Road to hell paved with good intentions

(After Skool, Dec. 22, 2020) Alan Watts: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." That's the way it is for dogooders trying to do good for themselves or others thinking they know better.

By the way, the road to heaven (sagga, the deva loka) is paved with good karma (deed, word, or thought), and the deeper definition of karma is intention (cetana). So all good motives begin with a volition, and it's important that we not let it remain merely an intention but encourage it to ripen into a deed that we will, carry out, and repeat.

In this way we store up merit, even if it is only to store up merit. Untrue is the common claim that it must be utterly selfless and altruistic to be of benefit. Good is good, and even a little good is good.

ABOUT: Alan Wilson Watts (Jan. 6, 1915–Nov. 16, 1973) was a well known British philosopher, writer, and public speaker in California at free speech radio station KPFK FM Berkeley, best known for his interpretation of Eastern philosophy for Western audiences. He authored more than 25 books and an audio library of nearly 400 talks, which are still in great demand.