Comparitive explanations for the existence of evil

[arthra]

I would like to hear everyone's answers on the purpose and reason for the existence of evil. If you can state your religious or other belief system along with your explanation, that would be very helpful. Thanks!

The Baha'i view of "evil" is that it is the absence of Good..

"Briefly, the intellectual realities, such as all the qualities and admirable perfections of man, are purely good, and exist. Evil is simply their nonexistence. So ignorance is the want of knowledge; error is the want of guidance; forgetfulness is the want of memory; stupidity is the want of good sense. All these things have no real existence.

In the same way, the sensible realities are absolutely good, and evil is due to their nonexistence -- that is to say, blindness is the want of sight, deafness is the want of hearing, poverty is the want of wealth, illness is the want of health, death is the want of life, and weakness is the want of strength.

Nevertheless a doubt occurs to the mind -- that is, scorpions and serpents are poisonous. Are they good or evil, for they are existing beings? Yes, a scorpion is evil in relation to man; a serpent is evil in relation to man; but in relation to themselves they are not evil, for their poison is their weapon, and by their sting they defend themselves. But as the elements of their poison do not agree with our elements -- that is to say, as there is antagonism between these different elements, therefore, this antagonism is evil; but in reality as regards themselves they are good.

The epitome of this discourse is that it is possible that one thing in relation to another may be evil, and at the same time within the limits of its proper being it may not be evil. Then it is proved that there is no evil in existence; all that God created He created good. This evil is nothingness; so death is the absence of life. When man no longer receives life, he dies. Darkness is the absence of light: when there is no light, there is darkness. Light is an existing thing, but darkness is nonexistent. Wealth is an existing thing, but poverty is nonexisting.

Then it is evident that all evils return to nonexistence. Good exists; evil is nonexistent." 265

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 261)

 

[Sanzbir]

I would like to hear everyone's answers on the purpose and reason for the existence of evil. If you can state your religious or other belief system along with your explanation, that would be very helpful. Thanks!

"Evil" is just a divide that people come up with to categorize the world around them into things they like "Good" and things they do not like "Bad"/"Evil". It isn't a real, tangible thing that exists.

Belief in Evil is the cause of suffering, as it causes for a person to long for a reality that isn't and falsely leads them to believe that the world could be "better" somehow, if only it could conform to the way they wanted it to be. If one can find a way to truly discard this belief in a good/bad or good/evil divide, then one ceases to suffer and enters paradise.

It's like the story of Adam and Eve. Both persons exist in a paradise until they adopt the false knowledge of good and evil. Because they no longer view the world as whole, but rather as separate, with some things "good" and some things "bad", they are no longer in paradise.

My religion is the Baha'i Faith but a Taoist background also informs the above viewpoint.

 

[LukeS]

The terms "evil" and "good" are instruments on our project of rational attraction to being. Basically usage of "good" clusteres around life promotion, and "evil" clusters around life denial, in a non random manner. All this got mixed up with faith and early mythology.

When it comes to "theft is evil" its difficult to see the wood from the within trees.

Take a step back, to evolution: terms like "evil" stemmed from alarm calls and activation of the sympathetic nervous system (fear response etc.), and "good" would have been linked to emotive expressions of approval and happiness and the relaxation response (parasympathetic nervous system). I call these the "shriek/yuck" and "yum/hush" factors.... IMO they're at the root of ethics in terms of long term historical development.

A basic ethical usage:

"Shriek!, you took my pomegranate..."

developed into

"Evil #*'~~!!".

 

[SoftVoice]

I would like to hear everyone's answers on the purpose and reason for the existence of evil. If you can state your religious or other belief system along with your explanation, that would be very helpful. Thanks!

Evil came about as the natural balancer to good. Without darkness we cannot see the light and all that. With order comes chaos, so with good comes evil.
I'm Polytheistic (a mix of a bunch of stuff).

 

[Mister Silver]

I would like to hear everyone's answers on the purpose and reason for the existence of evil. If you can state your religious or other belief system along with your explanation, that would be very helpful. Thanks!

I am an atheist. Evil, in the religious context, is mere fiction.

Men can be bad, which the synonym of evil could adequately replace under certain circumstances.