Man often takes time to understand what's good & what's bad . Everybody's life is a duel between good & bad. In case of some good has upper hand. & in case of some bad has the upper hand.Hence, we find good & bad in the world. Even if a man doesn't do anything also good & bad takes place in his life. A man's life would be a mix of good & bad . It isn't a straight line at all. Otherwise he would not know what life is.
Who doesn't remember the good & bad that take place in their life. Life is mysterious. Man is usually much concerned about good & bad that takes place in his life. He believes in astrology & all forecasts. It is believed that the flickering of the right eye is good for a man & flickering of the left eye is bad for him. Good & bad mauls man. It cuts man of his size.Man wouldn't be often fully aware of good & bad that he does at all. What all good or bad that one can do to others or others can do to one is less. What all good or bad that happens to one is all His. God has basis to it . This is theory of good & bad.
Why is education? Why is experience? Why is advice? Why wars? Are they not to know what's good & bad & drive away bad. If they weren't all there would have been chaos. Life would have been unlivable.Good & bad are two faces of life. Without knowing good & bad full knowledge is incomplete.Who are all the teachers who teach us what's good & what's bad? Is it not parents,teachers,friends & above all life?There's no end to learning.There's no end to the knowledge of good & bad. Every man has good & bad. Every man doesn't know completely what he is.
Good or bad are not today's invention. They are there since Adam &Eves days.Since the evolution of life on earth. Saints have been performing various rituals on this earth from time to time to drive bad away & augur everywhere well.
There's a saying " Birds of same feather fly together " In world good people are attracted by good & bad people are attracted by bad . Centuries back Oliver Goldsmith a great writer of that times created a character called " Man in Black. How a good person could appear as a bad person. Great Vyasa Maharshi created Dharmaraya & Duryodhana. Valmiki created Rama & Ravana. All to depict "Good &bad "
It isn't merely in grammar there are positive, comparative & superlative degrees, but in life too they are there. Good could be personification of God & bad, could be the personification of the devil.
Nobody is born good or bad. Often there is a reason or reasons to one becoming good or bad. Good & bad are variables. They seldom remain as they are. They undergo changes. Circumstances make them change. Yesterday's bad man is today a good man. To-day's good man may turn out to be a bad man tomorrow. The world is strange.
In fact,nobody can make a man good or bad.A man can only become good or bad.Good becoming bad is easy. Bad becoming good isn't easy at all. In good anything bad is visible glaringly, but is ineffective. Whereas, in bad anything good if visible is really appreciative.
Good people are less worried more happy. Bad are more worried & less happy.Prick of conscience good people would not have at all. Bad people would have prick of conscience at one time or other.One should be always doubly cautious in choosing what is good . Once they choose what is good they devote themselves fully to development of it only.
It's easy to choose between good and bad things. But it's difficult to choose between two good things. Everyone wants their life to be good. No one wants their life to be bad. It is goal of everyone. All do not succeed . Many succeed many fail. All is not in their hands. " It is Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,"
Everyone strives often hard to earn a name in their life.It is usually an ambition of them. Good & bad both as a result earn a name. Of course, in different ways. Good & bad have limits too. Too good is always not good or too bad also is also not good too. Every man has good & bad. Take from every man good & leave the bad. You become good. This is the thumb rule to lead life .
It is not merely botanically from the good seeds spurt good plants & from bad seeds bad plants spurt. Biologically also it is same.
Gandhiji through his 3 monkeys says
" Don't see bad, don't hear bad & don't talk bad"
Where is no good & bad? It is everywhere .What is not bifurcated into good & bad. It is not merely habits are bifurcated into good & bad. Bifurcated into good & bad makes dealing easy. It is qualities make one good. It is they make one bad also. All that is beautiful is not bad All that is good is not beautiful.Life is complex. At times man finds it difficult to make out what is good & what is bad.
How effective good & bad words are. It is they please or displease a man more than anything many a times. That is why the saying " It is over if words are spoken . It is over pearls are broken. "
All stories are not about good or they are about bad too. That is why we come across "comedies & tragedies". Sky doesn't contain mere stars. It contains comets too. Life drama doesn't contain mere hero.It contains villain too. Good & bad is part parcel of everything. Ocean is one where good & bad merge. World is one where good & bad prevail together. Man is often remembered for good & bad that he does than his opulence. It is often thoughts that arise in mind are responsible for the good & bad that take place in this globe. They are behind every act of a man.
Good & bad man needn't search for all. They walk into man.They are rivals.Where there's good there is calm, no problems. Where there is bad there's no peace, there are problems.Good is brightness.Bad is darkness.Nobody need teach one what's good,what's bad as life progresses one realises it on their own.
There is a famous saying " Think twice before you ink". In life too, if one thinks twice before they do anything they would do definitely more good & less bad.Life would be beautiful to one who finds good in everything. Life appears ugly to one who finds everything bad. Good & bad are in the way one looks at. Life isn't good only. If it's good only it isn't life at all. Life is good & bad only. Shakespeare says " Dost thou think thou art virtuous there shall be no cake or ale.
Man for several reasons wants to know what is good, what is bad. It is believed that one who does good would be in heaven & one who does bad would be in hell.If man knows what is good , what is bad he would be on right path & would be happy. It is ego often makes man forget " What is good , what is bad" Many a time anger makes one forget what is good, what is bad too.Life is incomplete if good is only known or bad is only known.
What is ignorance ? It is not knowing what is good, what is bad. One who doesn't know what is good, what is bad suffers not only in life but in life after too.Understanding what is good, what is bad isn't easy.at all.Distinguishing good & bad is sometimes only easy. It is learning lessons after lessons. In fact, the whole life is not enough to understand it at all.What is good, what is bad that nothing tells better than experience. Experience is-always the best teacher. Understanding what is good & what is bad is nothing but understanding life only . Intelligence is distinguishing what is good what is bad. One cannot always burn their fingers & know what is good, what is bad. That is why man needs what is known as " wisdom" Albert Einstein says "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
One of the tragedies of life is that man often doesn't realise what is good, what is bad in time at all. Either he realises them late or he doesn't realise at all.
It doesn't matter if one does do good or bad to others what one heartily wants to do others is always important. There is always the difference between good & bad. It is always easy to do one bad, but it is always difficult to do one good.
Nothing ever becomes real 'til it is experienced.” says John Keats Good & bad varies according to a man's thinking too. Many a time what is good to a man is bad to another man . There is a saying " we reap what we sow " However, there is no guarantee that if one does good one always reaps good & if one does bad one always reaps bad in life or world .It is a belief only.
Shakespeare says" There' s nothing good or bad thinking makes it so"
John Keats says “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”
Here is a story "Good ? Bad ? Who knows ?"
Ajahn Brahm went on to give us a "King and His Doctor" story to explain that sometimes, bad things that happened in our lives can be a blessing in disguise.
In old India, there lived a King who loves hunting. One day, he went hunting with his great Doctor. While hunting, the King was pricked by a strange plant on his middle finger. The finger became swollen and painful. The doctor applied a special ointment to the wound and bandage the King's finger.
The King then asked, "Will my finger be alright?"
The Doctor answered, "Good ? Bad ? Who knows ?"
A few days passed and the King's finger became worse. He summoned the doctor and asked, "Will my finger be alright?"
The Doctor answered, "Good ? Bad ? Who knows ?"
A few days later, the King's finger was badly infected and has to be amputated from his hand. The King was furious and ordered the doctor to be jailed and hang in a month's time.
Meanwhile, after a week's of recovery, the King went hunting again. This time he was more unfortunate. He was capture by a cannibal tribe. Before the tribe can burn him as a human sacrifice, the priest noticed he had only nine fingers. It was the tribe's believe that only a person with full and perfect body can be use as sacrifice. So they released the King.
Back to the Kingdom, the King immediately ordered the release of the doctor. The doctor was summoned to the King. The King said: "Great doctor, because of you, I lost my finger but in turn, it saves my life."
The Doctor said, "Good ? Bad ? I know. Great King, if not because of you putting me in jail and thus I cannot go hunting with you. If not, I would have been captured by the tribe and used as the sacrifice. Thank you, you save my life !"
So...Good ? Bad ? Who Knows ?. According to Ajahn Brahm, tragedy itself is an opportunity that teaches us to become kinder and wiser. Unpleasant things happen in life and they happen to everyone. The only difference between a happy person and one who gets depressed is how they respond to disasters.