He Who Does Good, Meets Good

The boomerang effect or “the theory of action” tells us that “every cause has an effect and every effect has a cause.” Therefore, positive thoughts, feelings and actions return to us in a favorable way. When these are negative, the opposite happens. In other words, who does good, meets good and vice versa.

Whoever does good for his fellow man, whether in thought, in feelings or in deeds, also automatically clears the way for his own happiness at the same time.

That is why it is so important to pay attention to the way we think, feel and act. We must keep in mind that what we do has the power to change the consequences we face in the future.

Giving a glass of water in exchange for a glass of water simply ‘meets’ the law of reciprocity. True magnanimity consists of recurring deeds that are worth much more.

Everything we do to others, we somehow do to ourselves. The key is to let our good deeds feed on themselves, not what we get in return or what we got in the past. So who does good, meets good.

Most people who do a good job do it despite their circumstances. They are inspired by the energy that comes from the things they do, not what they get in return.

He who does good does not need a reward

They say that one person can be the trigger for big changes. While the world may seem hostile at times, there are plenty of small deeds we can do to make the world seem a little more hospitable.

We’ve all heard this famous expression: “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” That means we should do things because we believe it’s the right thing to do, without thinking about who benefits.

This expression teaches us that we don’t need approval or comparisons to do the right thing. When we look at it this way, the good goes hand in hand with a selfless way of being. That, believe it or not, is where we find our reward.

Wishing other people bad things comes back to us in a negative way. It causes resentment and unease. No one can be perfectly happy while wanting others to be unhappy. In addition, it is often the case that when someone feels bad, he would (unconsciously) want others to feel even worse.

Ideas of good and evil

The branch of philosophy that studies and classifies human actions as good or evil is ethics. Ethics is about doing good, but not all philosophers have the same idea about this. In ethics, good is desirable and the opposite of evil, which is undesirable.

Cultural relativism accepts that there are different ideas about what is right and what is not. Ethnocentrism is less tolerant on this subject.

Be that as it may, we can say that there are certain acts that are intrinsically good or bad because everyone views them as morally acceptable or offensive. Helping others is the highest form of kindness, and attacking others and doing evil for our own pleasure is one of the prime examples of malice.

The dispute over good and evil shows us that ethics is a battlefield.  However, it also shows us that it is not purely relative. It shows that certain behaviors are better than others. And we’re talking about better in an absolute sense here. Not better for some or in relation to certain cultural norms.

We don’t have to worry about a few killers or terrorists. The good outweighs the evil. It’s just harder to notice because it occurs in silence.

In the words of Facundo Cabral, “A bomb is louder than a caress, but for every bomb that destroys us, there are millions of caresses that nourish life.”