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What do you think evil is?

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
What do you think evil is?

Here are my thoughts. I hope you will share yours:

I believe “evil” is more than a mere adjective, more than a word we use to describe someone who is cruel, selfish, wicked, or depraved…

I believe it is an objective tendency within this world that acts upon individual humans - I see it as a sociological force

I believe there is an intelligent being behind this force who is more than simply a personification of evil – he directs a very powerful challenge against the rule of God’s Kingdom and has many millions under his spell. You know his name and I know his name, there is no need to give power to him by mentioning it (it begins with "S"!)

I believe this intelligent force functions as an adversary to God, who is good

I believe that in the future evil will stop being a force in this world (and the world that will replace this one) as it will be no longer be necessary during such future dispensations. Yes, there will be good and not-so-good people but evil will have ceased being an objective tendency.

Question: what does it mean to call another person “evil”? Is it an innate internal moral condition or are there environmental, external factors at work that make good people do evil things? Or a bit of both? - what do you think evil is???
 

Howard Is

Lucky Mud
What do you think evil is?


I could cop out and say ‘no such thing’, but that is a conversational dead end...

Deliberate refusal to be influenced by compassion, morality, loyalty and other group-oriented traits ?
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
I could cop out and say ‘no such thing’, but that is a conversational dead end...

Deliberate refusal to be influenced by compassion, morality, loyalty and other group-oriented traits ?
Yes, that makes sense, I suppose it is a way of being anti-social
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Question: what does it mean to call another person “evil”? Is it an innate internal moral condition or are there environmental, external factors at work that make good people do evil things? Or a bit of both? - what do you think evil is???

I see evil as a man-made concept that doesn't exist outside of humanity. Same thing with 'good.'

A question for you... Do you see the existence of evil in any other species?
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
I see evil as a man-made concept that doesn't exist outside of humanity. Same thing with 'good.'

A question for you... Do you see the existence of evil in any other species?
I'm afraid I can only answer that from a Christian perspective :)

I'd say no, animals can't be evil, because like Adam and Eve (before they ate the fruit of knowledge) animals are in a state of nature - as opposed to a state of civilisation - they have no concept of good or evil so can neither be good or evil themselves.

They just survive and reproduce in the natural word. Once Adam and Eve acquired knowledge of good and evil they were no longer in a state of nature like the animals and so God expelled them from his own personal zoo as they had become human and ceased being beasts! They had lost their animal innocence...

Humanity thus entered a new dispensation
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
Extreme end of the good/bad behaviour spectrum? Plenty of scope there. Otherwise it is just rhetorical labelling.
 
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Nimos

Well-Known Member
What do you think evil is?

Here are my thoughts. I hope you will share yours:

I believe “evil” is more than a mere adjective, more than a word we use to describe someone who is cruel, selfish, wicked, or depraved…

I believe it is an objective tendency within this world that acts upon individual humans - I see it as a sociological force

I believe there is an intelligent being behind this force who is more than simply a personification of evil – he directs a very powerful challenge against the rule of God’s Kingdom and has many millions under his spell. You know his name and I know his name, there is no need to give power to him by mentioning it (it begins with "S"!)

I believe this intelligent force functions as an adversary to God, who is good

I believe that in the future evil will stop being a force in this world (and the world that will replace this one) as it will be no longer be necessary during such future dispensations. Yes, there will be good and not-so-good people but evil will have ceased being an objective tendency.

Question: what does it mean to call another person “evil”? Is it an innate internal moral condition or are there environmental, external factors at work that make good people do evil things? Or a bit of both? - what do you think evil is???
Don't believe good an evil exists as objective elements.

However I would describe evil as being the lack of sympathy and altruistic understanding, but also unjustified convictions. Depending on which of these we are talking about, it can either be caused by a biological defect or caused by trauma and "brainwashing"/manipulation.

Both of these with time and knowledge, could be severely reduced and understood. People do evil not because God brought it into the world. But because we are humans and are not perfect and live in society, which is not always guided by what could be considered in humans best interested, but rather by greed and power for the minority. If we at some point learn to change our ways of doing things and how we look at each other, evil will be nothing more than stupidity of the past and will be well understood.
 

ChristineM

"Be strong", I whispered to my coffee.
Premium Member
Depends, it ranges from religious finger pointing and worse for not following a particular religious belief.

To deliberately and wantonly committing harm and possibly gaining pleasure from that act
 

dybmh

דניאל יוסף בן מאיר הירש
Question: what does it mean to call another person “evil”?
@Audie said it best about a year ago... evil is "Vain-glory". So calling someone evil, would mean, calling them vain and saying that they are seeking personal validation, and take pleasure in demonstrating their power over others.
Is it an innate internal moral condition or are there environmental, external factors at work that make good people do evil things? Or a bit of both?
Both. Nature and Nurture develop evil in people.
what do you think evil is???
In addition to my previous shout-out to Audie above, I think the attribute which distinguishes evil from other forms of selfish pursuits is pleasure. Evil enjoys harming others. But it's not a being, Evil doesn't have a pronoun, it's not a "he". IMHO, each person has potential to take pleasure in doing harm. It's part of being human.

---------

Now I'll read the rest of the replies :)
 

WhyIsThatSo

Well-Known Member
What do you think evil is?

Here are my thoughts. I hope you will share yours:

I believe “evil” is more than a mere adjective, more than a word we use to describe someone who is cruel, selfish, wicked, or depraved…

I believe it is an objective tendency within this world that acts upon individual humans - I see it as a sociological force

I believe there is an intelligent being behind this force who is more than simply a personification of evil – he directs a very powerful challenge against the rule of God’s Kingdom and has many millions under his spell. You know his name and I know his name, there is no need to give power to him by mentioning it (it begins with "S"!)

I believe this intelligent force functions as an adversary to God, who is good

I believe that in the future evil will stop being a force in this world (and the world that will replace this one) as it will be no longer be necessary during such future dispensations. Yes, there will be good and not-so-good people but evil will have ceased being an objective tendency.

Question: what does it mean to call another person “evil”? Is it an innate internal moral condition or are there environmental, external factors at work that make good people do evil things? Or a bit of both? - what do you think evil is???

The word "EVIL"...…..is the inverse of the word ….."LIVE".

It denotes a relationship to and of , whatever the word is applied to.
The essence of the word "evil" , since it is an "inversion" of "LIVE"...….is to "subvert"

"subversion"
means to undermine the power and authority of something.
And that "something" in this case..….is "LIFE"

This world and all that is called "life" here...….is "evil", because this life here is NOT True Life.
It is merely a "copy", a cheap imitation of the True.

And the "God" who made all of this is the same......a "copy", a cheap imitation of the
True God and Father, (who alone is "GOOD").
This world is the best He could do with what He had to work with ( physical matter ).

NOW, you can understand what is really being said in Genesis ,
concerning the "tree of knowledge of good and evil "

" Then the Lord (God) said, "Look the human beings have become like us, knowing GOOD and EVIL "
 

dfnj

Well-Known Member
What do you think evil is?

Evil in many ways is like beauty in the eyes of the beholder. What is evil and what is not evil is a subjective opinion. But I think what evil is in most cases involves human behavior. I think people have evolved past the point where they consider Nature to be evil. Storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes are not acts of evil anymore.

In terms of human behavior you can characterize behaviors different ways. There's an interesting archetype discussed from a book I read called, "The Shadow Magician." Here's text from the book (brackets are my comments to give some more context),

"The Manipulator and the Denying 'Innocent' One"

"A man under this Shadow doesn't guide others, as a Magician does; he directs them in ways they cannot see. His interest is not in initiating others by graduated degrees--degrees that they can integrate and handle--into better, happier, and more fulfilled lives. Rather, the Manipulator maneuvers people by withholding from them information they may need for their own well-being. He charges heavily for the little information he does give, which is usually just enough to demonstrate his superiority and his great learning."

"A man under the power of the Manipulator not only hurts others with his cynical detachment from the world of human values and his subliminal technologies of manipulation, he also hurts himself. This is a man who thinks too much, who stands back from his life and never lives it."

"Whenever we are detached, unrelated, and withholding when what we know could help others, whenever we use our knowledge as a weapon to belittle and control others or to bolster our status or wealth at others expense, we are identified with the Shadow Magician as Manipulator [Archetype]"

The "Innocent" One archetype is also a Manipulator but also a trickster. "The man possessed by the 'Innocent' One wants the power and status that traditionally come to the man who is a magician, at least in socially sanctioned fields. But he doesn't want to take the responsibilities that belong to a true magician [as in Archetype]. He does not want to share and teach. He does not want the task of helping others in the careful, step-by-step way that is necessary part of every initiation [into secret knowledge and power]."

"The 'Innocent' One's underlying motivations come from envy of those who act, who live, who want to share. Because the man possessed by the 'Innocent' One is envious of life, he is also afraid that people will discover his lack of life energy and throw him off his very wobbly pedestal."

"The man possessed by the 'Innocent' One commits both sins of commission and sins of omission but hides his hostile motives behind an impenetrable wall of feigned naivete. Such men are slippery and illusive."

"If we challenge their 'innocence,' they will often react with a show of tear-jerking bewilderment and leave us to stew in our own juices. We may even feel ashamed of ourselves for having attributed base motives to them and conclude that we must be paranoid. But we will not be able to escape the uneasy feeling that we have been manipulated. And, in that feeling, we will have detected the active pole of the Magician's Shadow behind the smokescreen of 'innocence'."

The Manipulator and Denying "Innocent" One shadow archetypes are true evil. There are other evil archetypes mentioned in the book like the Sadist. These are little more obvious. The denying innocent one is the one that gives me chills because a person exhibiting this type of behavior is just very evil.

Here's the book if you are interested. It's a little hard to get into at first because of the discussion of initiations. But the stuff on archetypes is very good.

https://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscovering/dp/0062506064

And here is an audio reading of the book.


The ego striving for power and control is the source of evil. People who have a mature and well-developed character are capable of remaining calm under pressure and have capacity to help others. Evil is self-centered. A well-developed character is more selfless and outward in focus in the service of others.
 
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dfnj

Well-Known Member
Depends, it ranges from religious finger pointing and worse for not following a particular religious belief.

To deliberately and wantonly committing harm and possibly gaining pleasure from that act

I'm interested in what you think of my previous post on this topic.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
Evil in many ways is like beauty in the eyes of the beholder. What is evil and what is not evil is a subjective opinion. But I think what evil is in most cases involves human behavior. I think people have evolved past the point where they consider Nature to be evil. Storms, hurricanes, and tornadoes are not acts of evil anymore.

In terms of human behavior you can characterize behaviors different ways. There's an interesting archetype discussed from a book I read called, "The Shadow Magician." Here's text from the book (brackets are my comments to give some more context),

"The Manipulator and the Denying 'Innocent' One"

"A man under this Shadow doesn't guide others, as a Magician does; he directs them in ways they cannot see. His interest is not in initiating others by graduated degrees--degrees that they can integrate and handle--into better, happier, and more fulfilled lives. Rather, the Manipulator maneuvers people by withholding from them information they may need for their own well-being. He charges heavily for the little information he does give, which is usually just enough to demonstrate his superiority and his great learning."

"A man under the power of the Manipulator not only hurts others with his cynical detachment from the world of human values and his subliminal technologies of manipulation, he also hurts himself. This is a man who thinks too much, who stands back from his life and never lives it."

"Whenever we are detached, unrelated, and withholding when what we know could help others, whenever we use our knowledge as a weapon to belittle and control others or to bolster our status or wealth at others expense, we are identified with the Shadow Magician as Manipulator [Archetype]"

The "Innocent" One archetype is also a Manipulator but also a trickster. "The man possessed by the 'Innocent' One wants the power and status that traditionally come to the man who is a magician, at least in socially sanctioned fields. But he doesn't want to take the responsibilities that belong to a true magician [as in Archetype]. He does not want to share and teach. He does not want the task of helping others in the careful, step-by-step way that is necessary part of every initiation [into secret knowledge and power]."

"The 'Innocent' One's underlying motivations come from envy of those who act, who live, who want to share. Because the man possessed by the 'Innocent' One is envious of life, he is also afraid that people will discover his lack of life energy and throw him off his very wobbly pedestal."

"The man possessed by the 'Innocent' One commits both sins of commission and sins of omission but hides his hostile motives behind an impenetrable wall of feigned naivete. Such men are slippery and illusive."

"If we challenge their 'innocence,' they will often react with a show of tear-jerking bewilderment and leave us to stew in our own juices. We may even feel ashamed of ourselves for having attributed base motives to them and conclude that we must be paranoid. But we will not be able to escape the uneasy feeling that we have been manipulated. And, in that feeling, we will have detected the active pole of the Magician's Shadow behind the smokescreen of 'innocence'."

The Manipulator and Denying "Innocent" One shadow archetypes are true evil. There are other evil archetypes mentioned in the book like the Sadist. These are little more obvious. The denying innocent one is the one that gives me chills because a person exhibiting this type of behavior is just very evil.

Here's the book if you are interested. It's a little hard to get into at first because of the discussion of initiations. But the stuff on archetypes is very good.

https://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscovering/dp/0062506064

And here is an audio reading of the book.


The ego striving for power and control is the source of evil. People who have a mature and well-developed character are capable of remaining calm under pressure and have capacity to help others. Evil is self-centered. A well-developed character is more selfless and outward in focus in the service of others.
Interesting book

Thanks for sharing
 
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