What is Evil?

This is becoming much clearer looking at the Middle East, but also myself.

The world is not equal. Some things are near to us and some things are far.

What is near is particular to us and just those people close to us, but what is far like a mountain is part of the lives of many, and the stars high above in the cosmos are far but belong to us all. 

So this is the problem for people: seeing what is near and also what is far at the same time.

In the skies is a bright star that everyone sees that is called "Don't Kill." Everyone knows this star and is familiar with it, and knows it from long ago and holds it dear. We all know it is not nice to be killed, and we know its not nice to kill.

But then things near-by turn up like we get angry, or we feel indignance about something and want justice or revenge and the distant star Don't Kill seems faint and not so important. We get angry and we kill. Yet knowing the star is still there but it is overwhelmed by nearby things, we look down, get distracted and forget about it. 

Distant things don't change much, nearby things are ephemeral and change quickly. So before long whatever was near and seemed so important is gone and then what is left is the distant star "Don't Kill" and we remember and we suddenly realise that what we did transfixed by what was near was wrong.

And this is the moment when a Sinner is made. It is not the action itself, which is simply ignorance, short sightedness and lack of skill and wisdom. A Sinner cannot bear the shamed and can no longer look upon the star "Don't Kill." They turn their eyes down and lose sight of what is far. Now they are stuck with what is near, and what is changeable. They have no compass any more and determine their days by what is near.

This is how Sin causes suffering.

The only way forward is Repentance. And this requires extraordinary bravery to face what we have done, and see the distant star again and know that we and what was close and what seemed right is really wrong.

But to do that we need relativise and weaken our grasp on what is nearest: Our Self. Indeed it is this Self that makes things nearby at all. Our Self was wrong and that is an existential crisis. To move on we must abandon that wrong self and grow. But the Self or Ego fights to survive and does everything to mask awareness that it was wrong. It tries to blinker us to see just what is near and close to the Ego, and sets up a smoke screen to stop us looking into the distance and seeing the star. When asked to look into the distance we get irritable and fidgety and go looking for near by things to distract us.

When Jesus died on the Cross, he died for our sins, and that means that he kept his Mind on the distant stars and completely abandoned what was nearby and temporary. He struggled with what was near, the pain, humiliation and suffering; but he never stopped looking at what was far (except arguably at the very end where even Jesus came to know the despair of mortals "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?") The Saint is such a person who is prepared to abandon local concerns for what is distant, eternal and right.

And so a soldier going to fight may be seen as one such person. Putting their own welfare aside they step up to defend others, prepared to die with their eyes fixed on the stars.

But the Ego is non other than the Devil and is extremely subtle. Having a "cause" or "distant beacon" to follow is a great way to validate ourselves, to in fact distract us from what is distant and true. "I am a hero", "I am a worthy part of this war", "I will save you", "I have sacrificed myself nobly for the cause" &c.

It is no accident that people find great relief from themselves and their nearby concerns by climbing mountains, but what is not talked about is this is always a temporary relief. True mountains are far away, but they are not really far away like the stars. We need tackle the furthest mountains, the Mountains of Goodness to get real relief.

People say similar things about the relief that comes from being with Nature. Nature is interesting, it is very close by to the Mountains of Goodness. If you can abide in Nature, peaceful and tolerant of the rain, the sun, the discomfort, the comfort, the sublime and the mundane*: if you watch all these things peacefully then you are actually getting very far away towards the stars indeed.

We know deep down when we are quietly looking at the star "Don't Kill," when the heat of battle and life has calmed down and we have a quiet moment of reflection, when we are strong and full of shame for what we are and what we have done: then we look upon "Don't Kill" and we know it for what it really is, quietly shining in the clear sky telling us what we deep down know is true: don't kill.

So we look to the Middle East and everyone is currently consumed by what is near. Everyone is concerned by the temporary things. But even when this dies down there are mountain ranges of more permanent concerns around the area so people look at the peaks and think they know. The Devil has managed to completely corrupt the region and must be laughing His loudest. All those people who think they are noble and close to God have been tricked and now stand as puppets of the Devil. And the more they think they are fighting for what is Good the more the Devil laughs and drags them deeper into his web of evil. Satan is dancing a brilliant dance right now, baptising people's souls with his urine, trampling over the holy sites, and defaecating on the places where the prophets spake. Great days for the Great Deceiver.

High above it all however shines the eternal star "Don't Kill" but the eyes of mortals are turned away for the shame is too great for frail creatures to bear.