What is Evil?

[Joaquin]

Evil has alot of bearing in the culture of today. The Austrian guy who kept his daughter locked away in the home and had children with her. Is that not evil?. It all comes down to the way you get brought up and the way people get desensitized from the entertainment industry and from the media. It's a fucked up society which causes people to behave irrationally because of the gap closing on the differences of what's wrong and right. It'll only get worse with murders, rape, child abuse, shootings...etc...

This wont go away. The word evil seems to vanish when anything happens these days. It's easy to suggest someone isnt, but if you look at the heinous crimes they commited say the person raped and murdered someone. If this was ten years ago you'd have him down as an evil and nasty person.

The sad state of society really reflects on things which have been implented in our minds when it comes down to a heinous act. It's not that bad anymore. It's all down to culture and the desensitisation of a person.

 

[one_raven]

I know of no evil people at all.
People may sometimes do evil things, but to call a person evil would imply the person is incapable of doing good.
That is a simple-minded way of discounting a person as a human being.
Rather than looking at a person and trying to understand why a person did what (s)he did, it is easier to simply discount the person as "evil" and sweep the mess under the rug.

It is also a way for people to avoid acknowledging that all people, even you, are capable of evil.
"That's not a human being, that's just evil."
Bullshit.
It is a person, just like you and me.

 

[one_raven]

It's all down to culture and the desensitisation of a person.

Nonsense.
That is a scapegoat.
Look at history.
If anything, this is the most "sensitive" and puritanical society we have ever had.
In Medieval England people treated children like little adults.
When you has sex in your one-room apartment, your children were in the same room.
Child labor and child whores were commonplace.
Violence and death was a way of life.

Every epoch in human history was riddled with widespread death, disease and murder.
Crime today is even less than it was only 60 - 70 years ago.

Even now, in many parts of the world people live with the constant threat of war, disease and widespread panic over their heads all the time.

The fact that people can see glorified fake murder in movies and video games does not cause them to commit violence.
The simple fact that the cultures with these forms of entertainments have relatively low crime rates is proof of that.
If crime was as rampant as you are making it out to be in your post, people would not be so shocked by it.

I will admit that it seems to be getting worse in recent years (compared to 40 - 50 years ago) but first of all, that would be worse compared to the best it has ever been and secondly seems worse is not necessarily the same as worse.
The so called "news" is a for-profit entertainment industry and they feed on controversy and scandal.

They want to shock and awe people into watching them.

Take a look at some crime statistics over the past hundred years - I bet you will be surprised at what you find.

 

[Captain Kremmen]

I know of no evil people at all.
People may sometimes do evil things, but to call a person evil would imply the person is incapable of doing good.

The evil person is evil because they deliberately do harm instead of good.

 

[one_raven]

The evil person is evil because they deliberately do harm instead of good.

That makes for an evil act not an evil person.
By your definition every person is evil.

I don't believe any person alive has never knowingly done harm to another.

 

[Joaquin]

It is the evil act which defines the person to be evil most of the time.

 

[one_raven]

It is the evil act which defines the person to be evil most of the time.

I disagree.

It i sthe evil acts that cause people to call someone evil, but that does not mean a person is evil.

I defy you to name a single person who is evil.
Not evil acts one has committed, but someone who is pur evil, incapable of good acts.
For that matter, name one person who is pure good, incapable of evil acts.

 

[one_raven]

It is much easier to condemn and label than it is to think and understand.

 

[Joaquin]

Albert Fish?. Oh hes not evil though is he. Afterall he eate his victims and had his young children spank him with a brush of nails, but oh no thats not an evil person. I think that's a monster personally. He wasnt classed as insane. So obviously he was well aware of what he was about to do each time.

 

[one_raven]

Albert Fish?. Oh hes not evil though is he. Afterall he eate his victims and had his young children spank him with a brush of nails, but oh no thats not an evil person. I think that's a monster personally. He wasnt classed as insane. So obviously he was well aware of what he was about to do each time.

Whether or not he was judged "legally insane" by a court of law has little bearing on the subject.

I do believe he was aware of his acts when he was committing them. I also concede that these acts could be called evil (though I would fall short of admitting that there is something that is objectively, positively evil).

That aside, someone who is pure evil lacks humanity, compassion, emotional response...

Is it your opinion that Fish was pure evil, therefore had no capacity to do good, to feel emotional pain, to suffer?

 

[one_raven]

I would also, by the way, stop short of saying that he necessarily believed what he was doing was "wrong" at the time.

 

[Jozen-Bo]

When I consider evil, or what evil is, I find that it is only present as an expressive act. Without such, it is incapable of having the substance that makes it evil, though it may be harmful, it isn't actually evil. When a lion kills a deer, this is not evil on behalf of the lion, who has no choice, while it is evil to the deer, who feels teeth and claw rip it open. The reality is different from both perspectives individually as it really is with both existing in one reality. An insane person could be comparable to the lion, incapable of choosing.

At its root it is formless potential of cold, diabolical, methodical, severance from the unity of life, as it grows out it takes form and expresses something that is an undeniable part of life. I have heard to separate behavior from act, to say that the person behaved wrong, though the person isn't wrong. When I consider this, I find the act and the person to be the same in a motion for the time the person acts. Thus, when a person is expressive evil and causes suffering, both the person and the act are for that time being evil. When the activity, whether at surface or at deeper levels ceases to stir, there is nothing left. If Karma is true, then these acts stain and stir processes at a deeper level, where habitual patterns are formed, thus one can descent if they continue to reinforce the habit.

 

[one_raven]

When I consider evil, or what evil is, I find that it is only present as an expressive act. Without such, it is incapable of having the substance that makes it evil, though it may be harmful, it isn't actually evil.

So, are you saying that actions can be evil or are you saying that evil exists as an entity when evil is being done?

When a lion kills a deer, this is not evil on behalf of the lion, who has no choice, while it is evil to the deer, who feels teeth and claw rip it open. The reality is different from both perspectives individually as it really is with both existing in one reality.

Those who have been saying that evil does not exist as an objective reality - this is all they are saying.
Whether or not an action is evil all depends on the perception of the observer.

An insane person could be comparable to the lion, incapable of choosing.

Some would say that the willingness to perform an evil act, such as premeditated, unprovoked murder is the very definition of insane.

At its root it is formless potential of cold, diabolical, methodical, severance from the unity of life, as it grows out it takes form and expresses something that is an undeniable part of life.

So evil is a thing??
A thing that exists, but gathers energy from evil acts??
Sounds silly to me.

I have heard to separate behavior from act, to say that the person behaved wrong, though the person isn't wrong. When I consider this, I find the act and the person to be the same in a motion for the time the person acts. Thus, when a person is expressive evil and causes suffering, both the person and the act are for that time being evil. When the activity, whether at surface or at deeper levels ceases to stir, there is nothing left.

"Bill was being evil in the moment" is pretty much the same thing as "Bill was performing an evil act" which is a far cry from "Bill IS evil". This is all I have been saying. Performing an act which someone percieves as evil does not make a person evil.

If Karma is true, then these acts stain and stir processes at a deeper level, where habitual patterns are formed, thus one can descent if they continue to reinforce the habit.

Is this your deep way of saying that performing evil acts will lead to performing more evil acts?

 

[Jozen-Bo]

So, are you saying that actions can be evil or are you saying that evil exists as an entity when evil is being done?

Both.

Those who have been saying that evil does not exist as an objective reality - this is all they are saying.
Whether or not an action is evil all depends on the perception of the observer.

Without the Subjective Reality, there is no objective reality. Without evil there can not be good. There is the perceiver and then there is the perceived, the one the perceiver perceives. The actual circumstances is that there may be two or more perceptions involved. If so much as one of them perceives evil, then there is evil within the entire perception process itself.

Some would say that the willingness to perform an evil act, such as premeditated, unprovoked murder is the very definition of insane.

Good point. I am riddled by this myself. I find that this is insane when I search myself for an answer. That only complicates evil, making it harder to root out and define.

So evil is a thing??
A thing that exists, but gathers energy from evil acts??
Sounds silly to me.

No, an expression of something. Its the expression, not the thing. The thing is merely a tool by which the inner spirit can use to express itself with. Spirit, or mind, or the center of thought and emotion (whatever you consider it to be); this is where it is found, and this has no form, its always changing.

"Bill was being evil in the moment" is pretty much the same thing as "Bill was performing an evil act" which is a far cry from "Bill IS evil". This is all I have been saying. Performing an act which someone percieves as evil does not make a person evil.

No, Bill isn't evil absolutely, nothing is. In the absolution of time, all things pander out and equalize. Everything serves a purpose, what happens to the victims is their own fault, they might as well be evil too, though theirs is punishment earned elsewhere. Nothing is Innocent in this reality, not the opposite. If we step into the relative moment, bill is truly evil within its confines. Evil is Relative, so is Good. The Absolute is beyond both.

Is this your deep way of saying that performing evil acts will lead to performing more evil acts?

I didn't know I was being deep? Though, yes, I'd say performing evil acts can lead to performing more evil acts, it picks up momentum. But, what may be evil and unacceptable one moment may be the right thing to do in another. Circumstances will always play a role.

 

[jessiej920]

Animals behave through instinct and stimuli, inanimate objects are forced to behave through outside physical forces (metaphorically speaking), but human beings ACT. It is the act of evil that creates evil, but the root of the action is relative. There is no pure causal relationship that defines the beginning of "evil". But our actions define us. If we act evil, perform evil acts, then are we not evil?

 

[one_raven]

But our actions define us. If we act evil, perform evil acts, then are we not evil?

No we are not - we have acted in an evil manner.
All of us has the capacity to act in an evil manner.
I would argue that all of us has acted to cause results that some will characterize as evil.
Would that not make all humans evil?
Then it becomes a bit of a moot point, does it not?
What you are really saying is that free will is the equivalent of evil, since the results of any action can be evil.

 

[codanblad]

dude its like lord of the rings, the one ring is the only thing ever created evil.

actually, and surprisingly, i completely agree with one raven.

there's some good in every action, so how can anything or anyone be evil, when evil is an absolute? murdering someone - conflict resolution, exercise. the media, correctional facilities and the morgue will get business. pre-emptive strike at overpopulation. rape - at least you're getting some. throwing babies off cliffs - they'll totally think they can fly. awesome.

 

[jessiej920]

No we are not - we have acted in an evil manner.
All of us has the capacity to act in an evil manner.
I would argue that all of us has acted to cause results that some will characterize as evil.
Would that not make all humans evil?
Then it becomes a bit of a moot point, does it not?
What you are really saying is that free will is the equivalent of evil, since the results of any action can be evil.

Then evil is relative and fluid. We are all evil. We are all good. It's free will that allows us the capacity for both and action that defines it.

 

[Pinocchio's Hoof]

It is the act of evil that creates evil, but the root of the action is relative.

I think it is the way the action is percieved thats denotes 'evil' the action may well be carried out under the premise of good..

If we act evil, perform evil acts, then are we not evil?

Yes they may be seen as 'evil', but they may be acting for the sake of good, I think the outer perception of the act, how it is understood is more important in classing good/evil than the act itself.

Then evil is relative and fluid. We are all evil. We are all good. It's free will that allows us the capacity for both and action that defines it.

Agreed

 

[Cortex_Colossus]

Evil doesn't exist because it is a creation of the mind. People who partake in so-called "evil" acts are under a psychotic delusion. People who partake in good acts or acts that progress humanity are in the know. They have knowledge of themselves and do not contradict logic. Those who partake in the contradiction of logic are "evil". Since the mind works by logic, evil would be creating a false reality without logic and explanation. They willing participants of such a destructive act are in complete delusion, despite how well they commit the act. It cannot be understood by looking at it or measuring it, but in referrence to the absence of truth. I think of the brain as a quantum computer because of its non-algorithmic processing. It can also be aware of its own awareness.