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What does it mean to be a better person?

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
To be a better person means this: to more effectively love your neighbor as yourself. It means taking the long view, and seeing how your actions will help the person five years from now, not just today. It means making it habitual to care for others. It means look for many ways to love, from the random act of kindness, to voting in candidates who will use our tax money to help those who need it constructively. It means stretching the concept of "neighbor" to those outside our circle of friends, outside our ethnicity or nationality. Indeed, stretching it to include the weak, the old, the unborn, the disabled, the oppressed, even the less than human (animals), and the earth in general.

In honor of Tu B'Shevat today, consider planting a tree, and enjoy the fruits of the earth.
 

dianaiad

Well-Known Member
Better than who or what?

What measurement are you using? I believe that I laid it out pretty well in the post to which you are replying...

That is, are you obeying your internal moral and ethical standards as you perceive them, and do you do better at that every day?

....and...when others look at you, can they say 'this is a person who not only does not harm anybody, but someone I can trust to help me if I need it?

If both things are true of you, then you are a 'better person.' The question is, are you better today than you were yesterday?


I think that the above is pretty clear. "Better" is pretty subjective, in that no matter where one is, one can be 'better than' or 'worse than' that.
 

Ancient Soul

The Spiritual Universe
What type of spiritual experience did you have and how did it change you?

The short version is that it was an experience with "dying" what most would term an NDE/OBE, where my soul left my body and was brought into "Heaven". There I met God, was judged, and then shown many things before being returned to life. The one thing pertaining to your question was how God explained to me what my life would be like, spiritual wise.

As far as "changed" me, I cannot truly say. As I was just a toddler when the drowning happened, so my self awareness before it happened was a bit fuzzy. But afterwards I found I could, what I call read souls. Which is basically reading another person's soul's energy which tells me the essence of who they are and any generic warnings if they have ill will against me, if they are lying, etc. Not read their minds, their actual thoughts, but it's imparted to me if they plan on doing something to me, hate me, are lying, etc. Also like when I was in "Heaven", when I didn't understand something, a full explanation of it would be imparted to me. Like when I heard the word "police" for the first time, it was instantly imparted to me that it meant important men with authority who wore uniforms, had guns, handcuffs, and could put people into jail for wrongdoing. I was also given images of each item as it was being described to me. Even given an image of the roads to get me there from where I was at the time, as well as an image of the jail itself. Several years later my school buss had to double up it's rout because another buss had broken down, and I finally went up the road I was shown the jail was on, and it was there, looking exactly as it was shown to me. This ability also helped me learn to read in minutes. My parents never bothered to even try teaching me to read. So when I first went to school I had to tell the teacher "no" when she asked everyone if they could read. So I had to spend three agonizing days listening to the teacher going over, and over, and over... See the cat run. See the dog run. See the cat play with the dog. And making all us children mouth the words along with her over, and over, and over... I couldn't "get it" because I was suppose to look over another boy's shoulder and read along like the rest. I finally blew a fuse and grabbed the book from him and it all came flooding to me. I previously had no idea what any of the words meant. My parents kept me isolated so had no idea what a cat or dog even was. But I instantly could pronounce the words, knew what a cat and dog was, even remember thinking how stupid it was because dogs don't even like cats. Not only that, but I went on reading the whole story, knowing how to pronounce the words and what everything meant!

These abilities not only stayed with me my entire life, but thru experimentation discovered how to use other spiritual abilities of my soul. So from that NDE/OBE experience, I have been blessed with a most profound spiritual life.
 

Ancient Soul

The Spiritual Universe
To be a better person means this: to more effectively love your neighbor as yourself. It means taking the long view, and seeing how your actions will help the person five years from now, not just today. It means making it habitual to care for others. It means look for many ways to love, from the random act of kindness, to voting in candidates who will use our tax money to help those who need it constructively. It means stretching the concept of "neighbor" to those outside our circle of friends, outside our ethnicity or nationality. Indeed, stretching it to include the weak, the old, the unborn, the disabled, the oppressed, even the less than human (animals), and the earth in general.

In honor of Tu B'Shevat today, consider planting a tree, and enjoy the fruits of the earth.

I was in total agreement until the ending.

But didn't Adam and Eve get into serious trouble with the last part?
 

Ayjaydee

Active Member
What measurement are you using? I believe that I laid it out pretty well in the post to which you are replying...

That is, are you obeying your internal moral and ethical standards as you perceive them, and do you do better at that every day?

....and...when others look at you, can they say 'this is a person who not only does not harm anybody, but someone I can trust to help me if I need it?

If both things are true of you, then you are a 'better person.' The question is, are you better today than you were yesterday?


I think that the above is pretty clear. "Better" is pretty subjective, in that no matter where one is, one can be 'better than' or 'worse than' that.
Better in the long run but two steps forward , one step back or vice versa somedays
 

dianaiad

Well-Known Member
Better in the long run but two steps forward , one step back or vice versa somedays

Well, that's what we are on this planet for, I believe. The 'two steps forward' bit, not the 'two steps back.'

I think the whole goal of living here is for one's epitaph to read "s/he did good."
 

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
I was in total agreement until the ending.

But didn't Adam and Eve get into serious trouble with the last part?
I'm looking at what I said, and I don't see where any of it relates to Adam and Eve. You'll have to be more specific than "the last part." Thanks.
 

Ancient Soul

The Spiritual Universe
I'm looking at what I said, and I don't see where any of it relates to Adam and Eve. You'll have to be more specific than "the last part." Thanks.

My oversight.

In your last line you stated:

"In honor of Tu B'Shevat today, consider planting a tree, and enjoy the fruits of the earth."

Of which I just assumed that everyone has heard of the Christian myth of Adam & Eve and how they got into serious trouble with "god" over eating the "fruit". So I was just making a joke out of the last part of your statement of "and enjoy the fruits of the earth" which is what got them into the trouble in the first place.

But in the future I will TRY to remember you don't do jokes. You sure crushed that one to death.
 
Being made in the image of God, entails a moral perspective. As God is a moral Being, so are we. We are born with a conscience, a sense of what is right and what is wrong. But as we are fallen creatures, our consciences can be corrupted. As God is a just God, that is a God of justice, we are born with a sense of justice. That is why when another person commits a heinous crime, people are outraged and call for justice to be done. But I make the observation, is there any real perfect justice in this world? A man may commit murder or committed multiple cases of paedophilia, he is found guilty and sent to prison. Is that enough justice, when would his punishment be enough? Thanks be to God that God's justice is perfect and no-one in the end can escape His punishment. Certainty for eternity.
 
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