they believed they were working for a high and a noble cause.

That they were bringing good to the world…

Q: "So what are you saying, that

Hitler, Bin Laden and all of these people were not bad?"

Of course they were bad! For you!

And probably for most of humanity.

But from their point of view,

and for the millions of people who supported their cause,

they were very good.

Q: "And, what about people who like to be 'bad guys'?

People who declare that they are doing bad things on purpose,

and they like it…

surely you could say that they are doing bad intentionally".

Not really.

These people are really confused.

They simply use the word bad,

to describe what they see as good.

They break the laws or bully weak people

just because it makes them feel brave and strong.

They may call it bad, but they feel it is good.

So you see,

even they do what is good as they understand it.

Nobody ever does something bad on purpose.

Everybody does only things they consider good

from their point of view.

At this point you might ask,

"But, if there is no good and bad,

how must we act?

Should we love people that are bad for us,

like thieves or murderers?"

Now,

I will answer this in a moment,

but first I want to point out that in my opinion

it is more important to understand the truth

and accept it,

before trying to find solutions

to various discomforts it may raise.

The truth will remain

weather we feel comfortable with it or not.

What should we do with it,

is a question that should be asked

only after we have accepted it,