What Is Evil

What is Evil?
What do you think of when you hear the word evil? Maybe, if you have a certain religious belief, e.g. Christianity or Judaism, so you would see evil in the shape of Satan, Lucifer or the Devil. From a non-religious point of view, evil might be seen upon as the “shadow self”, which is basically your conscience. The question that next comes upon us, is why humankind allows evil to become a part of our every day lives. Maybe, it is because not all humans share the same definition of what is right and hard, and what is wrong and easy.

If you have children, you could send mixed ideas to them about good and evil. You tell them it is evil to kill one another but encourage them to fight in wars in which killing is expected and even rewarded. You tell them that hate is evil but some religions foster fear and hatred for people who do not believe the same thing.   Would you teach your children that evil is something that is based upon individuality?

Or, is your shadow self based in your genetic nature? Would you choose evil from angry, or revenge? Are there shades of evil? And, if so, are there shades of good? Could evil then be described as free will? If you act against your better nature and do something which intentionally harms another being, are you overpowering your better nature, even though we are aware that there will be consequences to our actions?

If evil does exist outside of ourselves, then who created it in the first place? If the person or thing which created all of existence is what we would call “good”, then how would that person or thing create something evil in origin, when the deity is so “good”?

We live in a world of mirrors. All of our thoughts are pretty much based on opposites. We have to know what light is, to see darkness, what love is to see hate, and what good is to see evil. As us humans have the capacity to reason and to form conclusions based upon logic and clear thought, you would have thought, that our world would...