We are all taught to be good and to do good things. When someone does us a favour, we are
told to be grateful and to show our gratitude. What could be bad about that?
Let me explain.

When Goodness Turns Sour

Suppose you do someone a good deed, but they do not acknowledge it. Suppose they ignore the
fact that you have done something kind for them. How does that make you feel? Most of us
would feel hurt or offended. “How dare they not appreciate what I did!”, we might think.
And here is where good things begin to reveal their darker side. The moment we call
something good, its absence, or failure to be recognised, becomes bad. We create a shadow the
instant we name the light.

Beyond Moral Obligation

So what do we do? Should we stop doing good things? Not necessarily. Let us instead look at
goodness with new eyes.
What if good deeds were not moral obligations, nor ethical duties, nor attempts to win
approval? What if we did good simply because the doing itself felt whole and complete?
One who acts in this spirit takes joy in the act itself, not in being called “good”, nor in the
gratitude of others. And when gratitude is withheld or absent, they remain undisturbed.

Doing Things for Their Own Sake

But another difficulty arises. If one may act for the sake of acting, what prevents another from
doing evil for evil’s own sake? When the idea of goodness is set aside, does it not open the door
to chaos? No. It opens the door to understanding.
When we stop dividing life into good and bad, right and wrong, something subtle begins to
change. The mind grows quiet. Desire loosens its grip. The constant measuring and judging fall
away.

From that quietness, action flows easily and without struggle. It needs no label of good or bad; it
simply fits the moment.
Is such action good or bad? To ask is to return to the old, mistaken way of thinking. Instead, why
not just try it and see what happens? If you dislike the way you behave, you can simply stop.

Beyond Good and Evil

Perhaps it is not good and evil that need separating, but the mind that insists upon dividing
them. The more we cling to being good, the more we summon its bad alter-ego. Then we
condemn the shadow, and in our zeal, wound ourselves and others over what was never truly
apart.
Thus, the purest way to do good is to forget that it is good, to act from a heart beyond praise
and blame, where good and evil cease to quarrel and quietly fade away.

A Concluding Paradox

Yet there are some who still ask:“But without being told what is good or evil, by a parent, a
teacher, or a god, how can we be good people?”
For their sake, I am grateful we have words like good and evil. For these souls still need them.
But through them, perhaps, they too may, one day, see…beyond them.

By Nuwan I. Senaratna