RE: How do we know that what we do is RIGHT or WRONG?
Well, where to get started on these elementary questions, and where to end if not writing a philosophical book myself? Here are my views in a nutshell: As long as you 'switch on the brain' i.e. our instrument of logic, thinking, evaluating, judging and the like - you are already lost in the first place. Why? Because this instrument is constantly talking and thus upkeeping our 'outer self' which is also called the 'ego'. And, the ego is always 'bad' with regard to others (and sometimes even with regard to yourself). Ethical thinking is a nice way to make you feel 'good' in terms of your character and behavior, your empathy toward others and so on. However, we humans are also 'blessed' with the powers of FEAR and GREED. Once these powers, or just one of them, grow really strong - for a variety of reasons and circumstances in life - not all under our personal control - our ego changes and 'adapts' automatically to some other ethics or even unethical behavior, just to do what it is supposed to do: to keep us alive, or make us rich or powerful or whatever seems to be 'necessary'.
The way out is the power of true and general and non-possesive LOVE. This power normally develops on its own accord in moments where we are able to 'switch off' the thinking brain and constant inner talker. Actions taken out of this inner silence in combination with resulting love, are always 'good' in its very meaning.
Loved this comment as well. I often think about the powers of fear and greed when reflecting on how some people behave. I don't necessarily find 'fault' in them for behaving with one of those instincts as their motivation but rationalize it, as you stated, as them believing that they truly perceived that those actions were necessary to survive. I think sometimes accumulating money is something they might put under the "trying to survive" category, even though in my opinion that's not always the case!
How I quickly judge my moral behavior is by reminding myself of the saying "When there is a doubt, there is no doubt." If you don't think you should be doing it, then don't. I think we often try to justify our actions but need to trust our gut and not our ego more often!
Hey @lawking I really enjoyed reading your comment. I try myself to develop a general love for everyone and everything, but I have to ascertain that it is often 'generic' more then general. I am not sure we are gifted with omnicomprehensive love. I leave that to Jesus. What we could humanly do is to be more inclined to welcome everyone in our lives openly and with no prejudices, to give a chance to everyone.