Good And Moral Person

What is a good or moral person? The answer to this question has preoccupied the human mind since the beginning of our millennial civilization and culture. Initially, educational and behavioral advices were included in religious and later legislation norms as rules for a good and moral personal life and conduit. This question is of a great interest to me too, because I am permanently trying to conduct my life based on moral principles.

In my opinion the main principles for a person to be good and moral, and the principles which I am trying to follow in my life, are honesty, correctitude, and the desire to always help. Honesty and correctitude are personal attitudes, which are incompatible with any kind of negative behaviour; by always remaining honest and correct, it is impossible for us to create any negative impact on the people around us. The desire of help is very important and, once we have found it inside us, we can always be useful to the others because of our care and compassion we feel for them.

Niederhaslach Collegiate Church: Stained glass win...

Picture of the Confucian philosopher Mencius.

The image of the "Second Sage, Meng Zi" himself

Recently, after I have read about the work of Meng-zi, I realized how similar his thoughts are with mine. Meng-zi (or Mencius) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, who has centered his thoughts around the idea that man is innately good, but there is the social environment that humans live in that enhances or perverts their nature. In Meng-zi's conception, all humans have the four basic virtues, which define a perfectly moral person. These virtues are compassion, submissiveness, sense of shame, and sense of right and wrong. Compassion makes people behave carefully with each other and willing to give help for nothing in exchange except the personal good feeling. Compassion is what can separates us from the other livings, because "...without...