Both Good And Evil

"Love, joy, and peace are deep states of Being, or rather three aspects of the state of inner connectedness with Being. As such, they have no opposite. This is because they arise from beyond the mind. Emotions, on the other hand, being part of the dualistic mind, are subject to the law of opposites. This simply means that you cannot have good without bad."

-- Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now, pg. 29)


Whenever somebody is murdered, it has become customary for a reporter to go out of their way to quote a relative, friend or neighbor that the alleged killer is really a good person. "Well he was always polite to me!" "It can't be him - he is such a good person!" Check out any daily newspaper and you will see this response so prevalent that it is comical.

One of the older and more spirited debates in philosophy and psychology regards the moral nature of mankind - is man inherently good or evil? Some say man is totally depraved, sinful at birth, and utterly wicked. Others say man is good and worthy of admiration and where there is a lack of good it is only because of a dearth of proper education and opportunity. Both camps have a point and yet fail to see the truth.

So which is it - are humans inherently good or evil? Both, simultaneously - every single one of us.

In fact, so strong is the admixture of "good" and "bad" in each of us that it is impossible to classify anybody as a "good person" or "bad person." We are what we are and we are both good and bad.

Yet not only us but Nature itself is both good and bad. Behold the gorgeous beauty of Nature, yet that very nature will bring forth from her bosom horrible tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, and diseases. Which nature do you see? Depends on which facet you are looking at. What person do you see? Depends on which facet you are looking at.

What of God or Being? God is neither good nor evil but beyond all such duality.

Those who wish to classify God as pure goodness have a serious problem, the so-called "Problem of Evil." For if God is pure good then where does all the bad come from?

If you posit a separate entity - a Satanic figure or demiurge - then God would no longer be God. God implies singularity and oneness: exchange the word "God" with "Being" and it becomes self-evident that there is not two but one. Being has no opposite and everything that IS must proceed from it. Trying to cast blame on humans or Satan is fruitless and illogical.

Secondly, you could simply deny that evil really exists - classify it as an absence of good or as a mental illusion. Good luck. Those who have encountered real evil know that it is no illusion. Evil exists - it is as real as Goodness. Remember - humans and Nature are BOTH really good and really evil, simultaneoulsy.

So, then, the Problem of Evil is solved by viewing the origin of the All as neither good nor evil. So too could the problems of mankind be solved if humanity could ever come to grips with the dual nature that we all share, so that we are all equally good and evil - every single one of us. As the proverb says - we are all in the same boat together.

The next essay will attempt to address the origin of this dual nature.