Shadows and Evil

Series: Shadows and Evil - Part 1

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke

Before we talk about evil let's explore the definition. According to the dictionary evil is: Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like. However, that does not even touch the surface of evil; certainly it does not touch the heart of evil. Evil is a hunger that can only be satisfied by profoundly harming others, if the evil one gains something in the process, such as money or power, so much the better for him (or her). The word evil does not apply to those individuals who do grave harm through ignorance or an egocentric belief system, but have no genuine desire to harm for its own sake. Also, individuals who are mentally ill and unable to understand their behavior and its affect on others are not evil. They are ill. If someone is forced to do something evil, for example in Germany during WWII and other wars, some soldiers probably did evil things because they would have been killed otherwise. This does not excuse their behavior, but their intent was not to harm. It was to survive. That is a moral dilemma I am not prepared to address.

Evil normally requires assistance from people who simply do not see through the mask to the massive moral corrosion behind it. As someone said to me recently, "You can be guilty by knowing something is wrong or because you should have known it was wrong." That is a high standard, though it might have some credence. The reason I mention this is, at times we do not want to see corruption because it would be uncomfortable, inconvenient or devastating to know. If we do not look for evil, we will not see it - or more importantly - we will not stop it.

Evil beings must be able to manipulate and deceive. How likely are you to help someone who radiates malevolence? Evil people are accomplished at finding supporters, abettors, followers and defenders. The mask does not have to be that perfect as long as it is attractive in some way. If one does not believe that evil exists in the heart of man, then one is vulnerable. At one time I did not believe in evil, or more factually, I choose to believe that all humans were basically good, though some were misguided. I have seen the face of evil - twice -- and it is similar to finding shark's teeth on a beach, at first you can't find any, but once you find one you will recognize them forever after. So it is with evil.

Perhaps, evil people try to convince themselves that they are the wronged party. They appear to enjoy telling anyone who will listen how they were done wrong. I won't pretend to be an expert on evil, therefore I am not sure if they need this deception because there is some tiny seed of decency left deep (very deep) inside them that has not been corrupted, or if they use the "poor me" mask to help accomplish their goals. They are aware that sympathy is a strong motivator in most humans and they will use this goodness to manipulate. I would be interested in hearing your views on this.

Battle not with monsters
lest ye become a monster
and if you gaze into the abyss
the abyss gazes into you.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

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