What Is Evil?
What Is Evil?
1. The Question
What is evil.
Not as a villain in a story, not as a label we slap on what we fear — but as a real, persistent question:
What do we mean when we say something is evil?
2. The Human Angle
You see a news story that makes your stomach turn.
You hear about cruelty that feels incomprehensible.
You witness someone act with coldness, calculation, or indifference to suffering.
And you think: That’s evil.
But then you pause.
Is it?
Or is it brokenness? Ignorance? Illness?
Is evil a force, a choice, a shadow, a wound?
3. The Inquiry
Philosophers and theologians have offered many lenses:
- St. Augustine: Evil is not a thing, but the absence of good — like darkness is the absence of light.
- Manichaeism: Evil is a real, opposing force — locked in cosmic battle with good.
- Kant: Evil is the corruption of the will — choosing self-interest over moral duty.
- Schopenhauer: Evil is the blind will to live — trampling others in pursuit of desire.
- Nietzsche: Evil is a social construct — a tool used by the weak to shame the strong.
- Eastern traditions: Evil is illusion — a byproduct of ignorance and separation.
Psychology adds another layer:
Evil may be a distortion of conscience, a failure of empathy, a stage in moral development.
Sometimes, it’s not monstrous — it’s banal. Ordinary people, in ordinary systems, doing harm without malice.
4. The Turn
Maybe the question isn’t “What is evil?”
Maybe it’s “What do we do when we see suffering?”
Do we name it?
Do we intervene?
Do we rationalize it away?
Do we recognize our own capacity for harm?
Maybe evil isn’t just “out there.”
Maybe it’s a mirror — showing us what happens when love is absent, when connection breaks, when power goes unchecked.
5. The Invitation
Instead of defining evil, try noticing its contours:
- What makes you recoil?
- What feels unforgivable — and why?
- What stories have shaped your sense of right and wrong?
- What do you do when you see harm — in others, in yourself?
Maybe evil is not a thing to understand.
Maybe it’s a call to respond.
post inspired by A Theology for the Rest of Us by Arthur Yavelberg.
Book description:
If God exists and is good, why is there evil? Avoiding such questions underlies the spiritual emptiness and anxiety in today's world. A Theology for the Rest of Us explores how to approach the divine through Eastern and Western religious traditions without dogma, challenging readers to "be you lamps unto yourselves."
In a time of internecine wars and all kinds of abuse of authority and trust, too many good, thoughtful people are "voting with their feet" and turning away from organized religion. Popular "spirituality"-a sort of mysticism-lite articulated in memes-is often unsatisfying as well.
A Theology for the Rest of Us is a straightforward approach to the fundamental questions of religion and philosophy:
- Does God exist?
- Is there free will?
- What is 'evil'?
This book draws on the traditions of the East as well as the West-Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism in addition to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-to see what can make sense in today's world. Whether exploring the implications of 17th century Enlightenment philosophers, quantum physics, or the insights of writers such as Dostoyevsky and Alan Watts, the reader is offered a rational, coherent approach that can provide understanding and a basis for hope in a world where the spirit has been all but decimated by doubt and worse.
Most important, the reader is encouraged to sift through these sources and choose what resonates and what does not. As the Buddha taught so many years ago, the Prime Directive is "Be ye lamps unto yourselves." A Theology for the Rest of Us makes teachings accessible to those who have already begun their spiritual journeys, validating their questions and showing that reasonable answers are available.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review of Books
CONTACT editor@msipress.com FOR A REVIEW COPY
has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed books of varying genres
that are distributed internationally.
To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount,
use code FF25 at MSI Press webstore.
Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it?
(1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it.
(2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed.
VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES.
Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter: get inside information before others see it and access to additional book content(recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, links to precerpts/excerpts, author advice, and more)Check out recent issues.
We help writers become award-winning published authors. One writer at a time. We are a family, not a factory. Do you have a future with us? Find out at www.msipress.com.
Turned away by other publishers because you are a first-time author and/or do not have a strong platform yet? If you have a strong manuscript, San Juan Books, our hybrid publishing division, may be able to help. Ask us. Check out more information at www.msipress.com.
Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our author au pair services will mentor you through the process. See what we can do for your at www.msipress.com.
Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book in exchange for reviewing a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com.
Want an author-signed copy of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com.Julia Aziz, signing her book, Lessons of Labor, at an event at Book People in Austin, Texas.
Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our Authors' Pages.Steven Greenebaum, author of award-winning books, An Afternoon's Discussion and One Family: Indivisible, talking to a reader at Barnes & Noble in Gilroy, California.MSI Press is ranked among the top publishers in California.
Check out our rankings -- and more -- HERE.
Comments
Post a Comment