Good For The Sake Of....Itself?

What makes something good? How interesting that we are talking about the concept of intrinsic good in Honors Orientation this week, because I had a discussion in Sunday school about whether anything humans do without God has any “goodness” in it at all. I still don’t know exactly what I think about that, but it was certainly a stimulating discussion.

I digress, however. After reading the chapter “Is Thinking Good for Its Own Sake,” for Honors Orientation, I now understand intrinsic goodness as anything that is good for its own sake. That is, it does not require outcomes or results to make it good. It is good all by itself. It’s not that intrinsic goodness doesn’t bring about good results. It does! But it would be considered good without its results, not just because of them.

~My list of “good” things (in no particular order):

1)                  God (because any list I make he ought to be automatically at the top)

2)                  Prayer, intercession, and worship of God

3)                  Singing with all ones might (even if it doesn’t sound good)

4)                  Peaceful silence

5)                  Joy

6)                  Love (by this I mean all 4 Greek concepts of love: agape, philia, storge, eros)

7)                  Freedom

8)                  Roses, daisies, irises, flowers in general….ok fine…nature in general

9)                  Long walks

10)               Friendship

11)               Contentment

12)               Deepening understanding and increasing learning

13)               Life and health

14)               Rest

15)               Listening

16)               God-created beauty

17)               Questing (yes, this is a DragonKeeper Chronicles reference)

18)               Faithful obedience

19)               Wisdom

20)               Chocolate J (I love you Gabrielle!)

21)               Mercy and compassion

22)               Family

23)               Smiles and laughter

24)               Rejoicing in the wonder of who God has created me to be

25)               The ability to read, speak, write, and reason

26)               Experiencing the wide world around me

27)               Accomplishing goals

28)               Conversation and communication, understanding one another

29)               Creative thinking

30)               Sunshine, sunrises, sunsets, cloudy days, starlight nights

31)               Words

32)               Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and…..(I’ll waltz off singing with The Sound of Music now)

Now, many other things are good also. It is these things—this intrinsic goodness—that allows us to do what the author referred to as “living largely.” This means living in an un-constricted, as-many-good-things-as-possible way, with the overall goal of glorifying God. This is the good life. 

             ~A moment where I experienced intrinsic goodness:

Last night I went to Vespers for the first time. I left most of my friends in Walker and jogged across campus to Jones Recital Hall because I was going to late (what else is new?). By the time I reached the building, I was cold and out of breath. I slipped into the hall as quietly as possible (which unfortunately was not quiet at all because the door clanged behind me and I whacked my knee on the end of the aisle trying to get into my seat) and gently slid into the third or fourth row from the front. I was still breathing heavily, which felt almost irreverent because everyone else seemed so calm and patient as they waited for the service to begin. When Vespers began, we sang a few songs, listened to Scripture read aloud, meditated on what we heard, and prayed for ourselves, others, and the world. In those moments, I began to relax. This was time to pause, think, enjoy the silence, and talk to God.

Thinking back now, I don’t think I have had that much silence in weeks. Even when I am alone in my dorm there is constant ambient noise or I am listening to my music. What a striking contrast! At Vespers, I was left alone with my God and my own thoughts for several minutes straight. Ah, friends, it was a wonderful feeling. I felt stress falling off me as if I was a snake shedding my old skin. This is my example of experiencing intrinsic good. The peace, silence, reflection, worship of God, God’s presence, Scripture, fellowship with other believers, and reverence was good for its own sake, but also had incredibly beneficial results. This is good.