Common Goodness

At this writing, my husband David Mains and I have been in isolation for 26 days. The COVID-19 pandemic is raging. Totals are mounting with a predicted 100,000 to 240,000-some deaths here in the United States. Needless to say, this is a time of unprecedented national anxiety.

On my desk is a file. The tab reads “Goodness.” Into this folder I place all the articles and digital notices I find about people who are practicing common acts of goodness. This calms me and helps me remember that though things seem grimmer with every passing day, God is working a purpose out of all this that will be amazing, even miraculous.

Why do I collect these brief articles about acts of common goodness? Partly, it’s because the whole fact of being good intrigues me. Why are some people so good? Why do they display empathy toward others’ suffering? Is there a genetic determination that enables certain folk to act charitably? Or is this a capacity—to be good, to do good—a quality, a way of being, we all can learn and cultivate?

So, I keep my eye out for goodness. How is it displayed in our collective culture? Why do some people give out of scarcity? What enables those who share sacrificially? What films and celebrities and public figures model this quality? How do we actually define the concept? What are the definitions of goodness? As much as possible, I try to expose myself to those incidences and events that explore this concept. For example, the recent film Bella is a beautiful study of the relationship between a man and a woman that leads him to adopt her infant. Reviews of the film go in my accumulating “Goodness” file.

In addition, I collect quotes. Tolstoy once wrote, “To be good and lead a good life means to give to others more than one takes from them.” That’s a start. How about this one by Jane Bowdler in her work On Christian Perfection? “Some good we all can do; and if we do all that is in our power, however little that power may be, we have performed our part, and may be as near perfection as those whose influence extends over kingdoms, and whose good actions are applauded by thousands.” Or this one from Francis Bacon? “Because indeed there was never law, or sect, or opinion did so much to magnify goodness, as the Christian religion doth.”

I answer my persistent questions partly by observing the response of my own mind and body when I read about or personally encounter goodness being enacted. It just feels good to be good and to have goodness extended my way or to see it offered between perfect strangers. I feel better. My physical being warms. Gladness rises in my soul. My spirit is lightened.

Researchers have a name for the physiological high we get from witnessing human goodness: “moral elevation,” they call it. These experts have determined that moral elevation inspires optimism and makes people want to be a better person and to act altruistically toward others.

An article in Biological Psychology reveals the findings conducted in a study with 104 college students. Their assignment was to view videos depicting the heroic or compassionate acts or comedic situations. While this was going on, researchers took various measurements: heart rates, activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (this is a center associated with higher-level cognitive functions and is thought to be involved in experiences of moral elevation).

The PNS (parasympathetic nervous system) was also measured. This is determined in respiratory sinus arrhythmia, which indicates that the parasympathetic nervous system, our self-soothing function, is activated. Heart rate is an indicator of our SNS (sympathetic nervous system)—the fight-or-flight instinct. Contrary to the researchers’ expectations, students who watched videos depicting heroic acts or compassionate themes experienced elevation in both the PNS and the SNS. Students watching films that were comedic experienced arousal in neither. Sarina Saturn, a researcher at Oregon State University, explained, “This is a really uncommon pattern, where you see both of these systems recruited for one emotion.”

The conclusions from this study? What was it about moral elevation that activated the PNS and the SNS?

The researchers studying these impacts concluded that moral elevation must involve a similar pattern: “To see a compassionate act, we must witness suffering and that’s stressful. However, once we see the suffering alleviated through an altruistic act, it calms our heart (through PNS), allowing us to get past the stress and gives us that pleasant warm feeing. This feeling is probably what calms our hearts enough to give us the motivation to ‘pay it forward’ by acting altruistically in the future.”

So the scientific research studies are interesting. But do we really do good because it makes us feel good? Is that self-centered response the only reason goodness exists in the world? Or is feeling good an unintentional response from our acts of kindness?

I wonder if part of the body’s physiological reaction to seeing (or performing) acts of goodness hasn’t as much to do with another rational, which seems to be beyond the ken of researchers studying the phenomenon of moral elevation. Perhaps we do good, or see good, because there is an inward, deeply felt, and little-understood motivation to do good simply because “it’s the right thing to do.”

Scripture affirms the goodness of God again and again:
• “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His loving-kindness is everlasting.” (Psalm 107:1)
• “How great is Thy goodness, which Thou has stored up for those who fear Thee which Thou hast wrought for those who take refuge in Thee, before the sons of men!” (Psalm 33:5)

The goodness of God appears to be the sum total of all God’s attributes; it can be viewed as a overall summation of His character:
• “Then Moses said, ‘I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!’ And He said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.’” (Exodus 33:19)
• “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17)

God is the source of goodness in the world and particularly to those who live and follow His way:
• “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11)

So is it any wonder that for those of us who are made in the image of God, that we would choose the good, long for it, seek it out, rejoice when we find it, experience moral elevation when it occurs or when we share the goodness in our lives or give away what we have for the sake of someone who needs it more. Think how innate this instinct is in us, whether we follow that inner nudge or not.

Observe the phrases that salt our ordinary, everyday language:
• It’s a good thing!
• Oh, good!
• My goodness…
• Good enuff.
• How good is that?
• Goodbye.
• Good grief!
And in black churches, this call and response every Sunday:
• God is good… (this from the preacher). All the time! (congregation)
• All the time… (preacher again). God is good! (congregation)

I conducted a word study on goodness. The synonyms make up a monumental list: altruism, amity, comity, compassion, feeling, friendliness, friendship, generosity, gift, good will, goodness, humanity, kindheartedness, kindness, sympathy.

Then, how about these synonyms for charity? Affection, agape, altruism, amity, attachment, benevolence, benignity, bountifulness, bounty, clarity, clemency, fellow feeling, generosity, goodness, goodwill, grace, humaneness, humanity, indulgence, kindliness, lenity, love, magnanimity, mercy, tenderheartedness.

The concept of goodness embraces all these extraordinary capacities. All together, they describe the nature of our good, good God. They can also function as a synonym map for self-examination: Am I (are we) exemplars of all the above? Am I displaying the nature of God in my words and actions? Do I model all the above to my children, my extended family, my neighbors, my work colleagues, the grocery-store clerk, the librarian at the local library, the cleaning crew, the boss, the mail person—anyone with whom I might make daily contact?

This season of social distancing might just be the opportunity we all need to examine where we have failed in the extending of goodness, what we can rectify, how we can change our behavior. To whom do we need to handwrite a note? What apology needs to be made regarding thoughtless words and behavior? What confession for deliberate disobedience regarding God’s ways do we need to make? How can we repair what we have neglected, what we have allowed to become broken?

Definition: Goodness is the state or quality of being good, especially morally good or beneficial. In a sense, it’s the quality of having quality.

The Apostle Paul wrote about overcoming evil with good: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21, NIV).

Then let us remember that God is the Source of all goodness. He is the model of what is good and beautiful and true. He is the Enabler (often the prod and motivator) for us to be good: “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). His goodness expressed in us as an aggregate defeats evil (yes, it does).

So, what are we all waiting for, hunkered down, socially distancing, isolated? We’re clever enough to figure a way around this pandemic without putting our own health or that of the ones we love in jeopardy. Our God is not only the Source of all that is good; He is also the Originator of creativity. He is perfectly capable of inspiring our minds, of inciting our capabilities to utilize the very strictures of our present COVID-19 confinement to refuse defeatism, to believe in overcoming despite our circumstances, to be clever and kind and to find ways to reach out to others. These acts of kindness are often simple, not monumental in any way.

• A florist in New Albany, MS set out flowers so neighbors, one at a time, could assemble bouquets to brighten their homes.
• Some folk are turning tiny front-yard libraries into tiny front-yard pantries where folk share excess dry or canned food.
• People everywhere have been organizing sewing centers in individual homes to sew protective masks.
• On my own street, boxes were placed curbside with signs reading, “We Have Extra.”

So, let’s start exercising goodness for the common good. And let’s do it now, for goodness’ sake.

Karen Mains

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Karen Mains

PODCASTING CORNER

Before We Go
David & Karen's podcast

David and I are podcasting! We’ve recorded some 30 shows and are beginning to hit our stride. The podcasts can be found on BeforeWeGo.show. Go down to the very beginning of our podcast list and catch David’s series on Revelation. He spent 15 years studying that intriguing book. This book is a word for those who are seriously considering the meaning of these “pandemic” days. The last podcasts deal with the coronavirus pandemic and consider the importance of hope, the importance of being we-believe people, and the importance of support relationship. Join us, won’t you? Then check out the resources we are providing at Grow.BeforeWeGo.show.