Good and bad - upbringing

[eternalbeginner]

I've read som books and they say we all are taught what is good and bad as children, but that we shouldn't really use these concepts as they fool us into judging, and then we are not free. But how can we live without knowing what is good and bad? How would society work? If I don't judge anything, like actions, how can I know how to act?

I'm very curoius!

[deanmw]

For me the guiding principle has always been to treat others as I would like to be treated. The rest just follows.

[Flipasso]

I always thought that this "living without good/bad concepts" was kinda strange.
I think what these New Age thinkers mean by that is that you question everything and don't live tied to what you've been taught.

[mettajoey]

Hello EB,
I understand it as acting skillfully or unskillfully.  There are actions that provide positive results and actions that provide negative results.  Good and bad are judgments that can stop us from seeing things as they are.

 

[eternalbeginner]

Thank you all for replying. I'll ponder this some more...

[Matthew]

Look within and ask "is this good or is this bad" and learn to be honest in answering yourself. The social norms we are taught are all distorted and perverted in different ways. Relying on them will lead you up the wrong path. Looking within in this way is another form of meditation. A fundamental form and part of the path.

In the Dhamma,

Matthew