As soon as a child’s personality appears the first strokes that paint the canvas of this concept and idea are made. Of course are the very beginning its over simplified by our limited experiences and probably confined to a binary observation. We get what we want = It's good, we don’t get what we want = Its evil.
What I find interesting is that as we accumulate experiences and this definition grows in complexity we also stray away from logical reasons and begin to blur the lines with emotional confusion.
I'm not implying that as a society we don’t act as if we have a solid grip on the concept of Evil, we certainly act as if we do, but if we attempt to honestly analyze world scenarios and even common events around us we usually find that the roles of hero and villain are always defined by guilt, circumstance and point of reference.
In an attempt to be more specific I will touch on Religion... yes the charged subject I'm not supposed to use as an example but bare with me for a second. Can we truly answer if a particular religion as a whole is good, or evil? Maybe we can make arguments in both directions with equally valid points, and as we know disagreements on the moral high ground of religions have been the main catalysts of wars and the fertile soil for human misery.
But, can we attempt then to relearn a lesson from our childhood we have forgotten, the simpler way to dissipate the storm of confusion?
If we can all agree that anything that causes more agony than it does joy is by definition evil or to be less sensationalist just “wrong”. We can also agree that something that brings more joy to our lives and experience than suffering is “good”. I think about this often, specially because I value and admire our capacity as a species to feel empathy and strongly believe that to nurture compassion in our young is the only way forward for human kind.
I often wonder if we can learn as a humanity to see the bigger picture? to think of ourselves as one species and not as citizens of countries with borders... Not as the political right versus left, Black vs White, Christians vs Muslims.
As I hit the wall of overwhelming challenges at 50 mph I’m left with only one undeniable conclusion.
I may never see the day we celebrate world peace and the abolition of hunger. I may not be alive when we stand all united regardless of nationality, race or religion.
But I’am hopeful that within my lifetime I'll get to see more and more people wake up to the notion of what is holding us back, this palpable definition of evil..... and bury all the ideas that divide us.
MenO
Images: Pixabay
Thank you for reading. I appreciate everyone upvoted and shared my posts. Its my intention to start a two way conversation with these topics and encourage comments. MenO