What constitutes kindness?

What is kindness?

Human nature is good? What is good? This is another key point of Ruism. First of all, goodness is a value. The value is not somewhere, it needs the choice of the subject to be presented. For example, there are two cups, one with diamonds and one with water. Which one do you think is more valuable? People generally say: "Of course it is more valuable to hold diamonds." But if you are in the Sahara desert today, the value of water is probably much higher than diamonds. Therefore, water and diamonds are not valueless, but have nothing to do with value. They are pure facts. Any value can only be presented through the choice of a person (the subject).

For example, there is a lily on the mountain. Before no one climbs up the mountain and sees the flower, the lily just exists. There is no such thing as beauty. But if someone sees this flower and says, "This lily is so beautiful, I like it." In the process of his liking, the value of the beauty of this flower is revealed.

For another example, if everyone says that gold is worse than iron, then the value of gold will immediately depreciate. In fact, what is the difference between gold, iron, stone, and diamond? There is no difference for animals. Which dog have you seen like gold or which cat like diamond? Or which flock of birds will take food and grass when they fly north in summer or south in winter? Only humans will take possessions when they move, choose this, choose that.
Therefore, value is a human-specific problem. Leaving the human world, everything in the universe is just facts, not values. Value is only valid for humans, that is, only humans can make value appear. Because people have the freedom to choose, and with free choice, value can be presented through choice.
Kindnessis a type of value, so goodness is also a problem peculiar to people. If you leave the human world, there is no such thing as kind. Take "Robinson Crusoe" as an example. Robinson is the only person on the island. No one will judge whether he is a good person or a bad person. There is only one person living in the world. It doesn't matter whether he is good or bad. Any good or evil must be presented in the interrelationship between the two subjects. Without the context of the crowd, there is no good or evil at all. Human nature is for good, so people must realize themselves in the crowd. This is a very important insight of Ruism.

So, how do people judge goodness among people? this is a big problem. For example, we say that a person is filial, but he is not necessarily a good friend; a person is a good friend, but not necessarily a good teacher; a person is a good teacher, but not necessarily a good father. This is a very simple reason. It is very difficult for one person to do all the "good". So when you say that a person is good, you cannot abstractly say that he is good. You must point out who he is good to, and if you leave the object he is facing, his goodness is basically empty and fake. Is it impossible to be a good person? It is theoretically possible, but in practice it is unlikely. Because a good person must fulfill all appropriate relationships, fully realize all his related people's expectations of him, so that there is no lack of interpersonal relationships online, this is called a good person. This is actually impossible. "Impossible" is not because of insufficient ability, but because of the various roles that a person has to play in his life, but these roles often conflict with each other.
Give a simple example:
After a boy got married, he found that he could not be a good son and a good husband at the same time, but he could not meet the requirements of both. Mom and wife ask you to do different things at the same time. Who should you listen to? You only have one person and one time. What should you do? This is a contradiction. This is why it is so hard in human society, and life is full of challenges, trials and misfortunes. Because everyone can't be considerate of each other, they only look at each other's responsibilities and requirements from their own point of view, ignoring that he has other roles to play and various responsibilities to satisfy. As a result, misunderstanding and resentment arise.

That's why Confucius said:

"I can't see the good people, but I can see the perseverances!"The Analects • Shuer"

"I have never seen a good person, I only need to see a person with will. "Perseverance" means that people have pursuit for goodness in their hearts. Although they are not perfect, they still yearn for it and try to do it while heartily.

The meaning of Ruism is here. No one is a good person, but everyone can be a good person. Life is full of forward momentum, and human nature tends to be good. This power comes from within, and no one can completely eliminate it. Therefore, always hold hope for humanity. But let us not forget that doing good is an infinite requirement and cannot be interrupted. All we see in the world are people who have done one good thing or a few good things. Where are good people? You say that he is a good person today, so can he become a bad person tomorrow? Absolutely, you can become a bad guy in the next moment. In fact, he is not a bad person, just someone who has done a bad thing. What a person does is the result of the distorted development of his human nature; doing good deeds is the result of the normal development of human nature. Human nature is a trend, it is open, and it is the potential waiting to be realized. If you can grasp this, you can ask yourself from the inside.

The so-called "Hiking steps towards the Heaven", a gentleman constantly strives for self-improvement", "Renewal, day by day, and new again", as long as we live in the world, we have to work hard to make ourselves better and better, and make my personality better and better. Come higher. But your good deeds are definitely not a burden, but real happiness, because this happiness fully meets the self-requirements of "human nature to be good". When you meet this requirement, you enjoy the greatest happiness.