Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Just what is evil?



Today I want to address the use of the word evil. I think it is overused and misunderstood in the proper context of the word. I cringe when I hear someone call a person evil because they don’t like them, or feel good in their presence or because they have done some bad things and made bad choices. If this is the case, if people are evil because they are perceived in this way then I could be called evil as well. I have made bad choices in my life and unintentionally hurt others through ignorance and lack of understanding. There was a time on my spiritual path when I was very self-centered and wanted things my way. There was a time when I lied indiscrimately for selfish gain. There was a time when I was deliberately cruel and full of grudges and thoughts of harm towards others. Forgiving someone was out of the question. Judgmental could have been my middle name. I wasn’t born with my spirituality intact. It was a journey through all the negative and positive of who I am. Along the way I went through hell of a sort. I was creating the hell. We have free-will and I used mine terribly.

Along the way I felt and thought like a victim, had little to no self-esteem, bullied others and allowed myself to be bullied and controlled. I got angry and depressed easily, thought God didn’t care, thought people didn’t care so I put forth a persona
that I was more than I believed myself to be. I felt like a fraud and that someday people would see me for the fatally flawed person that I was. Because I believed all these things about life and myself all my experiences were trials of fire. I was not at peace. I was always waiting for the other shoe to fall. I didn’t trust happiness because it was fleeting and I believed suffering would inevitably follow. Therefore I never enjoyed any happiness I may have had to the extent that I should have. I wonder if anyone ever called me evil. I certainly didn’t think very much of myself and the world at large.


According to M. Scott Peck
an evil person is someone who
• Is consistently self deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self image of perfection
• Deceives others as a consequence of their own self deception
• Projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets (scapegoats) while being apparently normal with everyone else (Peck, 1983/1988,p105))
• Commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self deception as much as deception of others
• Abuses political (emotional) power ("the imposition of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion" (Peck, 1978/1992,p298))
• Maintains a high level of respectability and lies incessantly in order to do so
• Is consistent in his or her sins. Evil persons are characterized not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency (of destructiveness)
• Is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim. (scapegoat)
• Has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury
By Pecks descriptions it would be fair to say that when I was ignorant of God and myself that I was evil. Is this true, absolutely not! Believe me when I tell you that a few of these things mentioned above are right on with what my life was like.

So why am I unzipping my soul so you all can take a peek inside? I am doing it because with every single soul you meet you are meeting a child of God and should think twice before you call them evil. Some people go so off path that you think there is no redemption for them but you are wrong. People change all the time. Whatever it is that you are seeing in another and calling them evil for is something
that you are supposed to understand and develop compassion for.

We all have dark places inside that we shouldn’t express but we do.
It doesn’t mean we are evil.

So just what is evil then? I call it the dark side of life. Negative is dark. There is no light of wisdom in being negative. There is no peace or joy. The dark side is full of greed fear and hate towards others. The dark side is full of judgment.
After all, Adolph Hitler thought that any one who was not of what he called the Master Race was less than human. The truth is those who participated in this inhuman atrocity became less than human. Because he chose this judgment millions died horrible deaths.

People who kill others with no conscience because they enjoy it are evil. Those who molest children in any way are evil. There are evil corporations. There are evil politicians. There are evil groups. Evil does exist. I have no doubts about that.

Take care of your use of this word before you call someone evil. This word has its place. How are you using it and why?

"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it." Proverb 3:27

What I am calling for is more understanding for others and a lot more compassion.
Calling your mother-in-law evil because you don’t get along and she has some big issues is not true. She is not evil. Calling someone you are uncomfortable with or just don’t like, evil, is not the spiritual way. None of us is perfect. Don’t hold your growth and goodness over anyone’s head because you are spiritually further along than they are.
If you perceive them as an enemy then that is what they will be. You will call it into being with your words and thoughts. The power of the Golden Rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you means exactly that. It is not supposed to be selective in any way. Get it? I hope so. Sow love and peace and embrace your biggest fears and show them compassion. They do not know what they do not know.
This is just something to think about.

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