Until a human being has become fully one in God, all that is not-God is problematic in his or her life. No one grows more like God without struggling against evil. The great deterrences to union with God come not from without, but from within: all that is called “sin” in our faith tradition. Sin is essentially the orientation of the soul, of the human person, away from God, and an immersion in illusions--what appears good, but is not.
Evil results from sin. What does one experience in presence of evil? One feels pulled towards a seemingly infinite void of non-reality, into an abyss which has no end, no limit, no escape. In simplest words, one “feels bad,” and may feel a chilling cold, in the presence of the vortex of evil. Although evil is masked by what exists, it is felt as an undertow into a realm from which the traveler does not return. A person with sense or common goodness instinctively wants to flee from the experience of this void. One knows it because one feels it: Evil destroys. At times one can experience a kind of magical pull from evil, as though it casts a spell on a person, and lures him from his better senses and grounding in reality towards a bottomless and lightless pit. Evil has nothing to give, but it may promise joy, knowledge, even life.
Evil lies and deceives. Evil hides under the appearance of good. Men who habitually yield to evil become dark in spirit, lifeless, deceitful, hateful, destructive, and powerfully envious of those who do good. Those who dabble in evil hate the good they believe they cannot attain. In Christ’s words in John ch. 3: “Those who do evil hate the light, and refuse to come to the light, lest their evil deeds be exposed; but those who do good come to the light, that it may be clearly seen that their deeds are wrought in God.”
Evil shows up in the will to power, the desire to dominate others that may masquerade as “service” or even as “love,” but in reality is self-seeking, controlling, manipulating, dominating. At its worst, evil as will-to-power attempts to silence truth, to deceive people, to present itself as good, and ultimately to destroy whatever is most truly good, true, beautiful, and one. Why? Because evil essentially is nothing but the negation of whatever is good and true. Evil can only negate, destroy, deceive, for evil has nothing of goodness or truth to give. Evil takes without giving, kills without bringing life.
Blessed the man or woman who can discern evil from good, who takes inspiration and direction from the light that comes from the divine Light, and not from the deceitful, swirling power of sheer evil. Happy the soul arising by love into goodness, by self-control into divine and true joy. That soul will live forever in God.
Evil results from sin. What does one experience in presence of evil? One feels pulled towards a seemingly infinite void of non-reality, into an abyss which has no end, no limit, no escape. In simplest words, one “feels bad,” and may feel a chilling cold, in the presence of the vortex of evil. Although evil is masked by what exists, it is felt as an undertow into a realm from which the traveler does not return. A person with sense or common goodness instinctively wants to flee from the experience of this void. One knows it because one feels it: Evil destroys. At times one can experience a kind of magical pull from evil, as though it casts a spell on a person, and lures him from his better senses and grounding in reality towards a bottomless and lightless pit. Evil has nothing to give, but it may promise joy, knowledge, even life.
Evil lies and deceives. Evil hides under the appearance of good. Men who habitually yield to evil become dark in spirit, lifeless, deceitful, hateful, destructive, and powerfully envious of those who do good. Those who dabble in evil hate the good they believe they cannot attain. In Christ’s words in John ch. 3: “Those who do evil hate the light, and refuse to come to the light, lest their evil deeds be exposed; but those who do good come to the light, that it may be clearly seen that their deeds are wrought in God.”
Evil shows up in the will to power, the desire to dominate others that may masquerade as “service” or even as “love,” but in reality is self-seeking, controlling, manipulating, dominating. At its worst, evil as will-to-power attempts to silence truth, to deceive people, to present itself as good, and ultimately to destroy whatever is most truly good, true, beautiful, and one. Why? Because evil essentially is nothing but the negation of whatever is good and true. Evil can only negate, destroy, deceive, for evil has nothing of goodness or truth to give. Evil takes without giving, kills without bringing life.
Blessed the man or woman who can discern evil from good, who takes inspiration and direction from the light that comes from the divine Light, and not from the deceitful, swirling power of sheer evil. Happy the soul arising by love into goodness, by self-control into divine and true joy. That soul will live forever in God.
