Sometimes, as we live in the world today, it’s hard to find goodness not only in others but in ourselves—frustration and anger at all the things that are out of our control. We strive to be kind, considerate, and kind, and even on our best days, we grumble under our breath at the faults of others. And then there are those who constantly find fault with themselves under the heavy scrutiny of others. Learn the art and craft of being a good man, not just how to break through and free ourselves.
Like any art or craft, being a good human takes practice. We must constantly strive to make ourselves better, and gradually, hopefully, the world will reciprocate. First, we need to think of ourselves as a blank canvas. We must paint a picture of what we believe a good human being looks like: with patient and comforting smiles and caring, sympathetic eyes. We may need to tune our voices to speak with gentle compassion instead of anger and bitter resentment. And we may need to sculpt our body language to be welcoming to those close to us and to strangers.
The art of being a good human goes beyond the simple practise of prayer and meditation, philosophical and self-help readings, and good deeds and thoughts. All those things are helpful artistic tools, but the end result is important. The tools of an artist are only as good as the artist who uses them.An artist must constantly learn how to humanise all the tools given to him.
It’s hard work. As a writer, I always feel that my works are imperfect and that I must constantly strive to improve them. As a human being, even with all the tools of meditation, recitations, good deeds, and thoughts, I still have not mastered being an extraordinary human being. There is still a lot of work to be done. But this is an art I have vowed to master.
