The theory of human identity known as "active identity" is the theory that the true identity of a human individual is realized through his or her free acts, the intentions formed to generate those acts, and the effect that those acts have on others- how those acts are considered by others.
A person who wakes up every day and chooses the act of writing is a writer, the person who runs often is a runner...etc etc. It is not only an objective description of identity, but also can be a method of operation for the human individual.
Clearly then, the operational aspects of "active identity" have implications and impact in the sphere of moral action, and can be an operational method of moral choice. Following the explanation of active identity above, if a person wishes to act in a manner considered "good" or benevolent, then what are required are: 1) the intention to produce a positive feedback result for others; 2) the care in the act's execution of objective requirements in the world necessary to produce the positive result; 3) the achievement of a positive result confirmed in the feedback of the other person; and 4) the absence of effects from the action that harm others. With these elements achieved, it can be said in the framework of this theory that the action did indeed produced a "good" result- that it was, in review, a good action.
In this way, with this as an operational method, with repeated "good" results, and extremely limited or absent negative results the person who consistently operates in this manner is attributed a positive moral designation.
Research indicates that this method has tremendous ethical and mental health benefits for sorting through emotional influences and exterior influences of events not produced through the action of the individual, but are experienced as "happening" around them or "to them"- in the choice of action. As active identity toward the "good" becomes habitually operational, it becomes a type of clearing mechanism for discarding choices that would not produce a good result, a type of clearing of emotional and exterior negativity in the narrowing of choice.
What gets produced from adotion of this method over time is a type of thinking that clears itself of negative influences. It is not the rah-rah associated with what is perceived in such self-help methods as "the power of positive thinking", but becomes a method of choice generated with a view towards the regard of others that produces in habit consistent positive - or at least benign- thinking, action, and results. Recent research also shows that this type of clear and positive thinking is confirmed through objective memory testing of the recollection of the events.
It is my contention, that this is similar, only from the viewpoint of the individually generated act, to the moral system of Utilitarianism described by John Stuart Mill. It won't be worked out in detail now, but think of it as Mill contained within the system of Kant. It begins with the respect of the other indicated in the goal to produce a positive result, yet it does accumulate in the piecemeal fashion described in Mill- each instance, over time, in the results, feedback and memory of the events of others. It can be seen as how the individual contributes to the overall social good.
As positive experiences and memories accumulate from one' own action and verifiable positive feedback from others, in relation to very little negative, what gets produced in review is what can be described undeniably as a clear experience/positive experience quotient or "happiness quotient". Call it the benefit of the clearing mechanism- with the result confirmed demonstrated in research results through what others have called a relatively "spotless mind".
(*Recent medical research, on some news shows, has indicated that memory imaging that normal individuals utilize when recalling memories, occur because it is actually a visual image in the brain that is produced through what we know now as Liquid Crystal Display(LCD) technology. Liquid Crystal Display(LCD) technology television screens, according to these shows, were developed through exterior replication of the biological miracle that reproduces these images.
Therefore in the future with the use of nano technology, scientists believe it is only a matter of time before the actual visual and audio memory of the inner thought processes of individuals will be able to be retrieved, transmitted and viewed just as audio and video images are viewed through digital electronic transmission today. Some anecdotal evidence indicates it may already be happening.)
In this way then, the effect that a person has had on others, the quality of life through a type of happiness quotient discussed above, could be quantified through the generation of their own memories of experience with others, and the memories of the others experiences with them- verifiable in a way beyond debate, whether experience with a person was positive, neutral or negative.
