The Definition Of Evil
Definition of Evil?
What is the true definition of evil - beyond the simple childish view of evil as a bad thing someone does. What defines something as evil? Who has the right to judge something as evil? What entity is the source of all evil? All of these questions are intertwined; each one leads to an aspect of the other. With this said, I will start with my philosophy on evil.
First, I would like to say that just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, evil is in the eye of the committer; as everything in the universe is relative to its environment. How can something done in alignment with one’s conscience bring evil into existence when the intention was not to do so. For example, if a Protestant or a member of any religion that has a parallel view on the subject of sex before marriage commits an act, which is morally wrong in the Catholic tradition, and truly believes in his or her heart that this is moral due to great love between the participants, will this person be considered immoral? How can a person abiding by his or her own moral beliefs commit an act of evil? Will the person be damned to hell if it is against another’s beliefs? Now, placing this example aside I would like to present another instance which may seem a bit more extreme, and is therefore much more complex. Take the past evil leaders of our world: Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, Sadam Hussein, etc. Yes, these were evil men, but it is hard to understand exactly how they came to be as malicious as they appeared in history. Osama Bin Laden, still at large as I write this paper, directed acts of atrocious terrorism against the United States of America. Why? He declared a jihad on the US, calling death to innocent people in the name of religion. Let me note that I am not in any way making Osama Bin Laden seem less evil, as so far my essay has pointed; as I said earlier - one cannot commit evil by acting in alignment with one’s conscious. Osama Bin Laden did believe that the United States was an evil, overpowering presence in the Arab world - this was not the source of his evil. All leaders are intelligent, that is why they are leaders. Osama Bin Laden was intelligent enough to know the slaughter of human life was wrong - he KNEW it would hurt others, and he KNEW it would affect the United States, he KNEW he would bring innocent families pain and sorrow - yet he conducted these acts despite all of these things. This was the source of his evil.
Evil will always exist - the human mind is a disgraceful entity; it is constantly at war with itself - our conscience is constantly trying to overpower evil desires - how good or evil a person is depends on how strong his conscience is. Therefore, it can be said that the source of evil exists in our own minds - all evil is created in our neuro-network - consciously or sub-consciously. That is the depth of my belief on this area and therefore will make one final closing remark on it. The source of evil lies deep in our minds, held back by our conscience, and only escapes when we let it.
With the subject of evil, coming from one’s own mind, it is accompanied by the question of the judge of evil. Is there a system of government, group of people, or supreme being that decides what is classified as evil or not? Although society normally takes the role of the arbitrator of evil, it is a highly unreliable and inconsistent body that cannot truly judge evil because it is evil itself. The idea of a higher power as the judge of evil is also slightly incorrect - though a supreme being is looking upon as a creator, how can He/She judge one’s actions to be evil, when in fact the Being already knows all that was, is, and will be and therefore does not need to judge our actions now - when the time comes for our judgment, then that Being will allow us either eternal happiness or suffering - depending on our position on evil that we have taken throughout our life. This leads to my conclusion on this subject. We are our own judges; we know what is evil - when we discard our conscious and allow evil to surface, we make that decision to do so.
With all of my conclusions similar in response, one final conclusion can be drawn. Evil does not exist alone, we create it ourselves - we let it come to mind - we let it escape - and when it does - we know it is wrong. That is evil.
What is the true definition of evil - beyond the simple childish view of evil as a bad thing someone does. What defines something as evil? Who has the right to judge something as evil? What entity is the source of all evil? All of these questions are intertwined; each one leads to an aspect of the other. With this said, I will start with my philosophy on evil.
First, I would like to say that just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, evil is in the eye of the committer; as everything in the universe is relative to its environment. How can something done in alignment with one’s conscience bring evil into existence when the intention was not to do so. For example, if a Protestant or a member of any religion that has a parallel view on the subject of sex before marriage commits an act, which is morally wrong in the Catholic tradition, and truly believes in his or her heart that this is moral due to great love between the participants, will this person be considered immoral? How can a person abiding by his or her own moral beliefs commit an act of evil? Will the person be damned to hell if it is against another’s beliefs? Now, placing this example aside I would like to present another instance which may seem a bit more extreme, and is therefore much more complex. Take the past evil leaders of our world: Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, Sadam Hussein, etc. Yes, these were evil men, but it is hard to understand exactly how they came to be as malicious as they appeared in history. Osama Bin Laden, still at large as I write this paper, directed acts of atrocious terrorism against the United States of America. Why? He declared a jihad on the US, calling death to innocent people in the name of religion. Let me note that I am not in any way making Osama Bin Laden seem less evil, as so far my essay has pointed; as I said earlier - one cannot commit evil by acting in alignment with one’s conscious. Osama Bin Laden did believe that the United States was an evil, overpowering presence in the Arab world - this was not the source of his evil. All leaders are intelligent, that is why they are leaders. Osama Bin Laden was intelligent enough to know the slaughter of human life was wrong - he KNEW it would hurt others, and he KNEW it would affect the United States, he KNEW he would bring innocent families pain and sorrow - yet he conducted these acts despite all of these things. This was the source of his evil.
Evil will always exist - the human mind is a disgraceful entity; it is constantly at war with itself - our conscience is constantly trying to overpower evil desires - how good or evil a person is depends on how strong his conscience is. Therefore, it can be said that the source of evil exists in our own minds - all evil is created in our neuro-network - consciously or sub-consciously. That is the depth of my belief on this area and therefore will make one final closing remark on it. The source of evil lies deep in our minds, held back by our conscience, and only escapes when we let it.
With the subject of evil, coming from one’s own mind, it is accompanied by the question of the judge of evil. Is there a system of government, group of people, or supreme being that decides what is classified as evil or not? Although society normally takes the role of the arbitrator of evil, it is a highly unreliable and inconsistent body that cannot truly judge evil because it is evil itself. The idea of a higher power as the judge of evil is also slightly incorrect - though a supreme being is looking upon as a creator, how can He/She judge one’s actions to be evil, when in fact the Being already knows all that was, is, and will be and therefore does not need to judge our actions now - when the time comes for our judgment, then that Being will allow us either eternal happiness or suffering - depending on our position on evil that we have taken throughout our life. This leads to my conclusion on this subject. We are our own judges; we know what is evil - when we discard our conscious and allow evil to surface, we make that decision to do so.
With all of my conclusions similar in response, one final conclusion can be drawn. Evil does not exist alone, we create it ourselves - we let it come to mind - we let it escape - and when it does - we know it is wrong. That is evil.