To: K-list
Recieved: 2003/04/16 13:49
Subject: Re: [K-list] Evil
From: admin AT_NOSPAM shalom-retreats.ca
On 2003/04/16 13:49, admin AT_NOSPAM shalom-retreats.ca posted thus to the K-list:
I applogize in advance for the length of this posting. I have tried to keep
it as short as possible but it's a big subject.
I have read with interest the postings on evil.Over the course of the
discussion there have been references to good and evil. Does this not
require an absolute moral code against which to evaluate actions or people?
To say something is evil versus good requires a marker against which to
measure. While I can say that I like or dislike a particular action, this
is only a personal response, not an absolute response. To this someone will
tell a horrific story of abuse, torture, murder, etc. While it appears bad
to me, I'm not sure that it is bad to the perpetrator. I cannot know
his/her motivation. George Bush believes he is taking the moral highroad in
invading Iraq. Hitler believed he was doing the world a favour by ridding
the world of the Jews. Serial killers are often acting on their concept of
morality. We can turn to sacred writings, both east and west, and find
occurrences of divinely sanctioned murder.
Does this marker exist? All I can say is that I cannot find it and that I
have looked long and hard. I have heard many of the standard responses. An
action that moves someone toward the light is good and away from the light
is bad. I have a client whose most transforming event, the event that
brought her into the spiritual journey, is when she was 3 years old and put
in a concentration camp for two years. She used to walk along side pits
filled with dying people, people so weak they could only move their eyes.
This was the event that moved her toward the light. Therefore it must be
good.
Another response is that an action done in love is good while an action
done in hate is evil. Again, how can I know another´s motivation? A wife
abuser may well feel he is acting out of love. Certainly parents who
believe that to spare the rod is to spoil the child are acting out of love.
If the Germans were murdering Jews out of their love for their country,
does that make their actions good? The Palestinian suicide bombers are
clearly motivated by their love of their homeland and their love of Allah.
On the other side, a doctor struggling to save a child may be acting under
her hate of disease and death. Does that make her actions bad?
There can be no marker as long as the marker is subjective. It can only be
my marker, not an absolute marker. To have an absolute marker there must be
something absolute. This requires an absolute and moral god. Again, I have
searched for such a thing and I cannot find it. I can find believe systems,
systems of faith, but no moral god. I cannot find this god in any sacred
writings. I cannot find this god in the unfolding of the universe. (I could
go into a long explanation of this but this posting is already too long.)
If the above holds water, then what does it mean in terms of my life? If
there is no absolute moral code then what do I do in the face of starving
children, violence and abuse? I respond to the best of my ability according
to my personal moral code knowing that I cannot know the outcome of my
actions. I may do what I believe is the ‘right´ thing and the recipients of
my actions may feel very differently. I offer two examples. One is the
experience of trying to help a woman being hit by a man only to have my
attempts to help rebuffed by the woman. The second is the many disasters
resulting from the wealthy trying to aid the poor in this country and
around the world. I act according to my morals while attempting to let go
of expectations and outcomes.
In terms of how I response to other's actions, again I apply my moral code.
If someone attacks my children, I may strike back or I may stand back
because I will not commit an act of violence, but the issue is that it is
my moral code not some absolute moral code.
I write this post because I consider this an essential question. This is
not some abstract intellectual issue but a fundamental one. My whole
approach to life differs greatly depending on the resolution of this issue.
Living by an absolute moral code requires studying the code to know how it
applies in every instance of life because I must answer to this code (god)
for my actions. Living by a personal moral code requires studying myself
and knowing that I must answer to myself for everything I do.
Chris Oliphant
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