In the natural world there is no such concepts of good, bad, justice… life is.

There is a time and rhythm for all things and at the core of our experiences of life rhythms is the reality that life lives of life, life requires the sacrifice of life. Every breath we take is a sacrifice of life, one form of life for another form. That is life’s awesomeness-it wonder and its fear.

It is I think as we experience the tension that comes about through the confrontation with that reality, sometimes through major life changing experiences but usually the accumulation of 1000 cuts, that we label our experience good and bad.

The question becoming is life, even as it must live off life be good? Can we say yes to life as it is and label it not only good but that it is Love?

In the story of genesis we are confronted with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Note that it is not the knowledge of what is good and what is evil but only the awareness of a difference in our experiences that we might label good or bad. It is the awakening to the problem of opposites.

What is the good and what is the bad? How can something that feels good be bad? How can something I experience as bad be experienced as good by someone else? How is it that what is good one moment becomes bad in the next? How is it that good often arise from our deepest pain, and pain from our deepest good?

I might argue that it is the tension created by the problem of opposites that creates consciousness. (is consciousness a good?) As all the wisdom traditions teach us one of the steps in the art of becoming requires us reconcile the problem of opposites. Good and Bad are not opposites and so do not ‘win’ over the other.

But that answer does not help when you are in pain or witness the pain experienced by others so perhaps not your real question. What is the point of being good?

You must live your truths as you know them to be as you live life within your destiny.

There is no point in being good other than that is who you are. That must be enough in and of itself. Not for some future reward or fear of punishment but because you are being true to your authentic self. Yes you will get it wrong, yes others will hurt you but I truly believe that if you live your truths while being open to learning better and learning better doing better that that matters, and that is good.

I very much recommend the book Fault in our stars‘ by John Green who effectively through the power of story explores the question of the problem of good and evil and what is the point.

“I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is probably biased toward the consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed.” ― John Green

“There are infinite numbers between 0 and 1. There’s .1 and .12 and .112 and an infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger infinite set of numbers between 0 and 2, or between 0 and a million. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.

There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.” ― John Green

That is the key – grateful- grateful for the good and the bad we experience, the experience of noticing that if we push through reveals itself as love.

My favorite song “The Riddle” – Five for Fighting

There was a man back in ’95
Whose heart ran out of summers
But before he died, I asked him

Wait, what’s the sense in life
Come over me, Come over me

He said,

Son why you got to sing that tune
Catch a Dylan song or some eclipse of the moon
Let an angel swing and make you swoon
Then you will see… You will see

Then he said,

Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…

Picked up my kid from school today

Did you learn anything cause in the world today
You can’t live in a castle far away
Now talk to me, come talk to me

He said,

Dad I’m big but we’re smaller than small
In the scheme of things, well we’re nothing at all
Still every mother’s child sings a lonely song
So play with me, come play with me

And Hey Dad
Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…

I said,

Son for all I’ve told you
When you get right down to the
Reason for the world…
Who am I?

There are secrets that we still have left to find
There have been mysteries from the beginning of time
There are answers we’re not wise enough to see

He said… You looking for a clue I Love You free…

The batter swings and the summer flies
As I look into my angel’s eyes
A song plays on while the moon is high over me
Something comes over me

I guess we’re big and I guess we’re small
If you think about it man you know we got it all
Cause we’re all we got on this bouncing ball
And I love you free
I love you freely

Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I..

I love you free…