"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something." - Henry David Thoreau

When I ask people about the number one criteria they look for in a person to take him/her as a friend, I get several different answers but they all start with one mutual statement: "have a good heart".

Actually how many people do you meet in your daily life that don't have a "good heart"? How many enjoy murder, killing, blood, etc? Actually we all have good hearts in some way, along with a dark and evil side too, which, in Jungian psychology, is called (The Shadow). So looking for "good hearts" and considering it as the noblest characteristic in humans is kinda an outdated way of looking at and thinking of things.

To me, I no longer look for good people, simply because we are all good and evil. Now I look for good people backed up with a good purpose - to lead a meaningful and purpose-oriented life.

Now for the first part of Thoreau's quote, it's actually straightforward. Too much scaling of things as being "good" or "bad" is actually a setback in many life situations and will prevent us from experiencing life as it is with all its good and evil. We'll be rejecting many parts of life simply because they are "bad" in our goodness/evil criteria, which is basically a 2000 old system whose roots trace back to religions, society, and culture.

How to be good in society? - I'll tell you. You have to be like the herd! Anything not like the herd is "evil".

Great people have good and evil criteria different from the good and evil of the herd.
Society tells you it's evil to disobey your parents. Society tells you it's evil to disobey the government and the system. Society tells you it's evil to love philosophy. Society tells you to follow social status and titles for prestige like "doctor" like my parents did. Society tells you it's evil to follow your passions and try its best to do you the only good it knows - conformity.

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." - Martin Luther King

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” - Henry David Thoreau

Let us as philosophers and deep thinkers lead a meaningful life instead of a "happy good" life. Let's set our hearts and minds to a great purpose. Greater than good and evil themselves. Let's aim above morality. Only when we do so can we become eternal with eternal effects in this Universe!

Cheers to a good meaningful life!