On Good

The assumption that you are already treating everyone in your immediate circle the best you can is the predication of all discussions about bettering humanity(and via those discussions thereby yourself), but trying to do such doesn't mean you can't improve your understanding of how to do that, and how to be ever better, not just for the people you see, but for the whole society in which your are a citizen.

We are all parts of the same whole. We are everyday in need of each other

There is no point in having these conversations unless one has already come to the logical conclusion that the way to be good is to be good to the individuals in your own sphere of influence. Once that is realized, it is imperative that we continuously improve our understanding of our own highest good, and the highest good of the individuals in our lives.

What is best for the individual is best for the whole, and what is best for the whole is best for the individual.

What the individual feels is right for them, especially if it goes counter to current societal norms, is the right thing for that individual to act upon; considering that these actions might help to bring about a more perfect world for future individuals, or to make them a more perfect individual for the future world; in both or either case to better the collective.

In this way I consider that it is right for the individual to think of themselves as both an individual and an individual part in a larger whole. Problems with this principle arise when individuals ignore what they think is right, out of fear, selfishness, societal programming, or laziness, and act only in accordance with short-sighted self interest, being out of touch with even what they themselves consider to be right.

Living in honest harmony with ones own beliefs of right and wrong, and being correctable when one is irrefutably corrected, these are the ways we come closer every day to understanding what is truly best for ourselves.

I consider it highly unlikely that any one of us knows ourselves well enough to actually know what future could make us happiest, or most fulfilled, at least not before we move past the preconceptions we carry which make us miserable, forcing us to chase after prideful, consumerist, or materialistic goals, which set us up for disappointment upon failure, and fear of loss upon success.

These are preconceptions and conceptions we must challenge at every turn, as we know we can never be perfect, even by the standards we set for ourselves, in an eternal struggle to be ever more perfect.

A better version of an individual is better for society, a better version of society is better for the individual.