Who is a "good person"? Is it somebody who helps us in one or the other form? Or is it somebody who conforms to our belief system? What if somebody helps us but does not conform to our belief system? What if somebody helps us but belongs to an enemy nation? What if somebody helps us to grow while we consider that to be an attack on our belief system?
A frog lives inside a well, and his friend somehow gets out of the well and starts living near the sea. He gets to see the vastness of the world and wants his friend living inside the well also to experience that vastness of the world. He goes back to the well. The frog of the well starts accusing him of being a cheat and a bad frog because he left him alone. He says that you could not honor the commitment of the relationship. You should have stayed with me in the well. For you, your exploration was more crucial than my company. The frog of the sea listens to all these arguments and understands that he is not a "good frog" in the eyes of his friend, and makes efforts to convince his friend to move out of the well. However, the frog inside the well says that this well is my identity. What is the purpose of life if I lose this identity? I would rather prefer to die inside the well. The frog of the sea has no option other than moving outside the well and moving to the sea alone. He will always be a "bad frog" in the eyes of the frog inside the well. The "center of life" for both the frogs is quite different. While the frog inside the well has his identity at the center of his life while the frog living near the sea has dropped that identity, and freedom and exploration are at the center of his life.
How can a person tied to his belief system understand what is good and what is bad for him? A person who is "happy inside the well" of his beliefs and comforts would curse everybody who tries to help him grow, be it even God. When parents get their child admitted to the school and he has to leave the comforts of home, he cries and at times says foul words to the parents. He makes friends at school soon and realizes that the parents helped him grow by getting him enrolled in the school. But the adults can't be forced to any school. They want to stay back comfortably at home with the comforts of their own belief systems. In fact, whenever they see any threat to their belief systems, they conveniently ignore such people and choose the company of people who are as limited as they are. People who want to stay inside the well like them.
That's why society, which is full of people living inside the wells, keeps fighting. My well is better than yours; my well is good, and yours is bad. It needs a constant supply of people who can fight for the well. Those people who sacrificed their lives for the protection of the world are "heroes". It has no respect for the people who want to show it the mirror and tell it that every well is limited. This well or that well makes no difference. Such people are termed "philosophers" who have some value for the "post-retirement life". Till that time, they are considered to be useless people. We are busy fighting for a "dark corner" inside the well, and don't want to be disturbed by your talks of freedom and love.
In a society that embraces "limited" life and "darkness," there can't be appreciation for love and freedom. A frog inside a well can't appreciate the frog moving under the open sky. That's why "good" and "bad" are quite contextual. A person may be very "good" inside the well, yet he may be very limited. We may move out of one well of "religious orthodoxy" to enter another well of "intellectual supremacy," where "intellect" constitutes the boundary of the well. We get out of the well of "cultural orthodoxy" to enter the well of some "spiritual cult" that makes us feel elevated. Millions of people chanting together make us feel uplifted. We have never worked on our tendency to seek security inside a well. As a result, what we end up doing is just "selection of the wells" throughout our lives. At the end of the day, we end up selecting one or another form of ignorance using all our intelligence because we are unable to see that all "wells" are "limited". This occurs because we have a strong desire for security, and that quest keeps our intellect busy with "selection of the most secure well". We have never connected with our inner selves. Once we choose to see reality, instead of running from pillar to post seeking security, we understand the truth that every well is limited.
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