Explaining Evil in the World

Papabear,

Birth gives us a meaning, but never an understanding. Ourselves; an enigma of boundless deeds we sow, but never heard. Life; always do my best, and to others I do better. Darkness; to which I fear the dark, and the shapeless figures that cloud my judgment and myself. I fear the world, and the darkness it carries with it, and the evils of others. I help those who suffer, and comfort those that fear the same darkness. There is but one question, that I cannot answer. For it is not intellectual, but more in strength.

Does the world want us here?

Raysuko

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Dear Raysuko,

Oh! A philosophy question! What a nice change of pace! Thanks for writing, Raysuko.

It is interesting to Papabear the way you phrase the question: “Does the world want us here?” Do you subscribe to the Gaia Hypothesis? The basic idea of this now-theory is that the entire globe and every living and inanimate thing in it operates, essentially, as one living organism (some prefer to think of it as a cell). The world manages to self-regulate itself, controlling everything from the salinity of the oceans to the temperature of the atmosphere, by the interaction and balance of the minerals, gases, microorganisms, and larger organisms that exist here. Some take the theory even further, saying that Gaia will reproduce just like a living organism and that we humans are the means to do that as we, hopefully, move out into space.

If that is so, then Gaia really needs us because no other species is likely to venture into outer space. On the other hand, if you subscribe to the idea that global warming is caused by human actions, we are, in a way, making Gaia sick by giving her a fever that could possibly, if taken to extremes, be lethal, making the planet unlivable.

If you believe in the Gaia idea, then, yes, we are wanted by the world and are an integral part of it, even if that system sometimes goes awry.

If you are a Christian and believe in a loving God, then again, yes, we are wanted by the world. We could go into all the other religions and beliefs, but, to summarize, they basically all believe that God purposefully created us and so then, too, we are wanted. God doesn’t make mistakes, eh?

Judging by your words (although a little difficult to understand), you are perplexed by the evil in the world. You say you try and do your part by helping others, comforting those who also “fear the same darkness.” That is a wonderful thing, and some people would aver that that is why we are here: to be good people and to help others, in which case, people like you, Raysuko, are indeed wanted and sorely needed by the world.

But are you really troubled by the evil and “darkness” of the world? Are you wondering why there is such darkness, and why bad things happen to good people, and that leads to your question? Did the Creator/Great Spirit create evil and darkness in an attempt to get rid of us? Now we are getting into one of philosophy’s biggest questions to solve: The Problem of Evil.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Let’s face it, we find great satisfaction when bad things happen to bad people, but the scary thing is that evil doesn’t discriminate.

Many explanations have been proposed, including:

• It is part of God’s plan and His reasons are beyond our ability to understand.
• For us to have Free Will there had to be evil in the world so that we could make choices between good and evil.
• Without evil and darkness, life would be too easy, precluding the possibility for personal growth.
• God isn’t perfect and He created an imperfect world.
• God is not benevolent and likes to make us miserable.
• We suffer now so we can appreciate Heaven more after we die.
• Man created evil through Adam’s original sin.
• Good cannot exist without evil and vice versa.
• There is no God and the universe is indifferent to our notions of good and evil (concepts we invented and that have no real objective meaning) and simply operates under a set of laws that keep things running, whether or not the results hurt us (i.e., it’s nothing personal, it’s just business)

The interesting thing about all these explanations is that they assume a static condition of the universe and of God, yet as we observe all around us we see change and evolution in progress. The universe is expanding, species evolve, die, and new ones take their place, continents move across the globe. What if an evolution of Spirit is in progress as well? And what if all the Spirit in the universe (or multiverse, if you wish to carry it that far) is actually composed of all the spiritual beings in existence, much like all the materials and living creatures on Earth compose Gaia?

If everything is evolving, not just physically but spiritually, that means that there was a beginning and that there is, at some time in the future, an end point. What would the beginning be? Well, scientists propose that it began with the Big Bang at which point everything was created. How something can be created out of nothing is a question that has also been thought about by many, but one way Papabear explains it is with the simple formula 0 = (+1) + (-1), where +1 can be thought of in terms of the physical (e.g. matter, light, constructive forces) and -1 can be thought of as the opposites (e.g. antimatter, darkness, entropy). But these can also be seen in terms of the nonphysical and spiritual (love, friendship, faith vs. hatred, betrayal, unbelief).

So, we have gone from a point of zero Spirituality to one in which there is both good and wicked Spirit. But this is just the middle of the process. Where are we moving to? Well, hopefully, spiritual enlightenment, a process to which each one of us can contribute by rejecting evil and embracing the good. We all have that power within us because each of us harbors a piece of the original Spirit that emerged with the Creation (i.e., the soul). Imagine a world in which we have all overcome our baser selfish instincts and learned to love and care for one another, at which point we will have reached Nirvana and evil would be eliminated, the evolutionary process complete. By such a choice, we become empowered to wield the constructive forces ourselves and the balance between +1 and -1 becomes unnecessary for creation to proceed.

Why, then, in summary, is there evil? Because it is a part of the natural process of spiritual evolution. Does this spiritual evolution require us? Yes, we are an integral part of it and not separate. Everything that we see and experience and act upon and that is acted upon us is part of this necessary process toward the completion of Spirit into a whole in which evil is no longer an integral part.

I wish I could put it more concisely, but I hope that helps.

Papabear