My situation was that I was born into a "good family". My dad was a loyal DeMolay then member of Hermon Masonic Lodge No. 6 in West Virginia. My parents took me to numerous dinners before Lodge meetings (my mom & I washed and dried dishes, then put them away. Ultimately, my dad was Secretary of that Lodge, then WV Grand Master while I was in College. "Guidance" was the name of the game.
Me too. Good family, respected in the community. But I know that there are good people who come from awful families as well, so it can't all be about 'nurture.'
We are, most of us, born Good, remembering the blueprints of Heaven.
Some - a very few - are born Evil - but these creatures never descended from the same tree as those of us who are human. They are hollow vessels for the inhabitation of Evil. But these are so rare as to be uncountable. But they operate in the world and attempt to destroy it because that's their Nature. One of my favourite novelists, James Lee Burke has written on this subject . If you want a really good crime mystery wrapped around an old-fashioned morality play with Good and Evil operating through humans in the world - read his novels.
Really, srsly, read them.
Most, born Good, grow and develop with guidance. I agree that guidance is in large part determinate for how they turn out.
Most of those, receive guidance that is nothing more than inflicted multi-generational trauma, trauma responses, adaptive behaviours, etc. from parents and grandparents who unthinkingly just *had* them - with no more thought about how to properly bring another human being onto this planet, other than to indenture them to the same patterns over and over again, and to have ego-mirrors, and slavishly built in caregivers in old age. Children who "owe" them something. This is an Evil act. So the guidance they get is reflexive from the generation that bore them, who themselves inherited it. It's crappy and not good.
Most of these aforementioned, just stumble on, a mindless as the previous generation, so immersed in these patterns, they can't see the forest for the tees. These are Muggles and they are the majority. A few of these, who are more aware, decide to inflict it on the next generation because it was done to them and nobody helped them, so the next generation should have to feel what it was like and carry their burden for them. These are Evil by decision and acculturation. A very few of the born Good, are inflicted with so much abuse, neglect and trauma, that it creates wounds on the Soul and the mind and that is vector for the infection of Evil to get in and begin to turn them.
A growing more-than-a-few of those born Good but afflicted, break those chains and patterns. They pay a high price. That price refines and grows their Souls in wisdom and courage. They are the best and most heroic of all. They are seldom loved by their families for this, and so find, in order to break the chains, they have to orphan themselves. And they do. These are the brightest heroes of all because nobody orphans themselves except as last resort. But when love is poisoned - then it's not love anymore - it's multigenerational illness. These are the healers, the pathfinders, and the leaders into a better world. If you meet one of these, try and be good enough and aware enough as to be worthy of their friendship.
Among this last group are also the Souls who were highly sensitive, highly intelligent, and who were meant to be warrior-poets, artists, creatives, healers, Wise Women and Wise Men. Often we think of them as neurospicy. But not always. These bright Souls parachuted into the Earth realm into the hands of emotionally stunted and negligent and even violent parents/households. Because of their highly-sensitive natures, these individuals' brains *need* by their Nature, higher levels of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, vassopressin - all the endorphins - that most muggles. The abuse and neglect they are subjected to is *so* egregious that it slams their neuro-chemicals into a sub basement below even the level that ordinary Muggles need - and this is especially true of dopamine. And this gap is what I call The Gap of Agony. This is where addiction is created because they're instinctively trying to bring up their dopamine levels to what they know they need. THey're 'instinctively trying to medicate the pain with no help and no support. They are incredibly resilient Souls capable of the most Good in the world.
Some of these are resilient enough they resist the evil of these wounds on their Souls, but their Souls either fragment into various personalities, or, they were initially born with more than one Soul. I mean, who made the dumb rule that we only get one Soul? There is no rule that everybody gets only one Souls. Some folks get more than one. I'm convinced of it.
This is extremely thought provoking. Thank you for sharing it here with all of us. I have a feeling that I'll continue contemplating the points you've made for quite some time.
I've long thought that all of us, most of us perhaps, are born with an innate sense of right and wrong. But I don't know if I'm correct in thinking that.
Neither. We are born with the gift of Free Will, which is to say we have the capacity for both Good and Evil. As we are born as vessels in the image of our Creator, the default outcome, barring Evil influence, is Good. However, Free Will is not a free ride. Evil does exist and every human being has the capacity to embrace it or be consumed by it. Free Will is an awesome gift and burdensome responsibility.
Are those who are bad doomed to embrace evil in their lives because of the nurturing they received at a young age, as others suggest? Or are those influences less impactful on the decisions they make as they go through life exercising our free will?
Looking at evil through the lens of Eden in Genesis, free will preexisted original sin. It was free will which made it possible for Adam and Eve to eat from every tree, including the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As free will is preexisting, I don’t believe anyone is doomed to embrace evil. Granted, many are, at a young age, born with cards stacked against them. Likewise, many born with every opportunity of station and nurturing. As such, there are as many examples of those society would write off as being doomed, who turn out to be great and honorable people, and those society would say have every opportunity but end up wretched. There may well be some organic disposition toward impulse control, but that’s for scientists and statisticians to parse.
As everyone has the capacity for free will to make good and evil choices for themselves, everyone has the capacity for free will in the choices they make in their actions toward others. Small acts of humanity can have big impacts. Think back to a time when a small act of kindness or humanity changed your direction, conversely, when the opposite set you off.
Every human being has a claim on your kind offices, do good unto all.
I think we have all known or heard of those who came from horrible family situations but live exemplary lives. And likewise, I think we all know or have heard of those who came from good families but turned out bad.
Every action or inaction has consequences, and those consequences are neither good nor bad. They simply are.
It is our perceptions that sort the actions, inactions, outcomes, and even perceptions of ourselves and others into Good or Bad.
This is knowledge of good and evil. They are part of a discovery process.
When our knowledge is sound, we tend to encourage actions which are positive to us and our families and communities, and call them Good, and to discourage harmful actions, and call them Evil.
When our knowledge is not sound, well, open any history book.
In my humble opinion, a first perception is that a person is borne "good", in the sense that he has no knowledge of being evil a-priori. This should be much like in animals. Can we say an animal is borne evil? Even a lion (of lioness) kills to survive only.
So evil must be acquired... But why?
IMHO, a baby borne is, like any animal, equipped with a sense of survival. In other words, he must have natural egoism. Without that - his chances of survival are Low (in nature).
However, as Thomas Hobbes believed, human beings, realizing that the sense of survival is stronger than any other, would also kill to survive snd hence, formed the state, to regulate and Co tril the use of force.
However, in SOME humans, something went wrong. They became criminals, evil, in the sense that they kill (in the broadcast sense) for purposes other than survival.
No doubt, when they were nice little babies in their cot, they had no knowledge of crime or evil. This could evolve however due to several, psychological or environmental reasons, that drove him to crime.
This MUST have been a matter of freewill however.
The suggestion that a person could be borne evil is very dangerous: it pulls try he carpet from under moral and legal responsibility, because if evil is a borne feature, how could that person be indicted for his crimes? He would simply claim that "it is his borne nature"...
Thus we MUST assume, sxiomatically, that a person is NOT borne evil.
Thank you very much for this. You've given us something really valuable to think about.
I have to wonder, is a criminal act a crime, if it is truly necessary for survival? Or is it only a crime if it is not? Going back to the old question about the man who steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving children.
I don't know that it doesn't transcend culture, particularly on the big things. Surely, for example, premeditated murder is considered evil in all cultures?
I think, barring organic brain issues, every human is born a clean slate, neither good nor bad. I believe that we all have tendencies, some people have a tendency to aggression, some don't. Some have a tendency toward compassion, some don't. I do think our genetics predispose us to tendencies. Our environment, experiences, families, friends, all bounce off our tendencies and we make choices with consequences and all that molds us into who we become. Does Freemasonry offer anything to that equation ? It certainly can. If we find a man with good tendencies, and provide him an environment and experiences that reenforce that, then yes.
I would argue that even just providing him with good men as examples to follow, our Craft can serve to improve a man.
I think that I've seen that in my own time as a Mason, in fact, I know that I have. I've been able to come to know men who I have cause to admire, but that I never would have met otherwise. And I've found myself looking up to some of these men, wanting to emulate them in some way. I've also found myself not wanting to somehow disappoint them.
Ultimately I think of this as a form of mentorship, in which the mentor has no idea that he is serving as such.
I would argue that genetics plays a bigger role than we care to admit. I would say that people have good and evil tendencies first on genetics. 2nd on in utero development such as maternal drug use. 3rd on post birth environmental influence particular age 0-5years nutrition and toxin exposure. Lastly on moral education from age 5 onward. If a person has had all bad influence from conception to age 5, no amount of moral education after age 5 will redeem them. If they have had all good influence from conception to age 5 it will be hard to corrupt them through bad experiences later. The vast majority of humanity falls between those two extremes but whether they are mostly good or mostly bad is by my evaluation of the research primarily determined before the age of 5.
I find it interesting that I can look at my eight year old granddaughter, and pretty much see how she will be as an adult. Beyond that, I can get at least a glimmer of how my 10 month old granddaughter will be later in life. The two of them are going to be much different from each other.
That certainly points to nature playing a strong role, as the nurture is pretty much the same for both.
A lot of cool perspective on this topic. Our view hinges not on a belief but judgment. Without a mind and heart to interpret, good and evil might just be raw energy, undefined. It’s almost like they’re twins born from the same human capacity for choice, only diverging when we slap a moral framework on them. I’d say it’s a compelling twist: they’re not opposites by nature, but reflections of each other, split by perspective.
I tend to see good and evil intertwined in a dance through time. I don't believe that one could exist without the other, at least not for the cosmos as we experience it.
Seriously though, first we should define what it means to be good or evil.
For me, a good person is one who not only has the ability to take care of themselves, they also help others. That is, they reduce the suffering in others, ideally in a self sustaining way. For me, this is the way of Masonry.
Evil people ignore the suffering of others or delight in causing it.
Honestly Brother, I think it's a little of both.
Some people would appear to not capable to have empathy for others. Some people are sociopaths.
Many people are neutral. If you find out that chocolate bar you love dearly is made from slave labor, do you keep buying it? If you didn't buy it, would that help that person's situation? I don't know. I think that's different than kicking a beggar in the street.
Many people are struggling to make ends meet. So, if that's the only chocolate bar you can afford, it might be easier to ignore or discredit the idea that consuming it is causing the suffering of another elsewhere.
When many people are struggling to make ends meet, it's easy for a leader to come along and scapegoat others for their problems, promise them a solution, and to punish the scapegoat. This is a great way for them to stay in power. Unfortunately, if they ever solved the actual problem, they wouldn't be needed anymore, so they never seem to get around to making things better.
If you wish to do good in the world and help others out, my best suggestion is to be on the lookout for bullies that will try to sway you to delight in the suffering of others. They won't reduce your own suffering, and will only make things worse for everyone except themselves.
Your point on 'leaders' scapegoating the 'other' is extremely well taken.
Unfortunately we see far too much of this in society today. Perhaps it has always been that way.
It is sad but true that the easiest way to gain 'followers' in this world is to pick an 'enemy' and convince people that said 'enemy' is responsible for all of their problems.
Heck, that's even how it works here on this platform. Most all those people with little badges proclaiming "Tens of Thousands of Paid Subscribers" well, they've created an 'enemy' an 'other' and they constantly 'battle' that 'enemy' because the 'enemy' is responsible for all that is wrong in the world.
Most of us have or could develop the skills to do just that. Thankfully very few of us do.
And I've often wondered if those who do it aren't the most evil people of all? How many millions have died because a pseudo intellectual gave a charismatic leader the arguments he needed to convince the populace that their lives could only be improved if the 'other' was somehow destroyed?
I personally believe in God, and I believe his divine power’s greatest gift to humankind is freedom of choice. Without it, we would be robots I believe.
That’s why Adam had freewill, Eve had freewill. Jesus had freewill. What do we do that for you? Honor the divine and what’s natural or do stupid things? Use your free willed corrupt or to better mankind?
I certainly believe we are a clean slate, as some others have posted. Neither Good or Evil. With the free will to make choices of our own. We will follow the whole "your thoughts make words > words turn into actions > actions define you" philosophy. However there is definitely effects stemming from DNA such as chemical imbalance and what not creating dispositions to one side or another such as to be more easily agitated due to sugar level, or hormones, or bipolar etc. This idea has always provoked in me to think about the verse about how the children suffer from the fathers sins, I think another question should be, does a good or evil father or mother pass this to the child biologically or only through learning behaviors?
I assume you were probably raised in a Christian tradition. I am a Christian and have a different view of what it teaches. I believe the story of Adam indicates that we are, by nature, good and evil...like our tessellated floor symbol. Even after his original sin, God still loved Adam and Eve. That free will thing gives us the option to act in good and evil ways...even if we are generally a good person. The fact that we are all sinners doesn't say we were born evil, just that we all have an evil potential in us that we all, at some point, succumb to.
I think that there are a number of interesting takes on Good vs Evil.
I think that like most things there is a gradient to the nature vs nurture. I have met a few people in my life that give me the ability to claim both are true.
One I find intriguing is "the sins of the father" as outlined in biblical texts affect 7 generations. Perhaps this is a nuanced way to say that trauma inflicted creates lasting effects generationally? But what if this is a claim to energetic continuity, not indifferent from karmic rebirth or reincarnation? Or perhaps we are fractals of our energetic lineage experiencing all the pains and pleasures afforded us by the line we descend from.
Though if "as above, so below" rings true, what makes this experience different from logging into a Battlefield, Call of Duty, or an Apex lobby with a new skin or load-out, geared up for the next round? Desperately seeking to escape the boredom of a long existence with entertainment, intrigue, and horror.
I hope to one day see a world without evil. I fear until we can convince everyone the answer to evil is not more evil that we will unfortunately continue to have cause to discuss Evil as it relates to our lives and experiences.
My situation was that I was born into a "good family". My dad was a loyal DeMolay then member of Hermon Masonic Lodge No. 6 in West Virginia. My parents took me to numerous dinners before Lodge meetings (my mom & I washed and dried dishes, then put them away. Ultimately, my dad was Secretary of that Lodge, then WV Grand Master while I was in College. "Guidance" was the name of the game.
Me too. Good family, respected in the community. But I know that there are good people who come from awful families as well, so it can't all be about 'nurture.'
We don't come into this life as a tabula rasa.
We are, most of us, born Good, remembering the blueprints of Heaven.
Some - a very few - are born Evil - but these creatures never descended from the same tree as those of us who are human. They are hollow vessels for the inhabitation of Evil. But these are so rare as to be uncountable. But they operate in the world and attempt to destroy it because that's their Nature. One of my favourite novelists, James Lee Burke has written on this subject . If you want a really good crime mystery wrapped around an old-fashioned morality play with Good and Evil operating through humans in the world - read his novels.
Really, srsly, read them.
Most, born Good, grow and develop with guidance. I agree that guidance is in large part determinate for how they turn out.
Most of those, receive guidance that is nothing more than inflicted multi-generational trauma, trauma responses, adaptive behaviours, etc. from parents and grandparents who unthinkingly just *had* them - with no more thought about how to properly bring another human being onto this planet, other than to indenture them to the same patterns over and over again, and to have ego-mirrors, and slavishly built in caregivers in old age. Children who "owe" them something. This is an Evil act. So the guidance they get is reflexive from the generation that bore them, who themselves inherited it. It's crappy and not good.
Most of these aforementioned, just stumble on, a mindless as the previous generation, so immersed in these patterns, they can't see the forest for the tees. These are Muggles and they are the majority. A few of these, who are more aware, decide to inflict it on the next generation because it was done to them and nobody helped them, so the next generation should have to feel what it was like and carry their burden for them. These are Evil by decision and acculturation. A very few of the born Good, are inflicted with so much abuse, neglect and trauma, that it creates wounds on the Soul and the mind and that is vector for the infection of Evil to get in and begin to turn them.
A growing more-than-a-few of those born Good but afflicted, break those chains and patterns. They pay a high price. That price refines and grows their Souls in wisdom and courage. They are the best and most heroic of all. They are seldom loved by their families for this, and so find, in order to break the chains, they have to orphan themselves. And they do. These are the brightest heroes of all because nobody orphans themselves except as last resort. But when love is poisoned - then it's not love anymore - it's multigenerational illness. These are the healers, the pathfinders, and the leaders into a better world. If you meet one of these, try and be good enough and aware enough as to be worthy of their friendship.
Among this last group are also the Souls who were highly sensitive, highly intelligent, and who were meant to be warrior-poets, artists, creatives, healers, Wise Women and Wise Men. Often we think of them as neurospicy. But not always. These bright Souls parachuted into the Earth realm into the hands of emotionally stunted and negligent and even violent parents/households. Because of their highly-sensitive natures, these individuals' brains *need* by their Nature, higher levels of dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, vassopressin - all the endorphins - that most muggles. The abuse and neglect they are subjected to is *so* egregious that it slams their neuro-chemicals into a sub basement below even the level that ordinary Muggles need - and this is especially true of dopamine. And this gap is what I call The Gap of Agony. This is where addiction is created because they're instinctively trying to bring up their dopamine levels to what they know they need. THey're 'instinctively trying to medicate the pain with no help and no support. They are incredibly resilient Souls capable of the most Good in the world.
Some of these are resilient enough they resist the evil of these wounds on their Souls, but their Souls either fragment into various personalities, or, they were initially born with more than one Soul. I mean, who made the dumb rule that we only get one Soul? There is no rule that everybody gets only one Souls. Some folks get more than one. I'm convinced of it.
This is extremely thought provoking. Thank you for sharing it here with all of us. I have a feeling that I'll continue contemplating the points you've made for quite some time.
And, thank you for the book recommendations.
This raises the question of nature versus nurture. Kathleen has made a good case for nurture. What's the case for nature?
I've long thought that all of us, most of us perhaps, are born with an innate sense of right and wrong. But I don't know if I'm correct in thinking that.
Neither. We are born with the gift of Free Will, which is to say we have the capacity for both Good and Evil. As we are born as vessels in the image of our Creator, the default outcome, barring Evil influence, is Good. However, Free Will is not a free ride. Evil does exist and every human being has the capacity to embrace it or be consumed by it. Free Will is an awesome gift and burdensome responsibility.
Are those who are bad doomed to embrace evil in their lives because of the nurturing they received at a young age, as others suggest? Or are those influences less impactful on the decisions they make as they go through life exercising our free will?
Looking at evil through the lens of Eden in Genesis, free will preexisted original sin. It was free will which made it possible for Adam and Eve to eat from every tree, including the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As free will is preexisting, I don’t believe anyone is doomed to embrace evil. Granted, many are, at a young age, born with cards stacked against them. Likewise, many born with every opportunity of station and nurturing. As such, there are as many examples of those society would write off as being doomed, who turn out to be great and honorable people, and those society would say have every opportunity but end up wretched. There may well be some organic disposition toward impulse control, but that’s for scientists and statisticians to parse.
As everyone has the capacity for free will to make good and evil choices for themselves, everyone has the capacity for free will in the choices they make in their actions toward others. Small acts of humanity can have big impacts. Think back to a time when a small act of kindness or humanity changed your direction, conversely, when the opposite set you off.
Every human being has a claim on your kind offices, do good unto all.
Well said Brother, thank you.
I think we have all known or heard of those who came from horrible family situations but live exemplary lives. And likewise, I think we all know or have heard of those who came from good families but turned out bad.
You present excellent topics for dialogue, Most Worshipful.
We are not good or bad. We simply are.
To exist, we act or refrain from acting.
Every action or inaction has consequences, and those consequences are neither good nor bad. They simply are.
It is our perceptions that sort the actions, inactions, outcomes, and even perceptions of ourselves and others into Good or Bad.
This is knowledge of good and evil. They are part of a discovery process.
When our knowledge is sound, we tend to encourage actions which are positive to us and our families and communities, and call them Good, and to discourage harmful actions, and call them Evil.
When our knowledge is not sound, well, open any history book.
I find this an interesting perspective. Thank you for sharing it here!
In my humble opinion, a first perception is that a person is borne "good", in the sense that he has no knowledge of being evil a-priori. This should be much like in animals. Can we say an animal is borne evil? Even a lion (of lioness) kills to survive only.
So evil must be acquired... But why?
IMHO, a baby borne is, like any animal, equipped with a sense of survival. In other words, he must have natural egoism. Without that - his chances of survival are Low (in nature).
However, as Thomas Hobbes believed, human beings, realizing that the sense of survival is stronger than any other, would also kill to survive snd hence, formed the state, to regulate and Co tril the use of force.
However, in SOME humans, something went wrong. They became criminals, evil, in the sense that they kill (in the broadcast sense) for purposes other than survival.
No doubt, when they were nice little babies in their cot, they had no knowledge of crime or evil. This could evolve however due to several, psychological or environmental reasons, that drove him to crime.
This MUST have been a matter of freewill however.
The suggestion that a person could be borne evil is very dangerous: it pulls try he carpet from under moral and legal responsibility, because if evil is a borne feature, how could that person be indicted for his crimes? He would simply claim that "it is his borne nature"...
Thus we MUST assume, sxiomatically, that a person is NOT borne evil.
Thank you very much for this. You've given us something really valuable to think about.
I have to wonder, is a criminal act a crime, if it is truly necessary for survival? Or is it only a crime if it is not? Going back to the old question about the man who steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving children.
Neither. We are born innocent. Good and evil are defined in and by their culture. What is evil in one culture may well be good in another.
I don't know that it doesn't transcend culture, particularly on the big things. Surely, for example, premeditated murder is considered evil in all cultures?
I think, barring organic brain issues, every human is born a clean slate, neither good nor bad. I believe that we all have tendencies, some people have a tendency to aggression, some don't. Some have a tendency toward compassion, some don't. I do think our genetics predispose us to tendencies. Our environment, experiences, families, friends, all bounce off our tendencies and we make choices with consequences and all that molds us into who we become. Does Freemasonry offer anything to that equation ? It certainly can. If we find a man with good tendencies, and provide him an environment and experiences that reenforce that, then yes.
I agree, Re: Freemasonry.
I would argue that even just providing him with good men as examples to follow, our Craft can serve to improve a man.
I think that I've seen that in my own time as a Mason, in fact, I know that I have. I've been able to come to know men who I have cause to admire, but that I never would have met otherwise. And I've found myself looking up to some of these men, wanting to emulate them in some way. I've also found myself not wanting to somehow disappoint them.
Ultimately I think of this as a form of mentorship, in which the mentor has no idea that he is serving as such.
I would argue that genetics plays a bigger role than we care to admit. I would say that people have good and evil tendencies first on genetics. 2nd on in utero development such as maternal drug use. 3rd on post birth environmental influence particular age 0-5years nutrition and toxin exposure. Lastly on moral education from age 5 onward. If a person has had all bad influence from conception to age 5, no amount of moral education after age 5 will redeem them. If they have had all good influence from conception to age 5 it will be hard to corrupt them through bad experiences later. The vast majority of humanity falls between those two extremes but whether they are mostly good or mostly bad is by my evaluation of the research primarily determined before the age of 5.
I find it interesting that I can look at my eight year old granddaughter, and pretty much see how she will be as an adult. Beyond that, I can get at least a glimmer of how my 10 month old granddaughter will be later in life. The two of them are going to be much different from each other.
That certainly points to nature playing a strong role, as the nurture is pretty much the same for both.
A lot of cool perspective on this topic. Our view hinges not on a belief but judgment. Without a mind and heart to interpret, good and evil might just be raw energy, undefined. It’s almost like they’re twins born from the same human capacity for choice, only diverging when we slap a moral framework on them. I’d say it’s a compelling twist: they’re not opposites by nature, but reflections of each other, split by perspective.
I tend to see good and evil intertwined in a dance through time. I don't believe that one could exist without the other, at least not for the cosmos as we experience it.
Exactly!
Born to be Wild. ;)
Seriously though, first we should define what it means to be good or evil.
For me, a good person is one who not only has the ability to take care of themselves, they also help others. That is, they reduce the suffering in others, ideally in a self sustaining way. For me, this is the way of Masonry.
Evil people ignore the suffering of others or delight in causing it.
Honestly Brother, I think it's a little of both.
Some people would appear to not capable to have empathy for others. Some people are sociopaths.
Many people are neutral. If you find out that chocolate bar you love dearly is made from slave labor, do you keep buying it? If you didn't buy it, would that help that person's situation? I don't know. I think that's different than kicking a beggar in the street.
Many people are struggling to make ends meet. So, if that's the only chocolate bar you can afford, it might be easier to ignore or discredit the idea that consuming it is causing the suffering of another elsewhere.
When many people are struggling to make ends meet, it's easy for a leader to come along and scapegoat others for their problems, promise them a solution, and to punish the scapegoat. This is a great way for them to stay in power. Unfortunately, if they ever solved the actual problem, they wouldn't be needed anymore, so they never seem to get around to making things better.
If you wish to do good in the world and help others out, my best suggestion is to be on the lookout for bullies that will try to sway you to delight in the suffering of others. They won't reduce your own suffering, and will only make things worse for everyone except themselves.
Your point on 'leaders' scapegoating the 'other' is extremely well taken.
Unfortunately we see far too much of this in society today. Perhaps it has always been that way.
It is sad but true that the easiest way to gain 'followers' in this world is to pick an 'enemy' and convince people that said 'enemy' is responsible for all of their problems.
Heck, that's even how it works here on this platform. Most all those people with little badges proclaiming "Tens of Thousands of Paid Subscribers" well, they've created an 'enemy' an 'other' and they constantly 'battle' that 'enemy' because the 'enemy' is responsible for all that is wrong in the world.
Most of us have or could develop the skills to do just that. Thankfully very few of us do.
And I've often wondered if those who do it aren't the most evil people of all? How many millions have died because a pseudo intellectual gave a charismatic leader the arguments he needed to convince the populace that their lives could only be improved if the 'other' was somehow destroyed?
I personally believe in God, and I believe his divine power’s greatest gift to humankind is freedom of choice. Without it, we would be robots I believe.
I tend to agree, a life without free will, personal choice, wouldn't be life at all.
That’s why Adam had freewill, Eve had freewill. Jesus had freewill. What do we do that for you? Honor the divine and what’s natural or do stupid things? Use your free willed corrupt or to better mankind?
I certainly believe we are a clean slate, as some others have posted. Neither Good or Evil. With the free will to make choices of our own. We will follow the whole "your thoughts make words > words turn into actions > actions define you" philosophy. However there is definitely effects stemming from DNA such as chemical imbalance and what not creating dispositions to one side or another such as to be more easily agitated due to sugar level, or hormones, or bipolar etc. This idea has always provoked in me to think about the verse about how the children suffer from the fathers sins, I think another question should be, does a good or evil father or mother pass this to the child biologically or only through learning behaviors?
Your point is well taken. Through our thoughts, we create ourselves, and I think, even the reality that surrounds us. For good, or for ill.
I assume you were probably raised in a Christian tradition. I am a Christian and have a different view of what it teaches. I believe the story of Adam indicates that we are, by nature, good and evil...like our tessellated floor symbol. Even after his original sin, God still loved Adam and Eve. That free will thing gives us the option to act in good and evil ways...even if we are generally a good person. The fact that we are all sinners doesn't say we were born evil, just that we all have an evil potential in us that we all, at some point, succumb to.
The answer is 'neither.'
I think that there are a number of interesting takes on Good vs Evil.
I think that like most things there is a gradient to the nature vs nurture. I have met a few people in my life that give me the ability to claim both are true.
One I find intriguing is "the sins of the father" as outlined in biblical texts affect 7 generations. Perhaps this is a nuanced way to say that trauma inflicted creates lasting effects generationally? But what if this is a claim to energetic continuity, not indifferent from karmic rebirth or reincarnation? Or perhaps we are fractals of our energetic lineage experiencing all the pains and pleasures afforded us by the line we descend from.
Though if "as above, so below" rings true, what makes this experience different from logging into a Battlefield, Call of Duty, or an Apex lobby with a new skin or load-out, geared up for the next round? Desperately seeking to escape the boredom of a long existence with entertainment, intrigue, and horror.
I hope to one day see a world without evil. I fear until we can convince everyone the answer to evil is not more evil that we will unfortunately continue to have cause to discuss Evil as it relates to our lives and experiences.