Good And Evil

[Anonymouse]

Do you think there is pure good or evil? Most people certainly do. This belief system requires the idea that there exists clear and distinct categories known as "good" and "evil" in a Manichean world of endless conflict between opposing forces, such as "good and evil" or "light and dark" or "us vs them". Largely we have been accustomed to the fairy tale notion of pure good and evil, and that the world is a morally unambiguous conflict between good and evil. And if they are "evil" what is the measuring or criteria that we use to deem them evil? What sets the value as "evil" and how do we measure its value based on that of good? How is this even determined other than in the delusional minds of man? It's not.

 

Whether it was the Roman Empire fighting the barbarians, or the Christians, whether it was the Inquisition, whether it was World War II in which the Allies self-styled themselves as "good" and the Axis were "evil", whether it is the present world in which George Bush has declared "us" to be "good" and the "terrorists" are "evil" as is the Axis of Evil. It may comfort the mental midgets to have such a simplistic world view stiched to the daily fabric of life, but it is teetering on the brink of idiocy that only astute minds can unravel as idiocy. I don't think the word "evil" is as proper as the word hubris. The word "evil" always leads to scapegoating, whether the users intended or not. It can be argued that Bush is 'evil' or that Saddam is 'evil', but I don't think either is. Blinded by hubris, yes. Each thinks he is good and the other evil. It's the expected result when people think "good" and "evil" are neat opposites.

 

St. Augustine in his The Confessions articulated the view that there really is no such thing as "evil" because all was a creation of God therefore all was good. "Evil" was closest to being understood as "bent". He stated, "...because people would rather hold that you suffer evil than that we commit it". Augustine echoes what I believe, namely that, 'evil' is simply a result of our free will and ego. But the human mind has a funny way of working in which evil and the ability to act wrongly, is not accepted by our mind but is always projected onto others. The Marxists and leftists that argue that man is "basically good", is another form of blasphemy as this creates the atmosphere to somehow intervene and transform man again and again. One falsehood spawns yet another falsehood and so on and violence becomes the soup that we all have for dinner.

 

"Evil" in other words, always involves phrasing things into black or white, good or evil, and projecting all bad by scapegoating onto someone else, so only the "good" will remain. Every point in history man is made to believe that he is 'good' and that of the enemy is 'evil'. Therefore, if we declare war and remove the 'evil' all that we will be left with is good. And who doesn't want that? This view has always been nonsense and always been destructive. Our ability to wage war and create destruction has increased exponentially with the advent of modern technology, yet our mind, our nature has remained the same, if not regressed I'd say. Anyone who thinks themselves as "good", is necessarily suffering from delusions and an oversized ego. "I'm good. You're evil. I have to now kill you and declare war on you because you are the evil that causes all my problems". As silly as it sounds, it is like an infant baby creating for himself or herself neat little worlds to satisfy its need to create safety in a world of uncertainty. And all those things that do not fall into the neat little categories are the entities of projection in which all 'evil' is projected onto, thereby satisfying the infants simplistic view of the world.

[jgm1975]

My opinion:

There is no black and white, only shades of gray. Only in extreme cases is something very close to white or very close to black. For example, if we were to take randomly 100 persons, I would say that about 96 of them would be some shade of gray. The other 4 could be considered extremely close to "white" (people like Mother Teresa) or to "black" (people like Hitler).

This brings another subject. People look at the world and are truly depressed that God is allowing so much bad things to happen. Well, if God who is 100% "white" (no racial undertones here), were to intervene for people who are shades of gray, where do we draw the line to separate those who would deserve God's assistance, and those who would not? Would you have to be 30% gray, 40% gray, 50% gray?

Also, those who seek to "institutionalize" good and evil through religion are themselves classic examples of being shades of gray. I believe that one of the most fundamental pillars of "good" is humility. Yet many religious figures demonstrate a lack of humility when claiming that they hold the proper definition of what is "good". But of course there are some religious figures who are OK and open to others, since nothing is black or white.

[Sasun]

Good and Evil as all encompassing and universal definitions cannot be defined because good and evil are relative to time, space, moral standards, the consciousness level of the society, etc... However, at any given moment and at any given place good and evil are distinct opposites. One cannot call any given human being good or evil but the actions, words and thoughts can be good and evil. Actually I would prefer to use right and wrong instead of good and evil. So I hold that any specific action, word, thought or willfulness can be recognised as distinctively right or wrong. That does not mean that these can be 100% right or wrong, but it is often gray rather than black and white. Nevertheless, gray consists of black and white and hence these black and white components, or in other words right and wrong can be viewed separately and definitely. Edited January 8, 2005 by Sasun

[Anonymouse]

You both touch on some nice points about the idea of good and evil.

 

jgm1975...You touch on an interesting point, that being humility because it is that humility, modesty, and respect which neutralizes the darker shade of man such as vanity, ego, and pride, which ofcourse leads man to believe that he is holier than thou, and better than those around him, and therefore he is ultimately "good". It is self-worship to the most despicable degree. Whether or not God has allowed "evil" I can't comment about but only point out that Augustine believed that God is all good and his creation therefore is all good and all that man experiences that we term "evil" is in reality "good" because it is all part of life. It was made by God therefore a part of creation which was good. Therefore, good and evil are not so much opposites but one thing in a spectrum of goodness.

 

Sasun...Good and evil are definitely tied in to right and wrong. I haven't argued against this wholly as concepts, but against the hubris which man is often a victim of, that being, he believes he is good while those 'others' are bad. It is this hubris which leads men to scapegoat and paint simplistic models of the world based on this. I don't believe there is any 'evil'. If anything, it is a perversion of the good, what C.S. Lewis called 'bent." A good example I can think of now is Golem from the book and movie Lord of the Rings. The Ring of Power, and the lust it created in him, bent him away from the good. And it always involves absorption in self. Because to lust for power is to already be victim of the self, soaked in the sweat of the belief that 'I am good'. As both your posts imply, anyone truly good would be the last to call others evil.

 

Cheers.

Edited January 8, 2005 by Anonymouse