What makes one a good person?

When I considered myself a Christian, the way I used to think about good and bad (and the way this relates to humans) was filtered through the Bible — you know, the Golden Rule and such things defining what amounts to the absolute values we are supposed to have. So for forty years I walked around believing there was a “good person” recipe to follow, and that I should be “good” to avoid eternal damnation (hell) or something equivalent.

But then I discovered (or uncovered) other concepts that lead me to think beyond the idea of a penalty for imperfect action or judgment. My first thoughts beyond Christianity were in terms of intent, because eastern philosophies are based on an analysis seemingly prohibited by western culture: what, exactly, do I want to accomplish? why? should I even aspire to such things? should I aspire to anything? what exactly is the point?

Before thinking for myself, all these questions were predetermined; but, without an objective (heaven), things changed. And eventually I considered intent is just a subtle determiner questioned by the west, as it is very easy to justify lying to both myself and anyone else.

Given my conclusion, I wondered, where lies the basis of intent? Does it originate in conscious decisions or in social rules about which perhaps we are unaware? And if we are part of a Christian society, would we not be unaware of such an origin? Because we are not really supposed to question. And would this also be the case in an eastern-oriented culture? Since I am not part of one, I am unsure — but I tend to believe not, at least not to the extent in our affluent environment where we can easily amuse ourselves beyond such deep thinking.

This at least indicates the difficult nature of nailing down an absolute origin for our behaviors — or more importantly, the origin of our thoughts. And if we at least question where our thinking comes from, does that mean we should also entertain the concept that, at least where we are exposed to another consciousness, we have no practical free will? And if that is the case, how can we search for the absolute, or be either good or bad?