Three Qualities for a Good Life

Transcript

I was thinking about 3 qualities….this is a formula I came up with. Well it’s not exactly my own but its not exactly someone elses either.

It’s a variation of certain ideas from Buddhism and from an interview I did about psychopathy has something to do with it.

3 qualities are:

Good intentions.

Fine Discernment.

Right actions.

And any 2 of these qualities is not sufficient but these three qualities in combination are disproportionately powerful.

What happens if a person has good intentions and fine discernment?

Well their discernment probably isn’t as good as they suspect because without right action you dont have the ability to experiment in the world or the capacity to put their ideas into action. A person like this they call an ivory academic.

A lot of good intentions, a lot of good ideas with no ability to put them into action and to refine their discernment.

What happens if someone has discernment and right action? This type of person is a politician or a ruthless CEO. They can get things done but they don’t stop to think whether they are the right things. Whether these things will benefit others in the long term and the environment.

The greater picture, even though on some level they might have good intentions but not fully developed not in a way that fully enters their discernment.

What else?

If someone has good intentions and right action this is like a bleeding heart activist, someone who is ready to get fired up and chant and change people’s minds. Perhaps some form of ineffective protest.

What happens if someone has all three of these qualities?

Good intentions.

Fine Discernment.

Right actions.

We don’t know actually what such a person would be. It depends on the individual character because such a person is self actualized.

You don’t get to this level without doing introspection and experimentation and finding out what it really means to be good. So what you do, such a person might be a saint or Buddha or an entrepreneur who thinks of how their products and services will benefit society and how to implement them correctly and to take them into that stage of implementation.

What else?

I don’t know what such a person could be.

A teacher, guide, parent, someone truly effective in fact I don’t know the limits of what a person can be when they possess these three qualities.

Do you have good intentions?

Do you recognize discernment learning how to see what is worth doing and how to do it? Can you have the courage to take action at least some of the time when it is difficult, when you are on the spot, when something needs to be done. Discipline, follow through or sticitivity as we used to call it.

These three things as I said disproportionately powerful.

The three jewels.

Thank you for developing your good intentions. Practicing loving kindness meditation.

Thank you for considering you actions, consequences of your actions and how you might bring your actions into better alignment with your intentions.

Thank you for praciting discipline. For getting up and meditating and going to the gym. Writing goals and fulfilling your process.
Thank you for doing that.

If you’re not doing all of that you’ll be forgiven but thanks for working on all of those qualities because when you do that’s how you practically express yourself and make a better world.

Have a wonderful day.