hi joe .. thank you for your in depth response..much food for thought am going to have to put my responses on hold as have house guests arriving from germany to-morrow at noon and must prepare ... appreciate the thought and time you have put into this post... yes i do have additions and questions however need a rain check on this one... trust your day is going well... catch you much later probably next week sometime.. cheers merle
Merle, "God knows" why some people seem predominantly good, and others bad. And maybe we do, too. I think it depends mostly on how close to the heart of things they are, how close to the Buddha Nature they establish themselves (or become established), and how close they remain. The further, the worse. But many seemingly good people are not even Awake, and live instead according to "principles" instilled in them by family and culture. While, seemingly or demonstrably bad people exhibit behavior that seems enabled by a lack of all remorse and no appreciation of reward or punishment given by family and society. The key features of these "types" is -- by definition -- a CONSISTENCY of a type or character of behavior: Good behavior, or Bad behavior. Each of us exhibits both! We can do both good and bad things. But the types exhibit a consistency. Usually, we value "Consistency" when it is a flow of good fruits or behavior, and reject it when it is a flow of rottenness and bad behavior. So, Consistency is clearly not itself a virtue. There's something BEHIND it, just as there is something behind EVERYTHING: Causes and Conditions, again, I'd offer. Religionists and Psychologists, Criminologists and Hagiographers, and others have theories that attempt to answer your question; and I suppose -- and agree -- that the people whom they study and the behavior that those people exhibit who are subjects of theirs is due to ...Causes and Conditions. Sometimes the causes and conditions lead to variations in organic "wiring" of the nervous system of a person or other animal, and variations in its chemical neuro-transmitters. Variations drive Evolution, you know, and one powerful and prevalent driver of variation is natural background radioactivity from the Earth, and Cosmic Ray irradiation from the sky. Chemical pollutants have similar disruptive effects on DNA. These variations can change a person's behavior from the average, and give them a singular and consistent character. Note, that there has never been a "normal", final-version, Human blueprint, but that Humans have been evolving "from the beginning", and must clearly continue to do so, unless un-natural (non-random) steps are taken (in other words, Human evolution may someday be stopped by genetic engineering). Thus, it seems to me that Causes and Conditions impinge on the nature and character exhibited by all things, living and non-living. We do not have to postulate a "God", or a force of "Evil" to be the effective mover of things. But we all know that there are causes and conditions of things, of beings, and of environments. It's a big life that we live. And it can't help but be influenced by everything. I don't suppose that mine is the final word on the subject, so please add some of your own, if you like. That's why we're here. --Joe > Merle Lester wrote: > > good post joe...i understand where you are coming from...,.... > > so why are some folk very very good and others very very bad?... > > don't forget to include those who are brain damaged in your response or their > wiring is not up to scratch... > > knocks a little hole in your cause and effect theory...as those in the latter > category..they cannot help how they are and your making the assumption us who > are healthy can?.. > > thus assuming we have free will... > > lots of curly ones here joe... > > i appreciate your response.. > > thank you... >
