Meditative thought: I should do good for no other reason but for goodness sake.
There is a very popular Christmas song, “Santa Clause Is Coming To Town,” which is attributed to being written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie. A phrase in the song states “…he (Santa) knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” I often meditate on the phrase “being good for goodness sake” and how this concept seems to be minimized.
What is being good, for goodness sake? In short, it means your actions are altruistic and authentic. You are behaving for the general good of the actions without consideration for yourself and without expecting to receive a reward. The deed itself, for the benefit of others, is sufficient. Some people tend to emphasize the rewards of being or doing good. For instance, you will go to heaven after you die or you will be reborn into a better life condition if you do good. The focus is on some “blessing” or “good fortune” during or after your current lifecycle as long as you perform good deeds. Also, there is the idea that if you do not behave in a manner considered “good,” you will succumb to punishment, such as burning in hell or being transitioned into a hellish life condition in your next life. Even if you are experiencing some sort of suffering in your personal life, others may speculate that you did something wrong or bad and the Divine is punishing you. From this perspective, I interpret that we are socially conditioned to be good only to receive reward and avoid punishment. We are “frightened” into being good. Unfortunately, doing good for the “sake” of doing good may get lost in translation when you are threatened to suffer damnation or hardship.
Does being good always translate into a reward? No. For instance, there are times when we may do good deeds or behave appropriately and not realize the manifestation of our actions; we don’t directly receive anything for doing or being good. There are times where we may avoid an action for fear we will experience discomfort or hardship and think this means we were fortunate to avoid trouble. Humans think about personal benefit and how to meet self-directed goals and sometimes, we miss the mark. While we are taught to do what is right, nonetheless, it seems that we socially learn to do good only to receive and avoid negative consequences.
Does it really matter? If we learn to think more about our actions as simply being beneficial in and of themselves, with no personal investment, we would not have to worry about the results. More importantly, if everyone was on one accord, whereby doing good for goodness sake as a group, positive results would likely manifest into a universal benefit for all sentient and insentient beings. The focus, therefore, should be to entertain thoughts or perform actions that are right only because they are right in and of themselves. We should learn to avoid thoughts or actions that are not beneficial, because they are bad in and of themselves and such actions may create harm to others. Remember, doing good for goodness sake has the best interest of everyone involved. Doing good for a return on your personal investment tends to benefit a limited few. There is nothing wrong with individual blessings and good fortune. Being rewarded is a wonderful confirmation. I pray we all experience good causes. But, doing good for goodness sake is far more reaching and serves all beings. We should not lose sight of this.
Affirmation: I will do what is right because it is right. I will avoid what is wrong because it is wrong. I will stand up for causes that are universally beneficially, not just what is beneficial for me only.
Rev. Dawn Reid
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/revdeereid/