Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

Alan1986 · 02-25-2010, 09:44 AM

I think if we believe that people are generally good, it raises our vibration.

But, at times, we get affected by some people, and start to think that they are just evil. Then, it lowers your vibration. Especially, when you have been betrayed / abandoned before, you doubt whether you should trust those people again.

Is it worth it to put your trust in people, which sometimes makes you feel dumb, just to raise your vibration?

Any enlightened souls here?

davidchung · 02-25-2010, 10:26 AM

I think it's best if you try not to allow your vibration to be determined by anybody else.

Ultimately, the only person who can allow your vibration to be raised is you, and the only person who can allow your vibration to be lowered is you.

Be your own Singing Mechanic, and then it won't matter what the people around you are doing.

KaleidoskopicVision · 02-25-2010, 10:29 AM

I think people are highly complex entities that contain potential for destruction, creation, order, disorder, peace, war and all other dualities within themselves at once. To focus on any one of these in hopes of raising your vibration is silly. Acknowledging the consciousness, the awareness (and infinite potential contained therein) of everything in existence works much better.

Alan1986 · 02-25-2010, 11:00 AM

Thank you guys for your replies.

Ignorance causes sufferings.

True.

ValerieM · 02-25-2010, 01:28 PM

Alan, I agree with you about what you believe raising your vibration because I've believed both at different times in my life and I've seen what happens when people believe in either. Whenever I believed that people were generally bad and out to get me, I automatically started getting dramatic, "evil" people in my life. I constantly saw the bad in everyone and not enough of the good. The opposite happened when I believe that people are good: and I started attracting people who are good as well. I think when you believe that people are good and they sense that about you, they start showing the best side of themselves. These are the same people that a lot of people would consider to be dumb, insincere, annoying, etc. Sure, there are still some people who take advantage of you, but I think that's in the minority, especially if you remain aware of your surroundings (i.e. you're not naive). Naive and optimistic don't always go hand in hand, IMO.

Good point, KaleidoskopicVision. That's true that we tend to focus on one tiny aspect and it ends up biting us in the arse. We're definitely more complex than that.

James81 · 02-25-2010, 01:32 PM

I think people are both good and bad at the same time.

Of course, there is a pervading philosophical thought that "good and bad" doesn't exist or that it's relative, but I won't get into that too much because it's one of those things that I'm kinda tired of hearing myself.

But in my opinion, all things exist simulatneously in everyone. There is the potential for EVERYTHING in each of us, and our experiences are what we use to choose those things. Some of those qualities lie dormant or rarely used in people...and others are brought to consciousness through their thoughts and actions.

Angela · 02-25-2010, 01:33 PM

I think people are magnificent. What extraordinary creatures we are! I love us with all my heart.

blossom · 02-25-2010, 01:42 PM

We are magnificent allright. Good and bad, Everything and nothing. Complex as hell and with the potential to be Gods walking the earth right now.

IamAlsoThat · 02-25-2010, 01:58 PM

be the change you want in the universe -ghandi or buddha I dont remember
If ever you confront "others" who are bad or bother you think why it is bothering you. Could it be that you yourself sometimes contemplate actions like this and you are embarrased/ want to change that about yourself.

For example if I think "my friend" is non-generous perhaps it is really I who am ungenerous and wish to be more generous. to change "my friend" to be more "good" then you must think of ways to change yourself to be more good. Really the conflict is only with yourself even Islam's jihad is suppose to be a war with yourself or something of that nature

nicbrahms · 02-25-2010, 03:56 PM

I think there was never a bigger bunch of whining, bitching, warmongering, psuedo enlightened, cantankerous old bastards as the human species.

An I just love you all!

Muah!

Curtis2011 · 02-25-2010, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan1986

Do you think people are generally good or bad?

If you want to get specific.... 15% of humans are "good" and 85% are "bad" as of Hawkins' last published calibration of the population of humans (some time within the last 4-5 years I believe).

Although as Socrates said, all men choose what they believe to be the highest good. They just don't know what the highest good actually is.

"The only sin is ignorance" as the Buddha said.

nicbrahms · 02-27-2010, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamAlsoThat

be the change you want in the universe -ghandi or buddha I dont remember
If ever you confront "others" who are bad or bother you think why it is bothering you. Could it be that you yourself sometimes contemplate actions like this and you are embarrased/ want to change that about yourself.

For example if I think "my friend" is non-generous perhaps it is really I who am ungenerous and wish to be more generous. to change "my friend" to be more "good" then you must think of ways to change yourself to be more good. Really the conflict is only with yourself even Islam's jihad is suppose to be a war with yourself or something of that nature

Yeh its defo you, you tight twat! Moths in the old wallet hey! Go get it out of the archives and we'll check.

lol

OlderWiser · 02-27-2010, 01:39 PM

I think people are generally self-interested and that "good" and "bad" are contextual.

Voyagner · 11-02-2010, 04:47 AM

Sorry to bump this but I'm writing a post about this. I like to travel and I hear all the time people say that one thing they learn through travel is that people are generally good.

This quote is from Gary Ardnt another traveller I've chatted with a few times, you might know his site EverythingEverywhere.

Quote:

Many people are afraid of the world beyond their door, yet the vast majority of humans are not thieves, murderers or rapists. They are people just like you and me who are trying to get by, to help their families and go about living their lives. There is no race, religion or nationality that is exempt from this rule. How they go about living their lives might be different, but their general goals are the same.

While I agree with what he says I disagree with the conclusion. I don't think they are bad. They just are.

The statement "People are generally good" though is simplistic and either niave or ignorant (I haven't decided). I wonder where these people have travelled to and what reality they live in.

The reason? I've seen countless "generally good" people tread down on their fellow man in pursuit of those supposedly noble deeds of "just getting by" and "helping their families". I'm not suggesting those are bad things to pursue just that the conclusion that they are therefore good people makes a black and white situation out of what any traveller should know, that it is an extremely colourful world.

I'd like to know what you think of my POV.

Thanks

Acting Like Godot · 11-02-2010, 04:53 AM

All people are good,

deep down inside.

With some people,

you just need to go

deeper.

kenny r · 11-02-2010, 11:27 AM

natural state: good

but some believe they are: bad

or that they need to be: bad
in order to survive.

some believe other people are: bad

which perpetuates bad people.

Now, if everyone would just wake up...

wstein · 11-03-2010, 02:04 AM

Thinking people are as they actually are will raise it more. (remove any pretense or judgment)

Voyagner · 11-03-2010, 02:24 AM

I'm with you on that wstein.

allis1 · 11-03-2010, 04:37 PM

people simply are.

and at any time we can open the gates of heaven or open the gates of hell.

and hopefully learn something.

Arcturus · 11-03-2010, 04:58 PM

I think there are many levels of good and there are many levels of bad. Extreme bad such as murder is, thankfully, in the minority although the number of murders in some countries is still alarmingly high. See Here.
I would say the majority of people are self interested but this may be because if you find yourself surrounded by selfish people in an everyone for themselves society it doesn't 'pay' to not be selfish.
Not that I agree with that belief.

theuprising · 11-03-2010, 07:30 PM

you determine your own vibration. And fyi people are neither, they are what they choose to be and buy into, mabye today's society has made people more bad/good or what not? Who knows they, at every moment, have a choice to be good or bad, and thus you should go around loving good, and the potential of it in every person imo.

Mato Kinze · 11-04-2010, 10:05 PM

I don't know the answer to your question, but I'll share something that happened to me a few weeks ago:

Some of our Tiospaye and I were out gathering Stones for an upcoming Inipi ceremony.

I had pulled my truck to the side of the road where we were collecting Stones, but there was not much of a shoulder, so I was still pretty much on the road. I turned my hazard lights on so that we'd be a little more visible just in case someone came by.

Sure enough, after about an hour we were taking a break and sitting on the tailgate of the truck when a car came around the corner behind us. They slowed down quite a bit and very slowly made their way around us watching us closely.

One of my Family members sort of snorted and said somewhat under her breath, "Oh please... if you can't get around us you've got real problems..."

I chuckled a little bit and she asked me what I thought was funny?

I looked at her and I said, "Oh, nothing. It's just that when you said that, I was getting ready to thank them for their concern, and tell them that we weren't broken down and didn't need their assistance. But thanks for stopping anyway..."

tarajc · 11-05-2010, 02:07 AM

"Good" people sometimes do "bad" things and "bad" people sometimes do "good" things.

We spend too much time labeling who is good or bad by judging what they do or do not do.

IMO, we are all just playing a character role in which we do what we do and what ever it is that we do will be judged by others so that they can decide to do or not do whatever they decide to.

Besides, every one has their own definition of what is "good" or "bad" anyway.

cylon · 11-05-2010, 02:13 AM

People are whatever you are, in the moment.

Lawliet · 11-05-2010, 10:52 AM

As has been hinted at by one or two here, I think everyone is, at their core, selfish - albeit mostly subconscious, I'd say. There's no, "I want to [help/harm] in this world" - just, "I'm in this for me." What causes those people to align their selfishness to good or evil is something I don't understand.

In a lot of cases, people do good to keep out of trouble, to promote their own image, out of fear of some divine punisher, etc. This makes them no less self-indulgent than a murderer or rapist; they're just going about their self-satisfaction in a way that society will tolerate or even appreciate them for.

This is why I'd agree with what was posted before about every man just trying to go about their own lives, but I disagree that they're not thieves or generally bad people... because you'll find that most people, especially in today's society, will screw anyone over for the right reasons; it's just a question of just how right those reasons are (these days, a shiny new TV is probably reason enough).

I may be sounding like someone who's internally, consciously selfish and so has a warped view of the world, but this isn't the case. I'm actually very much the opposite and would love to save the world from suffering (and not for the glory, power and bitches), but when I ask myself whether my subconscious has self-serving motives, I have no answer. When I ask myself whether it'd make sense from a survival perspective, the answer becomes clear: we're all just interested in #1... whether we actively know it or not.

This may just be me blowing my own horn here, but I think the people closest to "good" are those who realise these flaws and others, accept them, regret those out of our control and fight those we can control. Whether these people then go on to feed the poor or rape children is irrelevant.

... but all of this is a post by a man who sees humans as walking, talking, nature-engineered survival machines on a forum that seems to be predominantly made up of folk who think we're of some divine origin so this will probably not make sense to many of you. Still... it's my 2 pennies.

Mato Kinze · 11-05-2010, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cylon

People are whatever you are, in the moment.

That's pretty much the point of my story.

We assign the term "good" or "bad" to people based on the stories we tell ourselves about those people. Those stories are based on where and what we are at the moment and that changes constantly.

People are people. They do what people do. To call it "good" or "bad" is simply a construct of a desire of most people to live in a harmonious group.

Behaviors that support harmony are "good". Behaviors that disrupt harmony are "bad".

The degree to which an individual wishes to be a part of a harmonious group will determine how "good" or "bad" they are and an individual's sense of their personal harmony will determine how they view the behaviors of others.

BillyTheAdult · 11-05-2010, 03:28 PM

People are generally stupid and self concerned.

mikej · 11-05-2010, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyTheAdult

People are generally stupid and self concerned.

and cynical

BillyTheAdult · 11-05-2010, 03:56 PM

lol

anatolie · 11-06-2010, 05:47 PM

Most are either stupid or bad- competitive and jealous. The more I meditate the more I do yoga , the more I see this, interestingly enough.

02-25-2010, 09:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
Alan1986 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 355	Do you think people are generally good or bad? I think if we believe that people are generally good, it raises our vibration. But, at times, we get affected by some people, and start to think that they are just evil. Then, it lowers your vibration. Especially, when you have been betrayed / abandoned before, you doubt whether you should trust those people again. Is it worth it to put your trust in people, which sometimes makes you feel dumb, just to raise your vibration? Any enlightened souls here?

11-05-2010, 10:52 AM	#25 (permalink)
Lawliet Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 128	As has been hinted at by one or two here, I think everyone is, at their core, selfish - albeit mostly subconscious, I'd say. There's no, "I want to [help/harm] in this world" - just, "I'm in this for me." What causes those people to align their selfishness to good or evil is something I don't understand. In a lot of cases, people do good to keep out of trouble, to promote their own image, out of fear of some divine punisher, etc. This makes them no less self-indulgent than a murderer or rapist; they're just going about their self-satisfaction in a way that society will tolerate or even appreciate them for. This is why I'd agree with what was posted before about every man just trying to go about their own lives, but I disagree that they're not thieves or generally bad people... because you'll find that most people, especially in today's society, will screw anyone over for the right reasons; it's just a question of just how right those reasons are (these days, a shiny new TV is probably reason enough). I may be sounding like someone who's internally, consciously selfish and so has a warped view of the world, but this isn't the case. I'm actually very much the opposite and would love to save the world from suffering (and not for the glory, power and bitches), but when I ask myself whether my subconscious has self-serving motives, I have no answer. When I ask myself whether it'd make sense from a survival perspective, the answer becomes clear: we're all just interested in #1... whether we actively know it or not. This may just be me blowing my own horn here, but I think the people closest to "good" are those who realise these flaws and others, accept them, regret those out of our control and fight those we can control. Whether these people then go on to feed the poor or rape children is irrelevant. ... but all of this is a post by a man who sees humans as walking, talking, nature-engineered survival machines on a forum that seems to be predominantly made up of folk who think we're of some divine origin so this will probably not make sense to many of you. Still... it's my 2 pennies. Last edited by Lawliet; 11-05-2010 at 10:55 AM.

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02-25-2010, 10:26 AM	#2 (permalink)
davidchung Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bangkok Posts: 130	I think it's best if you try not to allow your vibration to be determined by anybody else. Ultimately, the only person who can allow your vibration to be raised is you, and the only person who can allow your vibration to be lowered is you. Be your own Singing Mechanic, and then it won't matter what the people around you are doing.

02-25-2010, 10:29 AM	#3 (permalink)
KaleidoskopicVision Family Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 2,296	I think people are highly complex entities that contain potential for destruction, creation, order, disorder, peace, war and all other dualities within themselves at once. To focus on any one of these in hopes of raising your vibration is silly. Acknowledging the consciousness, the awareness (and infinite potential contained therein) of everything in existence works much better.

02-25-2010, 11:00 AM	#4 (permalink)
Alan1986 Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 355	Thank you guys for your replies. Ignorance causes sufferings. True.

02-25-2010, 01:28 PM	#5 (permalink)
ValerieM Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Florida Posts: 99	Alan, I agree with you about what you believe raising your vibration because I've believed both at different times in my life and I've seen what happens when people believe in either. Whenever I believed that people were generally bad and out to get me, I automatically started getting dramatic, "evil" people in my life. I constantly saw the bad in everyone and not enough of the good. The opposite happened when I believe that people are good: and I started attracting people who are good as well. I think when you believe that people are good and they sense that about you, they start showing the best side of themselves. These are the same people that a lot of people would consider to be dumb, insincere, annoying, etc. Sure, there are still some people who take advantage of you, but I think that's in the minority, especially if you remain aware of your surroundings (i.e. you're not naive). Naive and optimistic don't always go hand in hand, IMO. Good point, KaleidoskopicVision. That's true that we tend to focus on one tiny aspect and it ends up biting us in the arse. We're definitely more complex than that.

02-25-2010, 01:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
James81 Banned Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 12,690	I think people are both good and bad at the same time. Of course, there is a pervading philosophical thought that "good and bad" doesn't exist or that it's relative, but I won't get into that too much because it's one of those things that I'm kinda tired of hearing myself. But in my opinion, all things exist simulatneously in everyone. There is the potential for EVERYTHING in each of us, and our experiences are what we use to choose those things. Some of those qualities lie dormant or rarely used in people...and others are brought to consciousness through their thoughts and actions.

02-25-2010, 01:33 PM	#7 (permalink)
Angela Banned Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 22,520	I think people are magnificent. What extraordinary creatures we are! I love us with all my heart.

02-25-2010, 01:42 PM	#8 (permalink)
blossom Banned Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,897	We are magnificent allright. Good and bad, Everything and nothing. Complex as hell and with the potential to be Gods walking the earth right now.

02-25-2010, 01:58 PM	#9 (permalink)
IamAlsoThat Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 682	be the change you want in the universe -ghandi or buddha I dont remember If ever you confront "others" who are bad or bother you think why it is bothering you. Could it be that you yourself sometimes contemplate actions like this and you are embarrased/ want to change that about yourself. For example if I think "my friend" is non-generous perhaps it is really I who am ungenerous and wish to be more generous. to change "my friend" to be more "good" then you must think of ways to change yourself to be more good. Really the conflict is only with yourself even Islam's jihad is suppose to be a war with yourself or something of that nature

02-25-2010, 03:56 PM	#10 (permalink)
nicbrahms Banned Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: uk Posts: 3,233	I think there was never a bigger bunch of whining, bitching, warmongering, psuedo enlightened, cantankerous old bastards as the human species. An I just love you all! Muah!

02-27-2010, 01:39 PM	#13 (permalink)
OlderWiser Retired Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 664	I think people are generally self-interested and that "good" and "bad" are contextual.

11-02-2010, 04:53 AM	#15 (permalink)
Acting Like Godot Banned Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 9,613	All people are good, deep down inside. With some people, you just need to go deeper.

11-02-2010, 11:27 AM	#16 (permalink)
kenny r Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 408	natural state: good but some believe they are: bad or that they need to be: bad in order to survive. some believe other people are: bad which perpetuates bad people. Now, if everyone would just wake up...

11-03-2010, 02:04 AM	#17 (permalink)
wstein Family Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Florida USA Posts: 1,015	Thinking people are as they actually are will raise it more. (remove any pretense or judgment)

11-03-2010, 02:24 AM	#18 (permalink)
Voyagner Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 9	I'm with you on that wstein.

11-03-2010, 04:37 PM	#19 (permalink)
allis1 Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 33	people simply are. and at any time we can open the gates of heaven or open the gates of hell. and hopefully learn something.

11-03-2010, 04:58 PM	#20 (permalink)
Arcturus Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Rip off Britain Posts: 177	I think there are many levels of good and there are many levels of bad. Extreme bad such as murder is, thankfully, in the minority although the number of murders in some countries is still alarmingly high. See Here. I would say the majority of people are self interested but this may be because if you find yourself surrounded by selfish people in an everyone for themselves society it doesn't 'pay' to not be selfish. Not that I agree with that belief.

11-03-2010, 07:30 PM	#21 (permalink)
theuprising Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 705	you determine your own vibration. And fyi people are neither, they are what they choose to be and buy into, mabye today's society has made people more bad/good or what not? Who knows they, at every moment, have a choice to be good or bad, and thus you should go around loving good, and the potential of it in every person imo.

11-04-2010, 10:05 PM	#22 (permalink)
Mato Kinze Family Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 1,100	I don't know the answer to your question, but I'll share something that happened to me a few weeks ago: Some of our Tiospaye and I were out gathering Stones for an upcoming Inipi ceremony. I had pulled my truck to the side of the road where we were collecting Stones, but there was not much of a shoulder, so I was still pretty much on the road. I turned my hazard lights on so that we'd be a little more visible just in case someone came by. Sure enough, after about an hour we were taking a break and sitting on the tailgate of the truck when a car came around the corner behind us. They slowed down quite a bit and very slowly made their way around us watching us closely. One of my Family members sort of snorted and said somewhat under her breath, "Oh please... if you can't get around us you've got real problems..." I chuckled a little bit and she asked me what I thought was funny? I looked at her and I said, "Oh, nothing. It's just that when you said that, I was getting ready to thank them for their concern, and tell them that we weren't broken down and didn't need their assistance. But thanks for stopping anyway..."

11-05-2010, 02:07 AM	#23 (permalink)
tarajc Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 276	"Good" people sometimes do "bad" things and "bad" people sometimes do "good" things. We spend too much time labeling who is good or bad by judging what they do or do not do. IMO, we are all just playing a character role in which we do what we do and what ever it is that we do will be judged by others so that they can decide to do or not do whatever they decide to. Besides, every one has their own definition of what is "good" or "bad" anyway.

11-05-2010, 02:13 AM	#24 (permalink)
cylon Family Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 6,852	People are whatever you are, in the moment.

Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM Forums

Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

11-05-2010, 03:28 PM	#27 (permalink)
BillyTheAdult Family Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Funny location joke Posts: 2,056	People are generally stupid and self concerned.

11-05-2010, 03:56 PM	#29 (permalink)
BillyTheAdult Family Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Funny location joke Posts: 2,056	lol

11-06-2010, 05:47 PM	#30 (permalink)
anatolie Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 25	Most are either stupid or bad- competitive and jealous. The more I meditate the more I do yoga , the more I see this, interestingly enough.