Evil As We Know It

Evil, in a general sense, is the opposite or absence of good. It is generally seen as taking multiple possible forms, such as the form of personal moral evil commonly associated with the word, or impersonal natural evil (as in the case of natural disasters or illnesses), and in religious thought, the form of the demonic or supernatural/eternal.

We have all met people who either believe in God, are Atheists, or just don’t care. Each professes their view of how the world, as we know it, came to be. Some attribute it all to a Higher Power they call God. Others believe in the Big Bang and random chance. Many are too busy trying to survive to pay much attention to such questions.

Still, they all share one belief in common: they concede that evil exists and can touch every human life at will. So how is it that we empower evil through fear, jealousy, and self-hatred but are reluctant to empower good through faith and selfless love?

Perhaps that is the hidden value in evil. It drives us all to question our existence and ponder the origin of both evil and good in the world as we know it. If so, the events now happening in Ukraine are providing a platform from which to test that assumption against the evil as we know it in our present existence — not a lesson from history.