I am not sure that the concept of evil has been or is limited to behavior. Theosophy and Anthroposophy, Hermetics and other systems all include ideas of evil that are inherent in us and life, and form the opposition to spirit. Christianity is based on the well known story of Adam and Eve;s fall from grace, having tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and tempted by Lucifer to do so. To my thinking, much of what we know, are aware of and experience includes opposition and the spectrum that lies between. This is often how we measure change. Good and evil, bad and good, right and wrong, all concepts of duality that we form as a way to understand our experience.
I thought the movie with Kate Winslett, The Reader, was fascinating because it presented the notion that we cannot judge the German people who participated in Nazi society during the war on the basis of morality, or even on a legal basis of our time, but must judge them according to the laws of their own society in their own time. This really speaks to the concept of "our reality" and how our behavior is effected by our cultural norms, survival needs and societal laws of our place and time. Which is different from other places and times. And so, evil as behavior, becomes relative. Rudolph Steiner does a good job of defining the notion of opposition (good and evil) in volumes that address his idea of the Christ and universal opposing forces. His idea is that through epochs of time, there are three different opposing forces that call each of us away from spirit, unity consciousness, or the Christ. We are currently in the epoch of the Azurus, that manifests in material possession and technology. As we place our identity more in these than in our own spiritual nature, the forces of "evil" are winning. While I think there is a genius in his insight into what distracts us and what connects us on a soul level, there is much of his philosophy/ theosophy that loses me. But I will say that I think we need to look beyond our own or someone else's individual behavior to understand evil, and include that which takes us collectively away from unity though good, and into separation. On Jun 25, 6:09 am, iam deheretic <[email protected]> wrote: > Till this topic was brought up I never really looked at the definition of > evil, what I had in my mind verses what is defined. Yes it would be acts > and not a force that are seen as evil. I think you are right intent needs > to be part of the equation. > > I wonder how often the word is missed used. > Allan > > On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 10:19 AM, [email protected] < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > So evil is not a force but some acts of mankind can be seen as evil? > > I guess then intent needs to be part of this equation? > > -- > ( > ) > I_D Allan --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
