From: tucker@maestro.mitre.org (William Tucker)
Subject: EVIL
Keywords: EVIL
Reply-To: tucker@maestro.mitre.org (William Tucker)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 02:15:09 GMT


Hi -

I've read a lot and seen nearly as much. The following struck me as being
the best description of evil that I've found. In light of some of the more
recent postings, :-) I thought you might find it interesting. 

"Does Evil exist? There are generally two types of answers given about the 
existence of evil, the religious and the philosophical. One stresses evil 
as a force separate from and opposed to good, the other denies that evil
exists at all.

   To deny evil on humanity's plane of conciousness is as unrealistic as to
believe that in ultimate reality two separate forces exist: one good and one
evil. Such a belief implies that the evil force must be destroyed or whisked
away,......Some religions take a dualistic approach to the great question of 
evil seeing it as a force opposed to good. The dualistic approach reinforces
your fear of yourself and your guilt; therefore, it only increases the chasm 
within your soul. The energies of fear and guilt are used to force yourself 
to be good. The blindness, compulsion, and the artificial concept of life 
that accompany this forcing create self-perpetuating patterns....
 
  On the other hand, there are philosophies that postulate that evil does 
not exist; it is an illusion. Such philosophy has part of the truth, just
as its religious opposite does, which recognizes the danger of evil, it's
life defeating power, and the unhappiness and sufffering it brings. The 
postulate that evil is an illusion is true in the sense that there is 
innately only one great creative power. There is union, for all is one in
the conciousness of those who have transcended dualism.
 
  As is so often true, both of these opposing teachings express great 
truths, but the exclusiveness with which they are concieved and perpetuated
ultimately renders their truth untrue. The denial of evil as a reality 
leads to wishful thinking, further blindness, and the denial of the self; it 
decreases rather than increases awareness. Thus a false picture is created,
the manifestation of the present state of mankind. 

  Both views of evil lead to repression; yet acknowledging evil also leads 
to the possibility of further destructiveness. It might lead to justifying
or condoning truly undesirable things, such as self-righteous acting out. 
In such a case it is the guilt that would be repressed, creating further 
splitting and duality......For the evil itself is not half so damaging as
your attitude towards it. From now on, instead of habitually evading, which
breeds emotional illness, problems and suffering, catch your fear and the
thought behind the fear: "I should not be that way." If this fear is 
ignored the problem becomes worse. The first step must be applying the 
theory that destructiveness, evil, is not a final separate force. You must
think about this not merely in general, philosophical term. Rather, you 
take the specific aspects of yourself that make you feel guilty or 
afraid, and apply this knowledge to all that is most distasteful in 
yourself and others. No matter how ugly some of those manifestations
are -- whether it be cruelty spite, arrogance, contempt, selfishness, 
indifference, greed, cheating, or something else -- you can bring 
yourself to realize that every one of those traits is an energy current,
originally good, and beautiful and life-affirming.......

  You will see that by denying the evil in you, you do greater harm to 
the whole of your personality, to your manifest spirituality, than you
realize. For by denying it, you inactivate an essential part of your
energies and creative forces, so they stagnate. From stagnation,
putrefaction follows. Matter putrefies when it stagnates, when it can
no longer move. The same is true of conciousness.

  Matter is always a condensation and manifestation of conciousness
and energy. The way the energy flows -- or does not flow -- and the 
form it takes when it condenses depends on the attitude of conciousness
"behind," or intrinsic to, a particular aspect of creation.......

  By keeping both your beauty and your ugliness in mind at all times,
you will also see both sides in others. You tend to completely reject
and negate people whose destructiveness you perceive, and react to them
exactly as you do to toward yourself. Or you emotionally react to their
goodness and inner beauty, while unrealistically overlooking their ugly
side. You cannot yet grasp the presence of duality in yourself, and 
therefore neither can you see it in others. This creates the continual
conflicts and strife. Such distortion and lack of awareness cause you
to deny and paralyze the creative process itself. Only by accepting the
duality can you truly transcend it.....

   So this is, my freinds what you have to learn. The key is to encounter
the destructive force so that you can transform it back to it's original
nature, thus incorporating it into your whole being and creating with the
life-energy at your disposal."

                          by Eva Pierrakos

                            from "The Pathwork of Self-Transformation"



 To those who have read this far thanks, I hope 
 it means as much to you as it did to me. I take 
 this as literal. Life is energy is life, your 
 distorted energy is still life, reclaim it 
 and grow. 


 "To the pain." 

               from "Princess Bride"
                 by (i believe) Wm. Golding
           
 will i am t.

.standard disclaimer





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