EVIL

Evil is thought of as action in the world due to the supernatural Devil. However, this is a peculiarly western concept. Eastern philosophies know of no such thing. Rather, what we term evil is an action counter to the balance of things.
This is so because in the east, opposing forces work in harmony to produce balance, whereas in the west, opposing forces are the antithesis of each other. However, we can explain this difference through politics rather than religion.
In order to gain power, early western leaders realized that an enemy had to be identified. Hence, that enemy was always seen as opposing the good of the leader’s system. In this way, the population could be frightened into obedience and required behaviour.
This excellent political tool evolved into good and evil, and is still used today in order to marginalize a system that is counter to the prevailing one. As a tool of social control, it has never been equaled, hence its omnipotent effect upon us.
This said, evil must be much more. For instance, why do people do actions that are considered evil? One answer to that they are not being evil, but instinctual. Most animals carry out actions that, if applied to humans, would be considered evil.
What separates these actions from the human? The obvious answer is that we have learnt a moral code to fight our instinctual drives. In order to live in a society regulated by human law, we must find a balance between our own drives and the needs of others.
Children do not appreciate moral law. Hence, they have wants, which can also been seen as instinctual. Interestingly, someone who commits an ‘evil’ act seems to have similar urges he cannot fight. The teaching of morals seems to be the divide between actions that are good and those that are evil.
We can see, here, that evil is nothing more than instinctual behaviour. We can thus argue that an evil person is one who has not sufficiently learnt a moral code capable of subsuming his instinctual drives. However, this leaves us with a moral dilemma.
For centuries homosexuality was considered evil. This was wrong. But in freeing gays from moral condemnation, we also hammer at the door or all other traditional evils. With such a watering down of the moral code, crime has become a major problem, with moral restraints to criminal behaviour removed.
It is the task of the moral philosopher to revisit evil and find a way to separate behavioural morality – such as homosexuality – from the morality required to continue to banish criminal behaviour. One system would be: do as you will, but hurt none. Which is, of course, a term at the heart of the occult.
Strange how the obvious answer has been classed, for millennia, as evil.

© Anthony North, December 2006

This is a post from Anthony North’s ‘alternative network.’ Current affairs posts almost daily on North’s Review and Eye on the World (this includes politics and links). North’s Review also has fiction, writers’ resources and TV reviews. For deeper issues, including paranormal, crime, environment and much more, Beyond the Blog is for you.