Thread: The Root of All Evil

I have done evil things today.

Selene, i think through reason is 'right' because the only reason i think they are wrong is because i know that i felt bad afterwards about doing them.

So here i have the action firstly, the feelings about it secondly, then thirdly how i feel about that original feeling i experienced. That third feeling which is a reflection of how i feel about myself is then reasonably put into a place which is defined by wether or not i like or dislike that feeling. A personal choice about if i like the feeling or not. Then it is deemed evil and it is at this point it is catagorised as a feeling which is connected to the action/event in subject being good or bad.

And i was wondering why Selene has been banned?

This is absolute stupidity of man.

The most i have learned in this entire thing has came from those words and now that point of view and thinking has gone.

Probally because - ''The Ape will always mock the scribe, for in his very words the truth will hide.''

As 'evil' is a perception of an action the action in itself would be the root of whatever you feel and think is 'evil'

The root of all Evil is the thoughts of Man, money in and of itself does nothing with out the desire for want, that a man/woman have in their thoughts.

There are some who feel thread necromancy should be a capital offence. Others would reserve this punishment for those who make trite, lightweight statements on a Tuesday afternoon.

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

There are some who feel thread necromancy should be a capital offence. Others would reserve this punishment for those who make trite, lightweight statements on a Tuesday afternoon.

Considering that the trite, lightweight statement took place on a Tuesday morning according to forum time, the defendant can't be prosecuted for that offence. However, for the obvious high crime of thread necromancy, capital punishment seem's a little light. Perhaps through necromancy capital punishment could be applied multiple times?

___Interaction is the root of all evil.
___An individual thing is neither good nor evil, but when it interacts with another thing, only then does the concepts of 'bad' or 'good' arise.

Originally Posted by futrethink

___Interaction is the root of all evil.
___An individual thing is neither good nor evil, but when it interacts with another thing, only then does the concepts of 'bad' or 'good' arise.

You can't do bad things to yourself?

___KALSTER.

You can't do bad things to yourself?

___Without say, an electron interacting with another electron in your singular being that is you, could anything good or bad happen?

I guess in a larger sense Good and Evil are mere concepts, depending on the variables (as time has shown) these concepts can also be called Life as we know it.

evil=more than one thing. the only way there can be no conflict, is if there is nothing to conflict with.

Originally Posted by GiantEvil

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

There are some who feel thread necromancy should be a capital offence. Others would reserve this punishment for those who make trite, lightweight statements on a Tuesday afternoon.

Considering that the trite, lightweight statement took place on a Tuesday morning according to forum time, the defendant can't be prosecuted for that offence.

I was referring to my own statement as being trite and lightweight. I made it in the after noon. **** forum time, the world revolves around me.

Seasons greetings.
O/

evil is always what OTHER people do - good is by definition what I do

___marnixR.

evil is always what OTHER people do - good is by definition what I do

___Good for whom and in what context? The good you may do and perceive now can be looked at as evil in another way.
___To the Devil, God would be the ultimate evil, right?

Originally Posted by marnixR

evil is always what OTHER people do - good is by definition what I do

Sartre?

evil is nothing but a conflicting opinion

The root of all evil is in the mind of man, where evil is an emotional response to bad.

Originally Posted by inow

Originally Posted by marnixR

evil is always what OTHER people do - good is by definition what I do

Sartre?

if it's Sartre, then he plagiarised me
and if that involves time travel, so be it

EVIL is something you get to learn while you LIVE

Arbitrary and flawed ‘goods’ became the root of evil; so, in general, the ‘concept of good’ is the root of all evil…


The Root of all Evil

Other than direct hurts to persons, which are covered by civil laws, is what some groups think of ‘good’ arbitrary? And harmless, until it is imposed on people? We see many good and bad things directly, person to person, via the actual, and such are the good civil laws and good human values taught.

The problem becomes when we ‘see’ from no direction but the imagined, via the unreal, whatever the ideology. These ‘good’ things, merely pronounced, also define their ‘bad’ counterparts. One then ‘forgets’ their null source, leaping into their complete adoption, becoming more and more with them one; thus, the ideas must be protected. Anger arises toward the contrary, as emotion stains the brain. Then, evil is done in the name of a concept of ‘good’. All these ‘good’ things eventually come to a bloody end.


Other, more personal, roots:

Low serotonin stems from genetics, stress, lack of exercise, or the wrong foods, and can cause anger, anxiety, and depression, even bad behaviors, crimes.


Napoleon in Prison

I wrote to the banished Napoleon, asking if all was well, and he replied,

No, sir. PS: Liveable was I ere I saw Elba, evil’s prison.

(I extended the original palindrome; however, there is one cheat…)

I don't believe in the concept that all evil has a single root cause, so the statement “the root of all evil” is bogus. Everybody has heard that money is the root of all evil. But if there is a single root it would have to be living human beings. For without them there wouldn't be any evil.

___Lance Wenban.

But if there is a single root it would have to be living human beings. For without them there wouldn't be any evil.

___Tell me, would one individual animal feel pain/bad/that it is wrong or negative to its continued good/positive/wanted (by itself) existence after being attacked and as it is dying/being eating by another individual animal?
___Take note that the symbols of, “pain, bad, wrong, negative, good, positive and wanted” only are used by us humans to describe, in English, what happens to the extinguishing animal.

Originally Posted by futrethink

___Lance Wenban.

But if there is a single root it would have to be living human beings. For without them there wouldn't be any evil.

___Tell me, would one individual animal feel pain/bad/that it is wrong or negative to its continued good/positive/wanted (by itself) existence after being attacked and as it is dying/being eating by another individual animal?
___Take note that the symbols of, “pain, bad, wrong, negative, good, positive and wanted” only are used by us humans to describe, in English, what happens to the extinguishing animal.

Well I can't really speak for animals and nature is what it is. If I was being eaten alive by an animal, I don't think evil would even come to mind, but very bad would. However, if another human say staked me out over an anthill. I would surely think what an evil bastard he was, and I sure wouldn't care what the root of that evil was.

Evil is simply a concept that can be found wherever you define it to be. Evil is usually something bad that something or someone is doing to you or others. If you have no human to blame then any God or devil will do just fine, unless you don't believe in those fairy tails. Then evil can't exist without humans or aliens and I'm still waiting to see some aliens.

True, that the root of roots of evil would then be human beings, and, below that, the cube root probably being existence itself, as there must always be a balancing spectrum of opposites, such as the strong force promoting stability, the weak force promoting changeability, etc..

Please take note my friends that your conversation about Good & Evil is nothing more then a dualistic approach to all things, instead of seeing them both as opposites try seeing them as the same, and then and only then will the true root of either, neighter, be understood.

___Lance Wenban.

Evil is usually something bad that something or someone is doing to you or others.

___True. A simple enough answer or way to describe the concept. I usually describe it as when one individual’s freedom of choices interferes with or limits another individual’s freedom of choice, but yours works well enough for here.
___You keep focusing on humans or the human symbols connected with humanly perceived concepts, even when you mention, “If I was being eaten alive by an animal, I don't think evil would even come to mind, but very bad would.” You are either missing, ignoring or simply not mentioning the point of evil and bad simply being differing degrees of the same side of the negative concept. Change the way of looking at/level of perception/context of bad and it becomes evil or even nice to good.
___To the animal being eaten/dying it is a ‘bad/evil’ thing and to the animal eating it is a “nice/good” thing, but it doesn’t change that the same thing is happening no matter how either feels or thinks about the situation (which is the perceived level of existence that curious1 is bringing up in the above post).
___Whether or not us humans think it might be bad or good for that scenario is irrelevant, because pain in any form and to any individual, at that instant of the pain, is a bad thing (taking note of exception of the humans who take pleasure in pain). What matters is that it is, in relation to this level of discussion of evil and for the exact time of the occurrence, a negative concept in relation to the individual’s choice of their existence and what they had believed their immediate future to be or to simply put it; it is a bad or evil thing.
___It can be described by any subjective symbol in any language or form of communication to describe the concept you chose, be it an aural, tactile, visual communication or pertaining to the exchange of chemicals relating to taste or smell, but it will not matter to the ‘evil’ or any varying degree of the concept, because it will still be what it is: an intrinsic part of that level of existence which has change, interactions and choices.
___To describe it in a different way: should someone call to you with a, “Hey, you.” as a symbol to describe you and get your attention, and whether or not you answer, it will still not change that a symbol was used to describe you as perceived by that other person, even if that symbol does not fit what you feel is ‘you’ or the symbols you feel best describe you. Correct?

___curious1.

Please take note my friends that your conversation about Good & Evil is nothing more then a dualistic approach to all things, instead of seeing them both as opposites try seeing them as the same, and then and only then will the true root of either, neighter, be understood.

___And yet, as long as that level of perceived existence continues with a “1...0...-1” intrinsic to what it is, a bi-valued or tri-valued approach/logic is important. The Law of Contradiction has an important part to play in reality and whether you think it is unimportant or I think it is important won’t change how that level of perceived existence works.

Originally Posted by Ophiolite

Evil is a human concept, so Cold Fusion's response seems the most accurate. It does, however, lack depth. What is it, for example, about humans that can generate evil? Also, how do we distinguish between evil and the merely bad?

I would like to suggest that the new thread "The Purpose of Life" may supply some interesting answers to many questions posed in this thread

All actions have a multitude of reasons, and nothing happens on it's own. Some thought will prove that. Therefore, evil is a consequence of many different effects. All these, if you follow the reasoning, have causes. And if you go all the way, you can deduce that there is one cause for everything.

Originally Posted by futrethink

___curious1.

Please take note my friends that your conversation about Good & Evil is nothing more then a dualistic approach to all things, instead of seeing them both as opposites try seeing them as the same, and then and only then will the true root of either, neighter, be understood.

___And yet, as long as that level of perceived existence continues with a “1...0...-1” intrinsic to what it is, a bi-valued or tri-valued approach/logic is important. The Law of Contradiction has an important part to play in reality and whether you think it is unimportant or I think it is important won’t change how that level of perceived existence works.

And while that may be true, it also true that perception doesn't always equal reality, so despite our perception being wrong are you suggesting that we go with it regardless?

___curious1.

And while that may be true, it also true that perception doesn't always equal reality

___Doesn’t always? I agree on that point.

so despite our perception being wrong are you suggesting that we go with it regardless?

___Perception is, at the most basic level, an interaction of scientifically known or even scientifically unknown (*to us at this time) energy patterns. So from that, perceptions can be of ideas/thoughts as much as solid objects, correct? And since those ideas/thoughts can include beliefs http://thesaurus.com/browse/belief , hopes, guesses and any other synonyms describing the thoughts concerning what might be due to an unknown, what exactly are you suggesting we use outside of “perception”?
___Also, how many perceptions, known of with hard and possible facts, are you meaning? There are intuitive perceptions as much as the five senses. Or do you discount your own right guesses, which can come to be calculated at a later time as against the odds, as nonsense?
___*to us at this time: just as electrons were unknown at a time in the past and we are discovering or hypothesizing other levels of energy now, we haven't come to understand or prove other levels of energy. Some are just my personal hypotheses, but I don't imagine I am the only one with ideas about them, due to their existence being logical.

You seem to forget that a perception of science is one thing, a perception of a concept (Good/Evil) is another

___curious1.

You seem to forget that a perception of science is one thing, a perception of a concept (Good/Evil) is another

___And it seems that you’ve forgotten how to read, “So from that, perceptions can be of ideas/thoughts as much as solid objects, correct?” Or didn’t you see that?
___The perception of the idea, at the time that you perceive it, is neither right nor wrong, but is simply A perception. You choose to believe (beliefs being perceived), immediately after you perceive the solid concept or idea or energy pattern, whether what you interact with is a good or bad ‘thing’ to accept as a truth. If it is a bad thing or you feel is wrong, you won’t go with or use it, because you will feel that another idea will be a good or better or lesser evil ‘thing’ to use as a truth.
___Should you go with it regardless, even if there is a feeling of wrongness with it, it will be because you have a perception of a solid concept or idea or energy pattern that will be an even worse or lesser good thing to go with.

Originally Posted by Cold Fusion

Overpopulation of Humans.

Fixed

___Raziell.

Cold Fusion: Overpopulation of Humans.

Raziell: Fixed

___Okay. I'll bite. How is it fixed?

. So from that, perceptions can be of ideas/thoughts as much as solid objects, correct?

What solid objects exist under the perception of mind.?

___curious1.

What solid objects exist under the perception of mind.?

___So, tell me then, after you have previously made the statement, “You seem to forget that a perception of science is one thing, a perception of a concept (Good/Evil) is another”, how you can have a perception of science if you don’t have a perception of solid objects with which to do science and prove the hypothetical concepts?
___You also haven’t answered my question pertaining to your comment, “so despite our perception being wrong are you suggesting that we go with it regardless?”. That being, “What do you suggest we use or ‘go with’ outside of perception?”

Perception of science, is a term i used in haste, i meant it in terms of having a perception on how a thing might work or is like a perception of gravity or iron with all its capacity. i did not intend for it to be grouped with the perception of paranoia or how one may see a particular situation as opposed to the reality of that situation.

___You also haven’t answered my question pertaining to your comment, “so despite our perception being wrong are you suggesting that we go with it regardless?”. That being, “What do you suggest we use or ‘go with’ outside of perception?”[/quote]

So as a man think thus usher his reaction, I dont know if we can escape our perceptions but if we can i would think getting a factual knowledge of the perceived before we react might be the ticket.

So my answer would be to get a full understanding of the perceived.

___curious1.

Perception of science, is a term i used in haste, i meant it in terms of having a perception on how a thing might work or is like a perception of gravity or iron with all its capacity.
I dont know if we can escape our perceptions but if we can i would think getting a factual knowledge of the perceived before we react might be the ticket.

___”How you can have a perception of science if you don’t have a perception of solid objects with which to do science and prove the hypothetical concepts?”
___You are missing a highly important part of this discussion relating to perception, curious1, and that is what EXACTLY the concept described by the symbol/word ‘perception’ is. Here is a link to a site for multiple dictionaries defining the concept http://onelook.com/?w=perception&ls=a .
___‘Perception’ at the most basic level or understanding of the objective concept is an interaction of two separate energy patterns, be they of thoughts, dreams, beliefs, theories or solid objects. The patterns of each named concept can be different and that specific interaction will be different as a result, but the process, itself, of interaction doesn’t change.
___You can’t get any proven factual information about an idea/concept or a solid object, how something might work, what anything is or was or might be, until a perception (of any kind that can be conceived of) of a solid object occurs. Even then, all that most of us humans are getting is a perception of one, two, three or four dimensional levels of anything. Anything over a limited understand or perception of any thoughts, dreams, beliefs, theories or solid objects leads to an informational overload, which causes a mental and/or spiritual and/or physical slowdown while that information is sorted into the ‘necessary’ and ‘unnecessary’ for that point in time and space (Simplification: until an individual figures out what is important and what is useless for the situation they are in, they have to take some time to make a choice, while their environment passes them by or does something to force a choice on them).

So my answer would be to get a full understanding of the perceived.

___And how would you have acquired any type of understand to use toward the ‘full understanding of the perceived’, unless you previously have had perceptions of some sort, shape or form.
___So, what do you suggest we use or ‘go with’ outside of perception?

To preceive lets say Iron ore in its natural state as a weapon like a sword, fits very well into as you call it, a perception of science. since the ore exist in matter. And as such its transformation into a sword isnt really perception but more of an idea of application.

But the concept of evil, is purely subjective it has no natural state so its perception no matter how vile or mundane fits into the definition of perception as it relates to cognition or the state of a Mind.

I am curious about looking at things in a simple way:

Fear: caused by perception of danger or potential danger(unknown safety). If Im alone in an empty room I probably will not feel fear, if I see a tiger I may fear, if the room is pitch black and I dont know if Im standing next to a tiger or next to a 400m deep precipice I may feel fear because my safety is unknown.

Anger: Doesnt it occur as result of an event or situation we dont like(because something happens or because something doesnt happen). But many people really wouldnt like an earthquake but if it occurs many would feel more sad than angry, so there's something else that intensifies anger. If a crook like madoff steals or a wise guy taunts you with a snapy insult you may feel anger. A frustration. Maybe its more intense when you are affected personally and when the cause can be attributed to something or someone specific(that had a choice)? Is it the case that something thats perceived as accidental can cause some anger, but is it correct to assume most of the time something that is perceived as deliberate often causes even more anger?

Hate: Why do we hate something or someone?

FEAR- regardless of the cause be it intentionally or preceived sits mostly in our self preservation mold, its genearally an initial reaction to what can be construed as a threat, however i think fear is the most useless emotional state we experence but with that said its can be almost impossible to ignore, soliders face their fears with purpose and duty, so a mesure of control can be gained.

Anger- mostly a secondary emotion by that i mean that it happens as a result of,
again in my humble opinion this one to me is justifiable. take the case of the countless felons recently released from prison on DNA, two wrongs dont make a right but human conditions are not to be excluded just because of a moral standard.

Hate. completly worthless but again present within the human mind, recently i evaluated racism, and i quickly disgarded the notion that it spurs from emotional content, i think it results from differences preceived or otherwise and that these differences are veiwed by some as a justification for fear/anger, thereby making it a part of some sort of evolutional process.

___curious1.

But the concept of evil, is purely subjective it has no natural state so its perception no matter how vile or mundane fits into the definition of perception as it relates to cognition or the state of a Mind.

___There is no such thing as an ‘objective’ evil, eh?
___Hmm. Well. Yes and no.
___Evil, just any other part of existence (solid or otherwise), couldn’t be perceived unless it was already a part of existence for to be perceived. How evil became/is objective, involves understanding a few other bits of logical things, but I’ll leave those for later.
___A natural state? I thought that I’d already shown that state in my answer to Lance Wenban, “I usually describe it as when one individual’s freedom of choices interferes with or limits another individual’s freedom of choice,” Since that can be taken to any level of existence from the micro to the macro, it would appear that there is a natural state. It is subjective to each individual, true, but the concept I’ve described fits for any situation (which I can figure out and that is a lot of differing perceptions).
___Something I want to bring to your attention, curious1, is that you are attempting to make the facts fit your hypothesis, instead of accepting the hypothesis that follows the facts.

___icewendigo.

___Anger, hate and fear result from having evil occur to an individual directly or is learned/felt from instinct, as you show you understand in your post. These things can cause evil to arise, true, but would you say that they are the root of all evil?

Nature is evil

And as a consequence, we who had to endure natural selection is evil

Originally Posted by scishark

Nature is evil

What evidence do you have for this? (You might want to start out by offering your definition of evil.)

Originally Posted by scishark

And as a consequence, we who had to endure natural selection is evil

In what way did you have to endure natural selection? Do you think you would have been happier as a Pine Marten or a sea cucumber?

Ignorance is the root of all evil

Originally Posted by scishark

Nature is evil

And as a consequence, we who had to endure natural selection is evil

u remind me of my other post "anthropomorphic intuition"

Originally Posted by MiguelSR1

Ignorance is the root of all evil

And that ignorance comes from not understanding that Satan is really the cause of all evil.

John 8 :44*YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie]

Originally Posted by epignosis

Originally Posted by MiguelSR1

Ignorance is the root of all evil

And that ignorance comes from not understanding that Satan is really the cause of all evil.

John 8 :44*YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie]

U mean the human condition of hatred and all bad mojo?

Originally Posted by MiguelSR1

Originally Posted by epignosis

Originally Posted by MiguelSR1

Ignorance is the root of all evil

And that ignorance comes from not understanding that Satan is really the cause of all evil.

John 8 :44*YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie]

U mean the human condition of hatred and all bad mojo?

Actually Adam and Eve were perfect. They had free will , but they did not have all the trappings of imperfection. ( like hatred and all bad mojo ) There was no concept of the things we have to do in this world to survive. Getting sick , or getting old or death, was not part of man's future. Until Satan. He really is the cause of all of that.
God says he is going to restore the same conditions that man had at the time of Adam and Eve.
What we see now is temporary.

This verse is talking about man's future.

Isaiah 11:6-9 (Darby Translation)

6The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatted beast together, and a little child shall lead them.

7And the cow and the she-bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the adder, and the weaned child shall put forth its hand to the viper's den.

9They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.

___MiguelSR1

Ignorance is the root of all evil

___Since our known truly evil people have knowingly caused the evil horrors of the past, present and will cause in the future, wouldn’t that poke a hole in that theory? They know that they are causing pain, ruin and harm to others, but they continue on with their actions anyway, don’t they?

___epignosis.

And that ignorance comes from not understanding that Satan is really the cause of all evil.

___I have to state the obviously logical question, ”As God is the beginning and the end, wouldn’t that make It the cause of all evil?”
___For that matter, ignorance can’t be the root of all because of what ignorance actually is: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. Or to put it another way: lack of knowledge. Every individual is ignorant/stupid about things outside of what they perceive.

Actually Adam and Eve were perfect.

___In relation to God, they were not perfect. Before the Fruit they were perfect drones/robots lacking free will, I admit, but not perfect humans and certainly not perfect.

Originally Posted by futrethink

___epignosis.

And that ignorance comes from not understanding that Satan is really the cause of all evil.

___I have to state the obviously logical question, ”As God is the beginning and the end, wouldn’t that make It the cause of all evil?”
___For that matter, ignorance can’t be the root of all because of what ignorance actually is: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed. Or to put it another way: lack of knowledge. Every individual is ignorant/stupid about things outside of what they perceive.

Actually Adam and Eve were perfect.

___In relation to God, they were not perfect. Before the Fruit they were perfect drones/robots lacking free will, I admit, but not perfect humans and certainly not perfect.

Actually God , had no beginning, and has no end.
God did not create evil. He gave all of us , free will. ( we could chose to be loyal or not to be loyal, to God)
Adam ( because he was not deceived) knew what he was doing. He knew what death was. ( he saw the animals die.) He lacked nothing, there is no mention that the tree of life was any different than other trees. Adams sin was of disloyalty.
With that came imperfection, and evil tendencies. Adam did it to himself.
He was not created, with imperfection or evil. He was not a robot, programmed to follow God only. He had free will, to make his own choice.
For us that was passed on, we are not like Adam was, we are born imperfect.

___epignosis.

Actually God , had no beginning, and has no end.

___Great. Another individual who doesn’t fully read and who doesn’t think about what is written.
___Revelations 22:13. You can find cross references here: http://bible.cc/revelation/22-13.htm I never stated that It had a beginning and an end, did I?

God did not create evil.

___True. Evil is a part of It and since It is the source of all things (1 Corinthians 8:6, John 1:3), it did not create it.I merely stated that It was the cause of evil. Or are you going to tell me that evil arose from something outside of That Which Is All. Because, if you do so you prove that It is not what It is supposed to be.

He gave all of us , free will. ( we could chose to be loyal or not to be loyal, to God)

He was not a robot, programmed to follow God only. He had free will, to make his own choice.

___Having free will means that you have knowledge of some other available option to choose from and can choose to avail yourself of that option. Adam was loyal to It, because he knew of no other option.

Adam ( because he was not deceived) knew what he was doing. He knew what death was.

___Show me in Genesis, concerning Eden, where death was mentioned. Do so and I will admit to the truth of your statement.

He lacked nothing, there is no mention that the tree of life was any different than other trees.

___Tsk tsk. Genesis 2:17 - But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Originally Posted by futrethink

___MiguelSR1

Ignorance is the root of all evil

___Since our known truly evil people have knowingly caused the evil horrors of the past, present and will cause in the future, wouldn’t that poke a hole in that theory? They know that they are causing pain, ruin and harm to others, but they continue on with their actions anyway, don’t they?

To further expound in my opinion so called evil people have holes in themselves as well. Meaning that through the positive study of Philosophy and education our short comings in "human nature" can be healed, corrected, countered of however one wants to define it. So diagnosis of our condition of "evil" can be cured through positive reinforcement, the evil ones are indeed ignorant on the potential oh humans. They are ignorant for they are not enlightened, enlightenment in various forms frees the individual from within thus ignorance dissipates.

___MiguelSR1.

They are ignorant for they are not enlightened, enlightenment in various forms frees the individual from within thus ignorance dissipates.

___True. Enlightenment does indeed reduce the ratio of ignorance to its most extreme point, but that still does not remove the choices that they will make to cause/be evil.
___Intelligence/knowledge will not remove each, every and all of the spiritual and physical effects which will create reasons for doing evil.

Originally Posted by Sum1bor3d

What's your opinion on the root of all evil?l

Religion. Some cultures which where not exposed to western religions did not naturally develop the concept of evil until those religions where brought to them. China for example. China also did not have the concept of God. Though they had something similar which we translate to the lowercase god. They use their word interchangeably for the the lower and uppercase (Shangdi). Sorry if that's too literal.

___DaBOB.

Religion. Some cultures which where not exposed to western religions did not naturally develop the concept of evil until those religions where brought to them.

___So. These cultures had no idea of bad/a negative thing until someone else showed them what it was?
___After all, bad is only a perceived degree of the concept we describe as ‘evil’.

Originally Posted by futrethink

So. These cultures had no idea of bad/a negative thing until someone else showed them what it was?
After all, bad is only a perceived degree of the concept we describe as ‘evil’.

Of course cultures had relative comparisons. It was along the lines of "better and not better." We've been doing such classifications since even before being human... Even simple animals do this... Life is a natural classifier... "Ouch versus not ouch" and "food versus not food."

However, evil is a very absolute concept. It's very dramatic, and it either is evil or isn't. Once you introduce the term "evil," all bets are off, and reason and logic and "gray area" goes out the window. That took concepts like the devil... pure good versus pure evil... to gain traction. Most of us think along a spectrum of good/bad, whereas many religious teachings (including the concept of evil) is "either/or," and is very binary. It's not accurate at all when viewed against the landscape of reality.

I don't personally tend to think of things as evil. It's much too rigid... much too absolute... It leaves no room for nuance and subtlety... It shuts off the rational mind. I point to the links in my signature to explain some of my reasoning for why.

Evil exist even from the beginning of time, from the garden of Eden, but the question is where did it start? I think it all start from Lucifer! Lucifer was once an angel, a seraphim ( the highest order of angels) but then, how did he comes up to rebel against God and spread evil upon this world?

Now, if you think about the new generation that we live and forget about the past, We pinpoint to one thing which is the root of all evil. You're right MONEY! well everyone needs money to survive since everything now is just a material thing. Man being ignorance is also one thing that fires up evil.




___________________________

“If the experimentalist would not commit himself, the social philosopher, the preacher, and the pedagogue tried the harder to give a short-cut answer.” ~ social science essay

God created everything that exists.
Evil exists.
Therefore god created evil. If you accept the premise.

Never quite understand how so much words can be spent on something the obvious explains, frist the concept of evil came about in religion by the designers of monothesis, ( One God) Christen faith and the political power of the time Rome.

Prior to this most cultures Gods were both Great and not so great in their dealings with their subjects, ( see Shiva, Seth etc etc) Christens and Rome developed the our way or an enemy of our way, and as such the rise of a opposite of the Good god gave rise to a evil god.

The concept of evil is subjective it only even get legs by having a dualistic mind set, so evil acts are nothing more then acts no matter how vile one might perceve them to be.

we are not born with it, we dont have to visit it, it does have roots in ignorance yet those same roots can be altered with understanding.

___ epignosis.

___I owe you an apology for an error I made in arrogance concerning Adam knowing about death. The proof of it is found right in the same post. After rereading through it, I was rather surprised no-one called me on it.
___Adam’s sin was of disloyalty, true, but he only learned of the idea of not obeying IT’s edict from someone else who had knowledge outside of what Adam knew. And the fact that Adam didn’t know something shows the lack of perfection.
___Anyway...this debate is dead and I am only posting this because, I cannot continue in or start any forum discussions until I have admitted my error.

The root of all *societal* evil is 'pro-girl sexism' which I discussed in depth in the Bad Cultures thread.

___Green Xenon.

___So...When one man kills another man over money and the greed accompanying it, it is because of pro-girl sexism?