I have a file in my computer which is the equivalent of a kitchen junk drawer. You know, that drawer where you toss all the odd bits that don’t have a specified home – but you don’t want to get rid of them just yet. Things you don’t want to lose, but have no particular use for this minute.
This file serves that purpose for things I find while reading -- quotations, interesting articles, poetry. I do make an effort to show proper citations for each one – Author, Publication, Date, etc. but sometimes things get in there without too much information.
This is one such. I have it attributed to Daniel Berrigan, but with no context – no where or when. I assume it’s Berrigan but can’t be certain it actually is since Google entirely failed me when I tried to find out if the quote really is his or not.
In case you don’t know, Daniel Berrigan, along with his younger brother Phillip, was a Jesuit priest prominent in the anti-Vietnam war protests of the ‘60’s. After that war ended he went on to work tirelessly against nuclear arms and also for the rights of AIDS sufferers. This is the quote I’ve hung onto for many years:
"The good is to be done because it is good, not because it is going somewhere. I believe if it is done in that spirit, it will go somewhere, but I don't know where.... I have never been seriously interested in the outcome."
This is a wonderful, challenging quote: "The good is to be done because it is good, not because it is going somewhere.” Think about that for a minute or two. Good shouldn’t be done just for some external reason, but simply because it is good. Not to further a specific end, but just because it’s good. Not because it will earn you a slot in heaven. Not because it makes you look good in the eyes of others. Not so others will think highly of you. Not because some rule or law somewhere says it is to be done. Not even because it makes you feel good about doing it.
“Good is to be done because it is good.” Not even because, in Berrigan’s phrase, it’s “going somewhere” which I take to mean it will lead to some particular desired result.
It appears to be extraordinarily difficult for us humans, as a whole, to separate the concept of abstract goodness from “what benefits me.” Scripture is filled with instances of the various writers extoling God’s supposed goodness for doing truly horrible things – things that benefitted the author’s people and supported their belief in their own exceptional existence, while totally discounting any others.
Read the stories of the Hebrew People moving in and claiming “their” promised land – it’s not pretty. The Hebrews were delighted God was blessing them this way, but it didn’t look so good from the standpoint of the people who had been living in that land already – those who were killed or pushed out so the Hebrews could move in. This is a war that is still being fought 3000 years later. Is that good? Can what is good for only a few truly be “good” in the sense that we are talking about here?
There are hundreds of references for “good” and “goodness” to be found in scripture. There is good news, good fruit, good will. It is good to love God, to feed the hungry – good to care for the poor. But all of these instances seem to not quite match up with Berrigan’s assertion that good is to be done because it is good – period -- and not because it is going somewhere – not because it has a goal.
In the Old Testament – the Hebrew Scriptures – the verse that we read last week from Micah 6:8 – to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God -- is repeated over and over by the various prophets with slight changes to the language, such as this one from Isaiah 1:17: Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. This is surely a call for goodness, but it, like all the other similar verses, is followed in the bible by a threat, that very bad things will follow if this command is not met. There is a goal to this goodness – the goal is to avoid destruction.
And other times the goal is to please God, or because we want to be good people -- both good and worthy goals, btw. So, in our day to day lives, when we do good things are we doing them to earn points with God or our neighbor or are we truly doing them simply because they are good and should be done? And are we clear on the difference between the good and what we personally want?
Is it possible for “the good” to be pure? To have no bias, no expectation of reward? Probably not – at least not as long as humans are involved. But we can come very close. I do think most of us try to do good in our lives. We do good because it is the right thing to do.
Is the good we do always that no-strings-attached good that Berrigan claimed? I don’t know. I don’t know if it makes a difference. If the good is done – even if somewhat grudgingly sometimes or for mixed reasons – it is still done. And if it goes some direction we weren’t expecting or intending then it is still good, isn’t it?
There’s a phrase you hear every now and then – “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” or in the words of one of my favorite quotes from G.K. Chesterton – Anything worth doing is worth doing badly. So just do good, for the best reason you can.
And give thanks to God that goodness is and that God believes we are capable of doing it.
This file serves that purpose for things I find while reading -- quotations, interesting articles, poetry. I do make an effort to show proper citations for each one – Author, Publication, Date, etc. but sometimes things get in there without too much information.
This is one such. I have it attributed to Daniel Berrigan, but with no context – no where or when. I assume it’s Berrigan but can’t be certain it actually is since Google entirely failed me when I tried to find out if the quote really is his or not.
In case you don’t know, Daniel Berrigan, along with his younger brother Phillip, was a Jesuit priest prominent in the anti-Vietnam war protests of the ‘60’s. After that war ended he went on to work tirelessly against nuclear arms and also for the rights of AIDS sufferers. This is the quote I’ve hung onto for many years:
"The good is to be done because it is good, not because it is going somewhere. I believe if it is done in that spirit, it will go somewhere, but I don't know where.... I have never been seriously interested in the outcome."
This is a wonderful, challenging quote: "The good is to be done because it is good, not because it is going somewhere.” Think about that for a minute or two. Good shouldn’t be done just for some external reason, but simply because it is good. Not to further a specific end, but just because it’s good. Not because it will earn you a slot in heaven. Not because it makes you look good in the eyes of others. Not so others will think highly of you. Not because some rule or law somewhere says it is to be done. Not even because it makes you feel good about doing it.
“Good is to be done because it is good.” Not even because, in Berrigan’s phrase, it’s “going somewhere” which I take to mean it will lead to some particular desired result.
It appears to be extraordinarily difficult for us humans, as a whole, to separate the concept of abstract goodness from “what benefits me.” Scripture is filled with instances of the various writers extoling God’s supposed goodness for doing truly horrible things – things that benefitted the author’s people and supported their belief in their own exceptional existence, while totally discounting any others.
Read the stories of the Hebrew People moving in and claiming “their” promised land – it’s not pretty. The Hebrews were delighted God was blessing them this way, but it didn’t look so good from the standpoint of the people who had been living in that land already – those who were killed or pushed out so the Hebrews could move in. This is a war that is still being fought 3000 years later. Is that good? Can what is good for only a few truly be “good” in the sense that we are talking about here?
There are hundreds of references for “good” and “goodness” to be found in scripture. There is good news, good fruit, good will. It is good to love God, to feed the hungry – good to care for the poor. But all of these instances seem to not quite match up with Berrigan’s assertion that good is to be done because it is good – period -- and not because it is going somewhere – not because it has a goal.
In the Old Testament – the Hebrew Scriptures – the verse that we read last week from Micah 6:8 – to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God -- is repeated over and over by the various prophets with slight changes to the language, such as this one from Isaiah 1:17: Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. This is surely a call for goodness, but it, like all the other similar verses, is followed in the bible by a threat, that very bad things will follow if this command is not met. There is a goal to this goodness – the goal is to avoid destruction.
And other times the goal is to please God, or because we want to be good people -- both good and worthy goals, btw. So, in our day to day lives, when we do good things are we doing them to earn points with God or our neighbor or are we truly doing them simply because they are good and should be done? And are we clear on the difference between the good and what we personally want?
Is it possible for “the good” to be pure? To have no bias, no expectation of reward? Probably not – at least not as long as humans are involved. But we can come very close. I do think most of us try to do good in our lives. We do good because it is the right thing to do.
Is the good we do always that no-strings-attached good that Berrigan claimed? I don’t know. I don’t know if it makes a difference. If the good is done – even if somewhat grudgingly sometimes or for mixed reasons – it is still done. And if it goes some direction we weren’t expecting or intending then it is still good, isn’t it?
There’s a phrase you hear every now and then – “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” or in the words of one of my favorite quotes from G.K. Chesterton – Anything worth doing is worth doing badly. So just do good, for the best reason you can.
And give thanks to God that goodness is and that God believes we are capable of doing it.
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