Is living a good life determined by what you do, or what you think?

Question

A man can live and act selflessly, care for his sick mother, be a model citizen in society, etc.
He does all he can to help others.
He has sexual feelings for the eight-year-old girl living next door.
He may never act out his fantasies, and keep them in his mind only, but to merely think them would surely contradict all the good in life that he does.

An alcoholic dragging himself through each day, trying to find enough money for his next beer, though cares not for his hygiene, cares for the ducks in the park; cares and thinks about his sick mother.
He knows that he is an alcoholic and feels guilty because he cannot shake off his addiction to help her, but he makes no effort to stop.
Without the alcohol, he could be as selfless as the man before him.

The first is selfless in action but sick in mind.
The second is selfish in action but caring in mind.

Which of these is the better person? Is living a good life determined by what you do, or what you think?

Answer 1

What you THINK determines what you are. What you think is who you are.

Answer 2

The answer to your question is BOTH, in my opinion. One cannot be a good person without being entirely so.
It depends significantly on who judges the issue. If it is the society, who has certain standards but cannot read people's minds, then the first guy is a model citizen and the second is almost a criminal.
If God is the judge, only God can tell how much in the thoughts and behaviour of the two is self-indulgence (in obscene thoughts for the first and in alcoholism for the other) and how much is genuine repentance, which means an ardent desire to leave behind all sin (which in Greek is denoted by a word which means "missing target" and thus describes what sin actually is: falling short of fulfilling one's humanity).
Now you pick the answer that you like best, in this postmodern world.

Answer 3

Every decision we make and every action we take is reflective of who we are. Whether the action is behind closed doors, or it is a thought, or it is some great deed. Everything we say, do, and think helps to determine who we are as a person. We may have what people consider a "good" life - we have a good job, successful marriage, great kids - but I think the things we do when no one is looking, or the thoughts we think that we tell ourselves is just a passing thought, those are the things that really determine how "good" of a person we are

Answer 4

Instead of reaching out to evaluate from actions, why not look at the perception level of humans !
Most people identify themselves with just their body, sense organs and live accordingly.
With a little more deeper emotions, they also try to identify themselves as a part of somebody whom they are attached to , and make no distinction while doing something needed for them.
Yet there are fewer others, who experience everything as a part of themselves, and out of this experience, action flows according to the situation.
Being good, better, selfless, selfish etc are view points of persons who find themselves in a limited sphere of self-identification. Therefore the confusion !

Answer 5

It seems you are pondering moral values. Read some of Peter Singer's arguments. I believe however, that people are not just good or just bad. We are all good and bad, even the pope and even the Buddha. You see, to be human we recognise the complexity of life and many of its constituent. This includes recognising right, wrong, good and bad. BUT where do these come from? Where do right, wrong, good and bad come from? Further more, can they change over time and space. I think they can, so my answer is not one of the people you describe above is better or worse than the other, they are just people. Socially speaking though, the social dynamics dictate, to some degree, what is right, wrong, good and bad, so generally speaking the people within that society generally conforms to such ideals.

Answer 6

It's what you do and which thoughts you choose to act upon. The man in your example who has bad thoughts. but doesn't act on them also has good thoughts behind his good actions. There is another way to look at it. If a man only sits and thinks, he will have some good thoughts and some bad thoughts. If he never gives himself anything to do, the bad thoughts will become uncontrollable, but if he immerses himself in acting on the good thoughts, the bad thoughts have much less power over his actions. It is, of course, better to think good thoughts, but doing that is often a matter of discipline and people acquire discipline by doing.

Answer 7

I think thought precedes action, and although sometimes we act without thinking ,what determines whether our life is worth living is whether we can sleep at night, which depends on whether we have had better thoughts or more terrible thoughts.But thought should not bother us too much or it might end up in unwanted action such as crime.So too much thought is bad,but I think too much action is unnecessary.As long as we keepp our thoughts to ourselves and use them properly at the right time,then we can safely assume that living a good life is determined more by thought and less by action.

Answer 8

It takes greater self discipline to restrain yourself from acting out perverted fantasies than to think good thoughts while abusing yourself and others.

We all have thoughts at one time or another that made touch on the darker side of life. However, a truly good person knows his/her weaknesses and acts accordingly.

How many times have you had a lurid fantasy? But it was just that, make believe.

Answer 9

No mortal could possibly judge someone's life, hardly even the person living it. All we can do is to go on in search of what we think is right. I'm not exactly the most religious, but i do believe in God, and i do believe in the egos of man and the faults in his morals and thoughts. I just know that we can't think of ourselves as so important to judge other people or ourselves. Only God can do that.

Answer 10

By actions and actions are influenced by thoughts.in general.
But we can't find a answer for this question exactly.Thats way we call life is mystery.
Just an example: What we can say about Jesus's life?
All life working for people and how he ended?
What is good life or bad?
How we know what is good what is bad?
All is interpretation.One way or another.
The best way is to meditate.Go in.
And you will find the true answer.
love

Answer 11

The alcoholic is the better person, the other guy needs to buy a rope and hang himself from a brige asap.