Why do harmful things happen? asked the Happy Melancholic, as if he was carrying the weight of the world and its pains. Why must humans suffer? Why do they fall victim to life's unpredictable turns? Thus flowed the questions in our companion's mind, appearing as enigmas that defy comprehension. Then he recalled the riddle of evil posed by Epicurus, which has since evolved into a perennial doctrine often embraced by heretics and apostates in their debates against guardians of faith and minions of sanctity.
For how can evil exist in a world under the care of a merciful God? Why do infants suffer from chronic diseases? Why do disasters befall humanity, leaving them in disarray? Why do opportunities not align in lifespans and fortunes?
We may claim that the problem of evil is the strongest moral argument that refutes the belief in divine care. Despite all the theological justifications drowning in philosophical reasoning for the problem of evil (theodicy), it cannot withstand the suffering of a single child afflicted with a chronic illness, and all apologetic theologies can crumble before the tears of a bereaved mother.
Therefore, we can conclude that the world is neglected in opposition to the principle of care, that nature is a blind force that does not comply with human standards of ethics, and that human life is governed by chance. Life is a game of dice, and the duality of good and evil, and the concepts derived from it such as justice, judgement, fate, reward, punishment, and trial are all mere consolations invented by humans to justify their existence.
The duality of good and evil was born from the belief in what Nietzsche called "the illusion of the background worlds", meaning the belief in the existence of a hidden transcendent entity beyond the world of phenomena. According to this belief, every event that occurs in the world of phenomena has a hidden cause that is a manifestation of the hidden force and a visible sign of its truth.
For example, when an earthquake strikes an area, it will be interpreted as a punishment from the divine forces for the people of that area due to a sin they committed or some of them committed. Or it will be interpreted as a test of their faith and steadfastness in the face of the fate and judgment of the gods.
Therefore, an ethical aspect is added to the earthquake, considering it as a realization of the justice of the gods among humans, while it is nothing more than a natural event governed by laws and a series of causes. The law of causality knows neither good nor evil, and it does not matter to it to achieve justice in the world of humans, nor does it indicate a higher will, but it only indicates itself.
It can be argued that the belief in the illusion of the background worlds and the interpretation of natural events as a manifestation of the hidden forces of good and evil has been a way for humans to justify the existence of suffering and evil in the world. However, this interpretation does not hold up against the reality of the world and the suffering that humans experience, especially when it comes to innocent children and animals who do not deserve the suffering they experience.
Therefore, it is necessary to reject the illusion of the background worlds and focus on the world of phenomena and the causes and effects that govern it, and to work to alleviate the suffering of humans and other living beings in the world, rather than justifying it through a belief in the hidden forces of good and evil.
Human beings are thrown on the edge of the universe, neglected and abandoned to nothingness. There is no one who cares about them except themselves. We must accept this fact in order to withstand the disasters and pains that we face. We must realize that we exist without justification, we continue living because of our weakness, and we die by chance, according to the Sartrean expression. Our lives are based on a huge amount of possibilities governed by the duality of coincidence and causality.
To explain this, we can give the following example: Zaid could have been present in area (A) at time (B), and that coincided with an earthquake happening at the same time and place, leading to his death. In another scenario, Zaid could have been required to stay at home that day and would have been safe from the earthquake, but the coincidence of his presence in the same area and time led to his death. Therefore, we say that possibilities are governed by the duality of coincidence (the coincidence of Zaid's presence and the earthquake happening in the same place) and causality (earthquakes occur due to shifts in tectonic plates).
On the day Zaid died in the earthquake, Zaid's mother cried and mourned, convinced that her son's death was caused by evil forces that targeted him, and some of Zaid's acquaintances guessed that his death was God's retribution for some of his sins. We must accept the randomness and unpredictability of life and stop justifying suffering through a belief in hidden forces of good and evil.
The Happy Melancholic realized that what we call evil has no meaning in the world of phenomena, and that everything that happens to humans such as diseases, epidemics, famines, and natural disasters cannot be morally condemned because they do not follow a certain will and do not target individuals or human groups according to a specific plan. Everything that happens, happens without a predetermined goal or moral nature.
Humans should try to minimize damage and get rid of as much pain as possible amid a huge amount of possibilities and chances. We must always keep the Empedoclean prescription in mind: the ability to attribute the experience of pain, to accompany it, and to reconcile with it... And the ultimate consolation for humans remains that life is fleeting, sooner or later.
Previous parts
The Happy Melancholic Part 1: How Can the Melancholy Endure Their Stay in the World?
The Happy Melancholic Part 2: Existence is a Burden: the Meditations of an Absurd Being