I had lunch with a friend who explained at some length why he does not believe in evil. He believes people may act on strange priorities, have damaging perspectives, take selfish actions etc. that cause bad things to happen, but doesn't believe in any definition of the word "evil".
Do you? In what sense?
Yes, I believe there is evil in the world, although I'm relieved to say that I've only met two or three people in my 66 years that I would label as such. These are people who care nothing for other people or what damage they may do while getting what they want, and they feel no remorse for any of it. Being purely self-absorbed is evil to me.
I believe that evil exists, and I believe that some people act in evil ways, even if they are too ill to realize what they are doing. Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy and Adolph Hiltler come immediately to mind.
I think that without evil, goodness would not exist.
Yes.... up close and personal, without a doubt.
I do believe there is evil in the world - good question by the way - and like for domestic goddess, Adolf Hitler came immediately to my mind. OTOH I also think that evil of this sort can inspire saintly behavior in some - an example would be folks in overrun countries who hid those the Nazis wanted to send off to camps, at risk of loss of their own lives. Maybe (?) it is a bit of a yin/yang thing, that for good to exist there has to be some measure of evil? Rob
See, I would ask that friend: "Define Evil."??? He says he doesn't believe in the definition of Evil. Which definition is that?
Yes, absolutely. Not just in the past as those mentioned such as Adolf Hitler. Sometimes, you can feel it or sense it in what appears to be ordinary everyday circumstances.
"Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in the midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free." Leonard Cohen
I think the word "evil" is as good a word as any for the few deeply disturbing things in the world that humans can't explain.
I didn't believe in the concept intellectually for most of my life, but the Hitlers and Ted Bundys of the world certainly go to a dark dark place that I can barely fathom. I'm too old and jaded now to accept feeble explanations of psychological experts. Mankind is too small in the face of it to adequately explain it, for me, anyway. Evil just IS, as was Hitler and Bundy.
Last edited by iris lily; 1-25-12 at 11:49pm.
only in the sense that it exists in all of us as a capacity, just as the capacity for goodness exists in all of us. the most reprehensible people in the world were at one time an innocent, small child. I believe more in the theory that both qualities exist in all of us, and which we choose to feed is what takes over, over time.
The very banality of evil shows its everyday roots.....those small choices at every fork in the road that lead some to behave in horrendous ways.
to me, "evil" is a series of forks in the road, a series of choices that lead in one direction or another. No one is purely evil, just as no one is purely good. Even despots often love their families, and/or are kind to animals. Even serial killers like Ted Bundy had certain people with whom they interacted, took care of and showed kindness to.
I do think that people can suffer mental conditions, or be born with some deficiency in their emotional makeup that causes them an inability to feel empathy, show psychopathic tendencies, etc., but I think that most people we label as "evil" have more likely chosen over and over small decisions that have led them to a very negative place.
Does that mean that I don't think society should be protected from such people? Of course not. But the idea that "evil" lurks out there in the darkness, waiting to attack us......nope. Don't believe in that, OR things like "the devil". And I think also that "goodness" is something that is a product in the same way of small, daily choices, over and over, that lead one to a place of love and kindness, together with empathy for others. Both are learned conditions, good AND evil. JMHO
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