“I only know Evil after the fact.”
These words, a powerful statement from any one person who speaks it freely and without restrain. Depending on the situation or circumstances, this statement can fall from the lips of you or I. Many civilizations from ancient to modern have varying beliefs for the concept of Evil, the importance of knowing and understanding it, knowing and understanding it as equal to the belief of God and the meaning of life. We know that all the perceptions of Man have meaning and or purpose but Evil is at the core of mankind’s existence, the left side of the human base and with Good hosting the right side keeping balance. We may call it the duality of the human spirit, the concept of choice, the conscious mind, the Ying and Yang, regardless of the noting, every human being on the planet knows Evil but not its purpose. At what point do we know when people are pursuing Evil, what are the beginning steps towards Evil? Is Evil a state of mind or a state of being? Is Evil genetic, a concept of a primal, splinted spirit of Man before words could describe emotions and desire? Evil as generic as detonating a cheaper and less potent manifestation of something more powerful than a heavenly Being, the falling not only from grace but away from the unknown to the known or vice versa? These questions all have perplexed Man from devout to methodical since the concept of intellectual thought was practiced. One thing is for sure, Evil does exist and as such, Man is responsible and compelled to understanding this specific part of his nature.
So why is it that Man only knows Evil after the fact?
The answer is simple. Evil is an extension of who he or/she is; Evil is a fraction of the being that which created it. For the religious, this could mean a holy deity and for the non-religious it is a product of man’s influence on the World from the inner-self upon the external World. Regardless, Evil is an extension of Man and places it as an action tied to emotions and or reactions from external circumstances outside his control. Some would even argue that Evil stems form Man’s lack of control of his external environment.
For the religious, Evil is an old fashion concept based upon what is known (i.e. The Devil). In the traditional or modern World, Evil is what one accepts, those influences that are both direct and indirect in degrees such as Man’s practice of slavery, politics or capitalism. Then there is evil (small “e”) that is created by Man and often is besieged in bias such as cults, prostitution and pornography, commercial rap to heavy metal music, television and film.
Regardless of how one defines Evil, like all things, you have to understand its origins, the point of its source which leads back to the day Man was created either by a convergence of random celestial events or by
GOD. The moment Man was given the gift of choice and or evolved out of his
DNA and began to practice it for survival. The how’s and why’s are as diverse as Man’s rebellion to his creator, an ancient virus or infection, the curse or act of selfishness or Man’s curiosity for wanting to know more than he should know. In the end, the concept of Evil, as perplexed as human nature, is his desire to get answers on a “need to know” bases and that in itself seemed to be Man’s first sin; his pursuit of
“knowledge”.
Does man really want to know what Evil is?
This is the 1 trillion dollar question to which there is no straight answer. Man is afraid of knowing what Evil is yet it’s a mystery that compels him to know. Again, this is the duality of Man’s nature. It’s the mystery that gives Mankind its purpose for deep down, Man recognizes that to know Evil is the one final answer removed from knowing what
GOD is. And this is the base premise of most religions; especially for Christians, Hebrews and Muslims, “Evil” the first real sin of Man. There are variation to the statement which can be found in Hebrew and Islamic text that, "
Those whom study Evil are studied by Evil” rings deep as a path of personal destruction. Broadening the argument, if one pursues the path of understanding Evil, one eventually become Evil is a warning that grips Man in fear and yet he still wants to know. Again, this is the far extreme of knowing the rapture of his existence, the duality of his nature.
I choose to be Good or Evil on purpose?
Like choice, we argue that within our duality, Man can choose his Evil. His moral and physical evils we see and experience daily in varying degrees. Be it stealing, the actions of one’s sexual practices, the taking of life for self-defense or pleasure, the choice to live without spiritual guidance, running for political office or the actions of greed, it's within Man’s ability to choose that defines how he dances with the Devil or about the role that Evil may play in his life. The same can be said about his Goodness. This is why benign intentions are often the greatest of Evils or when Man’s “
good intentions” cause Evil actions. We know throughout history Man’s good intentions have condemned many to servitude, slavery, disease, genocide and it has often pushed the very good into living in perpetual poverty and modern concentration camps. These are the “good intentions” of the healthy, limiting the rights of people whom suffer with disease and illness or just being from another tribe. The choice to support the capitalizing of basic needs and the support of those things deemed dangerous to one’s well being (
weapons of mass and limited destruction, drugs and alcohol, prioritizing educational standards, racial arrogance, dictating family structures or expanding choice without moral and ethical attachments). Some would argue that the cousin of Evil is “
The Good Intention”.
No longer is the face of Evil painted in a traditional portrait of Hiroshima, Hitler, Weapons of Mass Destruction, American Slavery, White Supremacy, Apartheid, Somalia, Katrina, or a tiny town in Louisiana named Jena, but in the subtle preaching of segregated religion, a smile at the next door neighbor, the needing to know what happens behind closed doors of the person across town, the silence one has during a crime, the lack of ambition to search for the truth or even in questioning authority are the small evils that play vastly among a society.
The roll of Evil is a character in Man's personal play in life.
In the contemporary, Evil is Man made. This is only confined by his individual actions of “good intentions” and unconscious acts of Group-think. Like sheep, Man follows the leader no matter his/her credentials, as long as the leader has Good Intentions and takes steps in a direction to be followed. Evil (Big E) has stopped becoming a theory of religious significance and became more of a seed of doubt in the human condition, often cultivated by those whom "Shepard" it in the form of fear.
Gay Rights, Affirmative Action, Race and Cultural Bias, Crime and the Prison System, Gun Control, Universal Health Care, Islam and Terrorism are now the roots of Evil that has besieged the Western World and America, and to be honest, I can only recall these terrors becoming apparent in the past few years. How did this evil replace the Devil of say, the Exorcists or Damien; the child Anti-Christ; that evil Omen kid? I think as we became more sophisticated in our understanding of the modern world we have accepted collectively that a “Devil” would have far less appeal in destroying our sense of Self but to imagine the loss of an American way of life would be a far greater Evil; God fearing at best. The very thought of having to live like the people we have exploited for an American way of life would require an Exorcists of great repute to get rid of.
I recently heard this statement and gave pause to it, “Freedom Requires Religion and Religion Requires Freedom”. A very influential Religious leader recently spoke it as it related to America’s role in the Middle East and how our political candidate’s religious positions mattered. I’ll have to say that I am still contemplating this quote deeply but for right now I can say that on the surface, as it relates to the notion of Evil, if “freedom” is anything like choice, and “religion” is that which can save Man from Evil, then how we choose our freedom will very much determine our Goodness since we are currently determining which religion can foster and grow that in our nation. Be it the varied Christian faiths, the Judean and Islamic faiths or the Agnostics, they all make bids to exists in a free society to ultimately influence that freedom in order to exist. And within the “
good (God) intentions” of all of the above, what direction will they take Mankind.
As I stated earlier, Evil is an extension of who he/she is; evil is a fraction of the being that which created it, and as one with “good intentions” why can’t Man make a conscious choice to ask the real questions, "
What is it that I want, and is it wrong to want it?” This is the true nature of Evil,
The Need To HAVE. When you can get to the core truth from that and those that worship "Evil"; the genuine “choice” of Man, we can get to the “needs to have God intentions" and become that much closer to the final answer removed from knowing what
GOD is thus the statement, "
The Road to Hell is often paved by GOOD intentions".
