I do not believe in evil. That is, I don’t believe in some kind of universal force of evil, a malevolent influence or being, a Satan or devil or a first thought that is less than pure and perfect.
We seem to use the word evil to describe things which have not yet shown us their best.
One dictionary’s definition of evil calls it “the fact of suffering, misfortune or wrongdoing”, but I reject that such a thing is a fact.
Only four paragraphs in, I realize I’ve already rolled the eyes and lost the confidence of some readers. It’s naive, they must be saying. “If he every experiences evil, God forbid, he’ll recognize it when he sees it,” some must surely be thinking.
But that’s the problem, you see. I have already experienced some of the things that the word labels as evil, but I didn’t experience them that way.
I’m sure of this: I’ve never had an experience that did not ultimately result in good. All things work together for good, so they say.
Some things appear senseless, random, meaningless or cruel to me at this moment. There are too many qualifiers in that statement, however, for me to even consider calling those events evil. They appear but may not actually be. They appear to me but may be different to someone else. They appear to me at this moment, but time’s passage often changes perspectives.
I don’t think I’m failing to include anything in the thought process that brought me to my conclusion that evil is a fabrication. I haven’t forgotten about drive-by shootings, terrorist attacks, terrible diseases or lives torn apart by abuses. Whether those events are good or evil depends upon where the participants choose to focus. Lives can be destroyed by things less dramatic than these, but circumstances this dire don’t always impact lives negatively.
I accept nothing less than pure, loving perfection from my universe, and it does not disappoint. What do you expect?
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/door-bad-luck-13-thirteen-unlucky-1587023/
Gip Plaster is a web content writer. Previously a journalist, online bookseller and even a corporate advertising guy, Gip now specialize in writing high-quality content for websites — his and other people’s. Learn more here.