Grammar question: The meaning of life, then, is to leave behind not only...

[Mostgoodspirit1]

Okay, so i wrote a paper about my theory on the meaning of life and one of the closing sentences is
"The meaning of life, then, is to leave behind not only the biggest spirit one can, but also the most good spirit."

Both my girlfriend and her mom insist that 'most good' isn't correct.

I am not the greatest english student. my girlfriend happens to be and her mother got an english BA. So generally i trust them.
However, i feel this is proper. or atleast, acceptable, or an exception. Seeing as neither I nor either of them could word it more 'properly' without changing the meaning.

so...what are your feelings/is this proper/can you think of a more proper way to phrase this while leaving the meaning the same?

[Diverhank]

good ->better ->best. You should have used best, I think. Frankly, I'm not sure I understand what you meant...how will you leave behind a spirit?

[Mostgoodspirit1]

thankfully i successfully completed the 2nd grade about 13 years ago. so i am fully aware that best would be generally used instead of most good.
However, for example, the Salvation Army's motto is "Doing the Most Good"
i know that is acceptable because Good is used as a noun.
but the i mean of something being Good, as in...the opposite of evil.

the antithesis of "most evil" or "evilest" (not sure which is correct) wouldn't be "Best", would it?

[Diverhank]

I'm sorry I thought it was a 2nd grade question. Forget what I said.

[Yankee]

Hi Mostgoodspirit

As I see it, the main problem is that the sentence is awkwardly written, and as a result it not only ends up sounding odd, but also leads the reader to misinterpret it.

The "correctness" of "the most good spirit" lies in the way you group the words together. Theoretically, you can parse [good spirit] together as a single idea. "Good spirit" might mean "happiness", for example, and thus the meaning would be "the most happiness".

Your sentence uses the word "good" as an adjective, not as a noun. The fact that the author (you ) also used the superlative "biggest" in the sentence adds to the confusion. It causes the reader to expect [most good] to be a superlative unit too, and thus ends up confusing and irritating the reader because, of course, the superlative form of the adjective "good" is normally "best".

I'd recommend rewriting the sentence.
.