Goodness

Goodness is a very basic, very critical concept that has great depth, ranging from the most superficial aspects which are easily grasped by mortal beings and far beyond. You will go on learning about goodness all through your ascension career, so it is not redundant to have a lesson about goodness at this time. Goodness is a manifestation of our Father. When we behave in good ways we are imitating Father. We
are showing Him to our fellows, and we are sending a message to Paradise in that unique way that all of our actions are transmitted. The message is a good one, and is greeted with pleasure by the Most Highs.
And it makes this planet shine a bit more brightly in the cosmos.

Goodness is a building block. Your good act will stand for a long, long time as - I do not know the words to describe it, so I will use the word “spiritual” – as a spiritual entity on Earth. And the good acts of you and your fellows throughout history go to build a solid edifice of worship to Father, like bricks or building stones, if you will. Those who have spiritual vision are able to see the good that has been done just as if they were viewing building blocks, which is quite wonderful indeed.

What is seen by the material person is barely or not seen at all by the spiritual and vice versa. It is rather sensed by the spiritual. Spiritual beings perceive spiritual things such as goodness just as firmly as you would perceive a table or a chair or a car or a stone. And the car and stone that you perceive and consider to be your real world are only sensed by the spirit. Therefore your perception, as a material being, of goodness and other spiritual things will be more of a sense, a sensing, a feeling, if you will, although that is not a good word. If you can grasp this concept and use it in your future observations as you go about your activities, it will help you greatly to understand the dealings of the spirit, and it will also enable you to perceive more clearly the promptings of your Thought Adjuster - which are, among other things, urgings
for you to do good.

This perception of spiritual things has been described as being of gossamer quality, like the faintest of breezes blowing across one's face, in some of your religious tracts. This is a good way of describing it. Again, I want to remind you that when you work on your spiritual perception, the more you work on it, the stronger it will become. When you work on your goodness and its expression in your acts, the more you strive, the more good you will manifest.

There is an unfortunate fact of semantics in this language that equates goodness with value, but that is not the meaning of the spiritual concept of goodness as far as the material aspect of value. For you know that Father loves us all with no favorites. You will not become a teacher's pet by striving to do good. You are not in a competition with all others for Father's favor by striving to be good. That is not how the universe operates. I know that it is difficult for mortal beings to let these ideas pass, and that is why I am reminding you. It is not good, better, best. One strives to be like Father because it is right. One strives to be good, to be honest, to be loyal, to be merciful because it is right - not because it is to be superior.

As you, my friends, become more spiritually attuned and develop your spiritual muscles through your actions, you will become more humble. And as you become more humble, more truly humble, the notion of superiority as it falls off your shoulders will seem increasingly to have been an unnecessary burden and hindrance. And your life will become easier for having discarded that notion, and that, too, is good.

Now, it has been said by some of your thinkers in the past that one should never let go an opportunity to
do good. This is a most interesting utterance. Does this mean that as one comes at you with knife bared intending to harm you, you offer a bouquet of flowers? A fistful of money? A kiss? No. Jesus faced with that situation would surely have protected Himself, but He would not have necessarily drawn His own knife. And in not drawing his knife, His act would have been good.

In doing good do you feel it is appropriate to offer things to people without any effort on their part? For example, giving food to the indolent, clothes to those who are capable but will not work, housing to those who will not maintain it, and so on. Is that good? Think upon this, my friends. Would Jesus do that? Did He?

But then, of course, we have another matter, the matter of healing. Disease is a complex matter which
involves the interplay of physical factors with spiritual factors. Every disease known on Earth contains both elements, and you will remember that Jesus did indeed heal those who came to Him without question. You may say, but is this not the same as giving a house to the man who will not work or clean his home? No, because a house is a material thing and disease is not a wholly material thing. A full understanding of the contrast between these two situations is an exercise which may be beyond the scope of this lesson, but it does no harm to work on this, my friends. And attempt to resolve what may very well seem to be paradoxical. As you all strive to be good, you will in a sense be healers.

Be careful now, though, to differentiate between healing illness and catering to greed. Do not deprive your fellow man of the personal adversity that is so necessary to their own spiritual growth. Certainly you may help, but it is important to understand where the line is to be drawn. And it is very much an art to learn this method of discernment.

The life of Jesus is a study in goodness, and I ask that you turn to the account of His life as an example for you. Is there perfect goodness? Yes, in Paradise. Is there perfect goodness on Earth? No, not at present, but there is the potential for movement toward Light and Life which is in the direction of perfection in spiritual terms.

Is there goodness in animals? No, goodness is an advanced spiritual concept.

Is there goodness in humans who are savages? That depends on the level of development, but if the savagery is deep enough it is possible to find savage humans who are bereft of goodness.

Can a good person become ungood? Yes, by turning from God and plunging into iniquity.

Can the reverse happen? Yes, by all means, with great effort and faith.

When does the human begin to grasp the notion of goodness? Shortly before the Thought Adjuster arrives there is in most human mortals a beginning of understanding of goodness. Certainly the pre-Adjuster mortal responds positively to goodness in other humans. But the capacity to behave in good ways is not truly present until the Adjuster arrives. That is not to say that infants cannot mimic goodness quite well.

Question: I think that I tested almost everything by whether or not I thought it was in accordance with the will of God. If it was, I thought it was good. And if not, I thought it was evil. This is a rather simplistic view, but it's the test that I used.

Answer: Of course it is the will of God that goodness be done, that goodness characterize the actions of
freewill beings and, of course, the actions of perfectly created beings. However one can act not perfectly
in accord with the will of God and yet still be doing good. There can be flawed good at the material level. It is not such a binary concept. The aspects of the spirit are not so black and white. It is more a matter of what you call quanta.

There is the first step toward goodness which is perceived by one and all in Paradise as a positive move, and the second step and the tenth step and the hundredth step and the millionth step. All are in the realm of good even if they are not wholly and completely a part of a life which is dedicated to the will of God. Material beings are understood to be flawed, to sometimes do the right thing with the wrong motive. The wrong motive is not the will of God, but the right thing is.

All goodness which mortals do in attempting to do the will of God, is within God's will even though it may not be His perfect will.

Question: During your lesson on goodness you spoke of spirit sensing. Do we have spirit sensors that sense
some phase of spiritual reality as we do physical sensors to sense some phase of physical reality?

Answer: Yes. Yes, you do. The lifelong promptings of your Thought Adjuster have laid up a store of information in your deep mind that enables you, if you will it to be, to sense along these lines. Think to
yourself of your observations of random strangers and the senses you have had about them. 

Human beings saw many, many centuries before they ever understood sight. And they realized that it came through the eyes before they understood the mechanics of its coming through the eyes. The sensation of pleasure that you all possess has been present since the earliest days of mankind. Pleasure has been sought in many ways. But as mankind continues to evolve toward Light and Life, the sensation of pleasure will increasingly be sought through spirit growth and attempts to carry out the will of Father rather than through biological strivings. Just as sight was present for many eons before it was understood, so too was pleasure. And the pleasure that the ill person experiences when spiritual healing occurs is something that can be used to advantage by the one who wishes to do good. 

Question: You were talking about us having senses of goodness and that we're able to increase our ability
to sense goodness. Can you help with how to do that? Sometimes you sense goodness in somebody you
don't know. Sometimes you don't sense goodness in somebody you don't know and you find out later
that you're wrong - one way or the other. What happens when we sense something, maybe incorrectly,
and how can we learn to sense it, do better at it? It probably has something to do with the fact of
goodness not being all good or all bad, but I was wondering if you might say something more on that?

Answer: Yes, that is a very good question. You are right that it is not all good or all bad. It is important
when you put out your feelers - so to speak - for goodness that you look beyond the physical demeanor
of the one you are viewing. It is easy to form a snap judgment without having enough information about
the spirit of the one you are watching. This is particularly common at the beginning of your ventures along this line. As you work more and more to look for this in people, it will be useful for you to confirm your observations by gathering more information about those you observe. For example, by talking with them, by watching their behavior over a longer period and comparing what you amass in terms of concrete information to your initial impression. You will know that you are advancing along the line of spiritual perception when your instant assessment becomes more and more congruent with your assessment after long association.

Question: Is goodness a state of being having to do with spirituality as well as a form of doing?

Answer: Yes, and many, many other things as well. It is a basic spiritual concept that has many, many layers, many dimensions, many outworkings, and learning all of these will take you a very, very long time. But make no mistake, others can and do perceive this in you, even those of very limited vision, and you will sense this, too. You already have, many of you. It is magnetic. So be ready to deal with those who are drawn to you in a gracious and God-serving fashion. Did not our Master always have time for His supplicants?