Does Moral Behavior Lead to a Good Life?

[Khale]

Morals naturally come about as a way to allow society to interact with minimal conflict. If everyone were to follow the morals of their society then a good life would be much easier to obtain and might even allow everyone to live a good life.

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by Yid613

Is the purpose of a moral life only for one own benefit. Shouldn’t one act morally even if it’s not to their benefit?

What do you think?

[Bouncing Ball]

I don't believe morals come from religion. I think morals are grown into society over time to make live easier. Not killing people or pushing them or whatever other moral quest has advantages. As long as more/other advantages are found, morality can still grow/change.
So in the end, morals are made (grown) to lead a good/better life. This is however not intentionally and avarage.

[RobGelber]

I live in the United States, and I don't think my society has a common moral code. There are a number of overlapping moral codes and some codes which disagree with one another. Hot spots for debate usually come up over conflicts in moral codes. For example, some people believe if you consistently feel attracted to members of your own gender, then it's the right thing for you to find one that you love and marry them. Now obviously other people strongly disagree with that, but it illustrates at least one conflict between moral codes in our society. For me, this means that I basically have to create my own out of the many and sometimes conflicting moral codes that I've been gifted with. (Thanks America!)

As for whether this leads to a happy life, well, it depends what you mean by 'happy'. I agree with those who believe that morality is created in society so that we can all get along better. I want to live in a society of good people, and so it helps if I choose to be one! And I believe morality genuinely makes life better for us as a group. If we spend all our time growing or looking for food rather than trying to steal each other's food, life will go better for all of us. However, if I'm not considering anybody else's welfare, I could steal your food and, if I get away with it, could live an easier life as a result.

However, as far as I'm concerned, part of my satisfaction comes from knowing that I am not harming other people in order to live. I can measure my quality of life by the extent to which I live without harming others and possibly even benefiting them. Consequently, I consider morality a part of the happiness that I look for in life.

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

What do you think?

I'm actually curious what your thinking on those questions is.

[darkendless]

Originally Posted by Yid613

Is the purpose of a moral life only for one own benefit. Shouldn’t one act morally even if it’s not to their benefit?

Maybe in a perfect society?

The stiff reality is the rat race we call life is that in order to succeed others must fail. For example would you purposly do bad on an exam so someone else can get a better mark and get the job you want so they can feed their family?

[Reverend Rick]

I have heard that if you don't drink, smoke, or chase women, you will live a longer life. Myself, I think it may just seem like a longer life than it really is.

[idea]

I’ve been on both sides of the fence – for a time I lived an immoral life, and I have to admit, there were some fun times, but there were some scary times too – kind of a rollercoaster life I guess. Now I’m settling down to I suppose a “moral” life, I’m not perfect, but I’m doing the LDS thing, no drugs/alcohol, faithful to my husband, no R rated movies etc… trying to set a good example for the kids and all that. At fist I did not like the moral life – like health food, you don’t like it, you just do it cuz your supposed to… now I’m finding an intensity to it that I did not know was there though. It is not as boring as at first I thought it was going to be. You can get a rush from it… like being able to be totally open with someone with nothing bad to try and hide, just letting it all out and them letting it all out without any fears of what is going to come out, there is a security in it that allows you freedom from worries ifthat makes sense… Anyways, after getting over the initial stage of doing it for guilt, there’s another level to it that is quite exhilarating.