This Is Absolutely Not A “thanks Captain Obvious” People Have Been Questioning “what Makes Humans

This is absolutely not a “thanks captain obvious” people have been questioning “what makes humans moral” since morality started. and this is a good take 10/10 ilu

recently i’ve been thinking about like… what it means for Dea to be Absolute Good. not that i don’t think that anymore, because i do, but that i’m questioning what that looks like. because up until recently i saw it like this: (please excuse my diagram)

(or well, “bad” being the lack-of-good, i suppose.)

but one of the things i’ve always found cool about filianism is that so many things on a Divine level have (a/n) earthly parallel(s.) when we think of Good things in a broader sense we often think of virtues, like kindness and stuff. so let’s put this into practice:

i think most of us can look at this and see that it doesn’t really show the full picture here. it’s kind of an oversimplification. i for one, when i was a kid, was called a “doormat” a lot. i was kind to the point of self-denying and self-destruction. i reblogged a really cool “virtue continuum” post a while ago that i think sums this up well with other virtues, and that post was basically what sparked this thought process with me. here’s what kindness looks like to me:

(or alternatively, another unhealthy amount of kindness could become enabling, allowing others to get away with things they shouldn’t in the name of kindness.)

the idea is striving for the healthy balance. this also applies to cognitive behavioural therapy! my therapist doesn’t want all my thoughts to be sunshine and rainbows, that’s unrealistic and can also be unhelpful just as excessively negative thoughts are. we strive for a balance.

but with the vague concept of good this model kinda falls apart a bit.

i for one can’t figure out at all what would go in the other side.

but maybe that’s the thing about the concept of “good.” it’s very subjective.

also as many have pointed out, this world is filled with “necessary evils.” my favourite minor example of this i like to give is how, sometimes, a good argument can “clear the air.” is it fun to fight? no! absolutely not! and it’s always better to talk things out civilly with the people we care about. and sometimes we go too far. but sometimes our feelings get the better of us and every little thing we’ve been holding onto just comes flooding out. it’s exhausting, you’re hurt for a while, but sometimes taking the time apart after a fallout and thinking about all the things that were brought up is a good way to reset the grounds, so to speak. everything’s out there, i understand how you feel now, so let’s talk about it again and move forward now that we’re calm. at least, that’s my experience with my own friends.

so i guess very few things are fully black and white.

maybe my first diagram IS correct, and within that diagram is striving for balance, so the “good” side is actually balance and the “bad” side is actually imbalance. maybe like this:

i guess?

anyways this might be old news or already a pretty common “take” (it’s barely a take, it’s just me pondering out loud. this honestly reads more like a weird journal entry if anything) and i’m just slow but… this is kinda how i’m starting to see things. i don’t really know where i was going with this… putting my thoughts out there is kinda hard for me, so thanks for reading if you got this far!

(this is probably such a “thanks captain obvious” post but it felt like something clicked with me personally so. out to the world it goes!)