GOOD OR EVIL – GOD OR DEVIL – WHAT´S THE DIFFERENCE?

First, let´s pose the question: What do we actually mean by Evil?

What about Judas Iscariot as a personification of Evil? – After all, he betrayed Jesus Christ, and caused his death on the cross. A tragedy mourned by Christianity now for two thousand years.

A Christian would most likely be inclined to see Pontius Pilate, too, as a personification of Evil, since he could have saved Jesus from crucification, but did not.

Then ponder this question: Where would Christianity be today, if Judas had not betrayed his Master, or if Pontius Pilate had sent Jesus home without punishment? – It would probably not even have existed as a religion, or at least its very essence, as it has come down to us, would have been lost. And perhaps we would never have even heard of Jesus. Perhaps Western society would still be worshipping the Roman Gods?

Perhaps Evil is with us as a kind of Devil´s Advocate, rather than the Devil himself? Perhaps we need to understand Evil as a necessary background and contrast, in order to see Good clearly, in order to profile it and understand it. How could we see, or talk about Good, if Evil did not exist? What meaning would Day have to us, if Night did not exist?

It´s a fact that our physical universe is one of polarities or opposites. In order for anything to manifest physically in this world, it needs the tension between two opposite but complementary electromagnetic forces.

So perhaps what we see as Evil is necessary in our Universe for it even to exist in pysical form?

It´s not difficult to see that what´s considered good for one, may be seen as evil for another. In other words, Good and Evil are relative and must be understood in relation to a determined purpose, or to certain subjective or cultural values. Such a purpose can be to ensure the survival or prosperity of an individual, a group, a tribe, or a nation. And what is seen as good or evil can change from time to time, or from one society to another.

So the task of defining Good and Evil turns out to be anything but straight forward, since we don´t seem to have an absolute, permanent and universal frame of reference for it.

However, there IS a definition of Absolute Good resulting quite naturally from the holistic world view of Aquarian consciousness, the soul of the now fast emerging new paradigm.

Here it is: Absolute Good is that which contributes to the overall, long term welfare of All, of the Whole. This may not be immediately perceived as good for a particular individual, or group, or nation, or task. But when we consider that every individual, group, nation, and task is part of a larger Whole on which it ultimately depends for its wellbeing and survival, then our understanding changes. Then we see that the definition of Good in an absolute sense must take the larger Whole into consideration, in order to be meaningful.

Likewise, Evil would then be anything that detracts from the Whole, in order to selfishly and temporarily benefit only one part, at the expense of other parts, and at the expense of the Whole itself.

Here we begin to discern a relationship between Good and Ecology. But we will also become aware of a relationship between Good and the so called Golden Rule: Do unto others, what ye would have them do unto you. Or don´t do to others what you don´t want them to do to you.

This is also another way of expressing the recently popular slogan WE ARE ALL ONE. Whatever is done to one, is on some level done to all.

This brings me to the close connection between the words Conscience and Consciousness. A totally unconscious person can have no conscience. Our conscience is but an instinctive consciousness of what our acts or words will do to another together with an instinctive identification with that person: How would I feel if I were in that person´s shoes? It could be me. On some level it IS me.

In other words, a deep consciousness of the holistic perspective, which realizes that whatever we do will always in some way have repercussions coming back to ourselves. And that if we break this golden rule, we will have contributed to Evil in the world, which means that in the longer perspective we would not feel satisfied and happy with our role in Society, or with our life´s work. And that means having a bad Conscience.

So, as we see, becoming conscious brings with it a great inconvenience: We can no longer do what is evil, without paying for it in terms of a bad conscience. That’s what happened to Adam and Eve when they ate of the forbidden fruit of consciousness. Now, why God would want them to remain unconscious, is beyond me.

Let’s see how can we translate these insights into a practical, general and meaningful approach for the business world.

The new universal concept of Good and Evil proposed here can be usefully applied in many ways, and from many angles, to achieve success in business without either a bad name, or a bad conscience.

Let´s first look at competition.

Humankind has throughout history had to fight for its existence, just like any animal. It has been a question of competing for food, for territory, and for the best mate. In other words a fight for the survival of the fittest.

After thousands of years of evolution, this is programmed into our genes, and our recent development towards affluence and mastery of our environment has not changed this, even though most of us in the developed world no longer need to fight for sheer survival.

So it´s only natural that today´s civilized men and women still have a competitive instinct, and an urge to express it, however uncalled for in our modern world.

As per our holistic definition of what is good and what is evil, we now know that anything that detracts from the whole, or from other individuals, should be regarded as intrinsically evil. The most obvious example I can think of is killing someone, taking someone else´s life away. I think few of us would dispute that this is an act of evil. Not only does it deprive another person of his life, but it deprives the Society, the Whole, of one of its constituent parts, and consequently makes it poorer.

So anything that makes another poorer, and much more so if it also makes the Whole poorer, must be regarded as evil.

By logical contrast, anything that makes the Whole richer must be considered good. This readily applies to making yourself richer, as long as it’ s not at the expense of anyone else, and thus is adding value to the Whole without harming any of its parts.

A practical example of this kind of good, is when someone makes a new invention that adds value to Society as a whole, e.g. by making a useful new product or service available.

The same goes for an improved way of offering an existing service, or an improvement of an existing product, or a cheaper way of producing an existing product that will allow more people than before to benefit from it. Provided, of course, that the service or product we are talking about is not in itself evil, i.e. ecologically unsound or personally unhealthy, so that it creates a problem for us, or for our children or their descendents. Examples of this are nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, but just as much the GMO products and poisonous chemicals of Monsanto and others.

An example of Evil is when a big powerful company uses its wealth and influence to put its competitors out of business, in order to create a monopoly, or make more money on goods and services that the competitors produced better or more cheaply. This deprives the small competitors of their livelihood, and it lowers the quality and raises the price of available products and services for everybody. So it quite obviously takes away from the Whole, it makes the Whole poorer, and consequently it´s evil.

Another example is when the market position and profits of a big established producer of a particular product is threatened by a new invention that makes a better and cheaper product possible. If the established producer then uses its wealth and power to kill the new invention, it´s robbing the Whole of value and assets for its own benefit and commodity, which is evil. Good would be if the established producer acknowledges the contribution from the new invention and offers its cooperation in launching and spreading it on fair terms for the benefit of Society as a Whole.

There are lots of examples of the mentioned evil practice over the last 100 years, most importantly in the fields of energy and medicine, that have cost millions of lives and untold amounts of unnecessary suffering and privation, on the altars of personal greed for power and money. Tell me if that is Evil or not!

With that I am closing this week’s blogpost. Let me know if you wish me to develop this theme further in the future.

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Till next time, take care and be there!