Good-bad, Life

The basic (biological?) definition of "good" and "bad" for an individual: does the creature feel (receive) pleasure, benefit, comfort or unpleasantness, pain, discomfort? Article: Pleasure-pain, benefit. 

We can distinguish layers of "individual" good and "general", collective good, let's consider its different aspects, points of view, perspectives:

• Do they go hand in hand or are they somehow separate?
• The goals and benefits of the individual and the goals and benefits of society and humanity as a whole,
• Imposing rules of conduct, ethics, morality, and laws on an individual by society,
• The sacrifice of an individual for an idea, family, tribe, herd, community, nation, the future of subsequent generations,
• The development of civilization and the well-being of humanity versus the consumption of the Earth's natural resources, environmental pollution and taking away the living space of plants and animals,
• The goals of Life as a whole, the existence and spread of DNA encased in various coatings on Earth and in the Universe,
• Death as suffering and as an essential element of the Wheel of Life,
• Sin as an element of social control by religions (oh, this deserves a separate article!),
• The development of man as a physical being and the reincarnation and development of spiritual beings (souls): article: Models of souls and incarnations,
• "The Highest Good" from the point of view of God Consciousness: Development through Experience, without dualism, every possibility is equivalent and permissible: article Purpose, way, meaning (of life).

Movie: "Eternals" (2021) . Without being too spoilery: the core is a moral conflict between the "good" of different groups of beings, and different points of view seem to be equally valid as long as you are aware of the totality of the phenomena. Therefore, each event can be looked at from different perspectives, from different levels.

As humans, we are largely machines, "androids". We receive information from the environment through our senses, pass it through perception filters and compare it with subconsciously programmed patterns. We react based on past experiences and recreate our established internal programs. And in the body there are physics, mechanics, biochemistry, physiology, electrical activity...

The subjective feeling of good/bad for an individual is the result of an automatic evaluation process . Remember that events in the external world "happen" and are neither good nor bad in themselves. Only the evaluation process, in relation to our internal database, makes us feel them one way or another.

"If someone takes Kali's cows, it is a bad deed. It is a good deed, it is like Kali takes someone's cows." Henryk Sienkiewicz "In Desert and Wilderness".

Life as a whole, process and development, is based on the dynamic absorption and transformation of energy and matter. The original source of all existing energy and matter (elementary particles, hydrogen) in the physical Universe is the Big Bang. The source of energy for life on Earth is the Sun, in its core there is a thermonuclear reaction converting hydrogen into helium, caused by the elementary force of the Universe, which is gravity. Reactions inside stars and their daughter objects also create more complex matter: heavier atoms and compounds. Energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation and photons is distributed into space. Plants absorb this energy and use it to convert inanimate matter, then they are eaten by animals, herbivores by carnivores, corpses are decomposed into matter by fungi and bacteria, etc., and the Circle of Life closes. The "higher" species develop on Earth, the more they steal already processed energy or outright kill other species to survive. 

Stealing energy or killing causes suffering in the donor-victim , the greater the more developed its nervous system is. Can all life on Earth then be categorized as "evil"? From the point of view of interspecific competition and the individual being eaten: yes! The entire human civilization also, because we are still animals, we just have a little more functions or possibilities available. And how have we been using them since the very beginning of our existence? We know history and we watch TV, we know what humans are capable of, towards animals and themselves.

Life as a self-perpetuating process, knowing no limits, like a virus, acting only to reproduce itself uncontrollably: 

• Movie "Evolution" (2001)
• Movie: "Life" (2017)

Let's go beyond (above) the sphere of the physical universe. Even in low energy or spiritual spaces, existence is based on collecting, using or even stealing broadly understood energy (article: Models of souls and incarnations). Only high spiritual levels or higher Consciousness are based on coexistence (article: God = Creator = Source = Energy of All , Entity Quality Tests). Although the whole of Consciousness consists of all possible types of Experience (article: Purpose, way, meaning (of life)), I choose to stay at levels where there is no longer dependency, there is balance, compassion, respect and love. 

This is my basic definition of "good" and "evil", a signpost, a motto, a primary, superior, natural law. It is general enough for me to derive all lower (derivative) laws and principles from it.

If I have doubts about my path, direction or decision in life, I consult the above principles. All "positive" values, such as respect, happiness, love, balance between egoism and altruism, also result from this formula. 

Example: humans killing animals for food and survival.

I see 2 scenes:

• the movie "Avatar (2009)": Jake Sully, as an avatar in a Na'vi body, finds himself in the forest on the planet Pandora at night for the first time. It cannot find its place among local predatory animals and will probably die. Na'vi Neytiri saves him, kills the attackers, but she is dissatisfied, she leans over the dead bodies, apologizes to them and thanks them for giving their lives. 
• the movie "Dances with Wolves (1990)" : Indians kill buffalo to ensure the survival of the tribe: food and materials. And white people kill whole herds, thousands of them, for money, entertainment and to starve the Indians...

Expanding on the above ideas: obtaining food by people in a vegetarian or vegan form is very noble and consistent with the idea of ​​not harming other creatures. But what if we decide to eat meat because we feel such a biological (physiological) need? Let it be kept to a minimum and done in an Avatar and Indian way. As long as we physically exist on Earth, we belong to and co-create the Domain of Life, so we are forced to use the energy of other beings.