Thomas Jefferson wrote of an inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. Jordan Peterson, the newly-famous Canadian psychologist, writes about the importance of taking responsibility -- and that doing something positive and worthwhile is what we should strive for. Emanuel Swedenborg wrote about being useful -- and how that effort leads to spiritual progress.
New Christian thought emphasizes processes - the process of shunning evil, the process of learning truths, the process of making yourself develop good habits. One key process - and mindset - is that of being useful.
Are people fundamentally good? Or fundamentally evil? Or a mixture? Are we spiritual beings? Or just "random collocations of molecules"? How do we work?