A Post About Changes of Heart

I used to have a bad heart, if heart is to mean one's will and disposition. It was a bad will. Now, I have a good will. If this is understood properly, most people immediately expect some type of religious explanation. This post is not religious. While usually the idea of a change of heart or redemption has to do with salvation under Christ, it does not necessarily have to. It has to do most with understanding that after you are wicked, and do wicked things, do not do them again. There may be some residual remorse, and some residual bad actions, simply because I am not a fully realized person. However, there is a difference between a good and bad person.

I'm reluctant to get into the details of what constituted my badness, but it may suffice to say that I was intent on being vicious. My desire was literally to be as evil as possible. I was not even successful at that, but I came pretty close sometimes. This could be chalked up to being a teenager at the time, and that's true enough. Still, most people don't change heart. They just realize how good they've been all along if anything.

What is the impetus to change heart? It's simply situational. If you realize fully the nature of cause and effect, that basically bad actions do not pay in the long run, the problem will solve itself. Every action is seen. Nothing is hidden. It may not be some god who sees it, but somewhere or somehow it will be known. Knowing this is the solution.

Then there are other things that help to turn a bad man into a good man. There's associating with the right people. There's making conscious moral guidelines for yourself. There's simply trying to be a good person. I'm still quite selfish at times. Even now I talk about myself throughout this post, with the assumption that it may have some residual help for people. Still, the self is there. There is "good enough." Being a pretty good person is all that matters. My friend put it well. "Just don't make a negative contribution to the world." I don't even know if I'm there yet, but I'm on the path. How? Fear of wrongdoing, remorse over wrongdoing, and earnestness in trying to improve.