Reconceptualizing evil as necessary for human growth and evolution

Evil Problems

The role of evil is generally misunderstood in the human approach to life. The fear of committing evil lies paramount within all facets of society. The purpose of this essay is to argue that to solve the problem of evil, humanity must begin to embrace the benefits and solutions to problems that evil provides. This essay will first define the concept of evil and discuss the problem in a philosophic manner that can help transmute evil ideas into more productive energies that can be used for growth and evolution

Defining Evil

The power of words carry emotional value that create energetic fields that permeate in the environment. Some words carry great power and instantly polarize the conditioned mind into an immediate and often irrational emotional reaction. "Evil" carries with it spiritual, moral and ethical values and energy that suggest the word's meaning has super power on and over or minds. To understand what evil is, defining the term becomes prerequisite.

Using a standard approach, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines evil in three ways: "morally bad, causing harm or injury to someone and marked by bad luck or bad events." This standard acceptance of the word suggests that evil is something to be avoided and is detrimental to the human condition. The fear that is inherently assumed in this definition begins to shed light on the problem of evil and how it is mostly misunderstood as a positive force and should not be avoided.

Theodicy

Philosophy and religion have been created by man to help deal with using the power of evil for good purposes. The idea of theodicy, or a theological questioning to find the answer to why god allows evil, demonstrates the confusing and often misleading interpretation of the concept of evil. When understood in a certain way these religious ideas can be used to temper the confusion caused by evil but only when evil is first embraced and understood as something necessary.

The religious idea of theodicy gives us clues of navigating the problems that evil causes that resonate within the human soul, intellect and conscience. In religious circles that use the concept of evil for good often manipulate the concept to help construct meaning and purpose in their life. Boase (2008) suggested that "For communities which adhere to ethical monotheism, the struggle to construct meaning in light of suffering is an urgent task given the belief in a benevolent and loving God. Suffering raises questions about the nature of God, and God's relationship to evil. The quest to justify God in the face of suffering is the task of theodicy. Driving this quest are three central tenets; the belief in God's goodness, the belief in his power and the belief in the real occurrence of suffering."

Eastern religions also address the idea of suffering as evil. The eastern approach to evil seems much more scientific than the monotheistic, western development of evil and theodicy. The essence of enlightened eastern minds is to simply transmute the evil desires that cause suffering and find peace through inner meditation and resolution. This approach, instead of rebuking evil, determines a manner in which to include the process for benefit or gain.

Personal Remarks

The many meanings that can be implied by the word "evil" has shown me that the presence of ultimate good and bad are found within the individual experiencing the idea. The presence of laws, governments, police, wars, and courts suggests however that the general masses are not prepared to accept these ideas of evil due to their misunderstanding of the word and its importance in transformation and change. Evil acts are magnified and polarize large masses of people due to the emotional content of its meaning. To help put evil in its proper perspective, emotions must first be placed in the proper perspective to formulate an unbiased and reasonable approach to the problem.

As long as the word "evil" is charged with such animosity and vitriol, there is little hope in being able to use the evil tendencies in our own lives for good. Internal accepting of the evil that we do is the primary task in gaining an appreciation for this approach. Carl Jung suggested that we should embrace our evil personalities that rest within the "shadow." The impossibility of perfection within the human experience necessitates such ideas as Jung's, due to the guilt that accumulates when we realize that we fail and commit evil acts all the time.

I have found my beliefs to be reinforced by minimizing the absoluteness of good and evil and view the terms in a more fluid manner. Both good and evil cannot exist by themselves as they wholly depend on each other to find their own meaning. Goodness cannot be found without evil. We need evil and we need to make positive connections with our evil sides in order to fully develop our good sides.

Embracing oneself fully requires some attempt to transmute evil ideas into good ideas. Fearing evil is the mistake that can cause evil to pronounce itself in unbalanced ways making life more difficult than it should be. Having faith and knowing that the evil one encounters on a daily basis is nothing more than an opportunity for deeper self development and becoming more aware and conscious of the world that exists.