Good and Evil Notes - (3930)

This is a place holder post. I plan to add content to it as I develop the topic. I'll be delivering a talk on this topic in an upcoming retreat.

Question of Evil

This question often baffles so many people. However, Gnosis explains it rather clearly. I think that it is worth while solving this issue in front of one's own consciousness. 

First of all, very few of us will agree on what is evil. We don't have an absolute sense of what is evil. We just have a relative sense of what is good.

A very good definition of good and evil comes from Master Samael, where he says that good is what is convenient in a given moment and evil is what is inconvenient in a given moment.

The above statement frees the consciousness somewhat as it allows us to place our point of reference in  something else that is outside of time and space and is different to those of social norms, customs, values of the personality, sentimentality etc.

Also what is good is what is in place in a given moment and what is bad is what is out of place in a given moment.

If we have a relative sense of good, what is good to me is evil to another.  

When we understand this point we have an extra means at our disposal to refrain from the ego, because what the ego thinks is good will not be seen as good by the other person.

We all don't have an absolute sense of evil. There is no universal sense or agreement of what is evil.

Good and evil come together. If we try to get rid of evil we will also inevitably get rid of good. 

In nature good and evil as we know them don't exist. Only evolving and involving processes exist. 

Human tragedies don't come from evil itself, as a separate force but really from people's ideas of what is good.

What is evil for you? A particular person? A particular action? Is it something outside of yourself or rather something inside of you? It is more something inside of us that repulses, blocks, frustrates,  and deprives our freedom and happiness? 

What is evil and where is it? Both inside and out, and where does evil outside come from? Inside right?

It can't be that evil is greater than God or able to challenge God.

If God is God, the almighty, how is it that He created something that He can not bring down?

The origin of evil is shown nicely in the Zohar. Where God gazes upon the waters of life (creation) and on the waters is His reflection which is Him having a dark complexion with an ugly scowl on His face, instead of the look of beauty and reverence He has while gazing down on creation. Evil is the shadow of God projected onto matter.

God transcends both good and evil. 

God uses evil, and evil is not apart from the good, and is not apart from God Himself either.

God is the third perspective above both good and evil.

God becomes good or a unity of good when we have transformed evil inside of ourselves. While we have not transformed evil we are still confused and see God as both good and evil.

Only god can annihilate evil. It does not pertain to us to do it. We don't have the means or the capacity to do it.

What is good now changes to evil later and what is evil now will later become good.

We are often not sure what is good for us and what is bad for us. Hence the reason for the faculty of discernment. 

If we annihilate evil we will annihilate good also.

People often work for their own good and the overall result ends up being evil. Many wars have turned out this way.

The way to hell they say is paved with good intentions.

The way we transcend evil is by using it for good. That is using it to further our learning, to further polish a virtue and to further our spiritual progress.

We have to educate ourselves about how to transform it. To transform it is not to fall into it and become stuck in it.

We are very weak before evil when we see it as an enemy or as something we are not going to use or transform.

We can only resolve evil with action. That is the action of using it for good or transforming it.

We have to look to our own body for a living example. Our heart does not throw out the blood contaminated with waste, but rather passes it through the lungs to be oxygenated where it is refreshed and cleaned.

It is easier to do evil in the world only because the world is set up that way. In other societies because of the way they are set up they support the good, and evil is not needed or given as much lee way to express.

The main weapon we have against it, is to use it for good. 

We can replace the words: destroy, uproot, eradicate, obliterate with harness, channel, assimilate, sublimate and direct or guide.

We can't compensate evil with good. We can't compensate good with evil either. It is rather the case that evil is compensated with evil. 

A bad situation can be a hidden good.

When we don't see the good in evil we just become rebellious, defiant and unaccepting. When we see the good in evil we can start to become accepting and comprehending and cope with the situation and even transform it.

To be continued...

End (3930).