Ontologer's Pen January 2010

Ontologer's Pen

January 2010

When we study the writings of the old time metaphysical teachers we find they taught that there is no evil. That teaching has created much controversy over the years because people will say, “How can that be true when I can look all about me and see evil everywhere?”

My dictionary defines evil as, “Something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity; the fact of suffering or misfortune; causing discomfort or repulsion.” So, is there evil or not? The answer, as is usually the case when spiritual questions are asked in reference to the physical world, is YES. Yes, there is no evil, and yes, there is evil.

So how can there be both, you wonder? When we look around us and see evil we are seeing things relative to each other. We judge evil in reference to good. Without good there would be no evil, just as without up there could be no down, without black there would be no white. We need duality to have a physical world. Duality, polarity is necessary for matter to exist. From reference of duality, of seeing good, yes, there is evil.

But, if we choose to see only God, one instead of duality, would there be evil? If God is all there is, is there any room for evil outside of God? No thing, nothing, exists outside of God so where would evil exist? It cannot exist outside of God, so what we term evil is really just part of what we call God. So the answer to the question, “Is there evil?” depends on whether you are asking from the viewpoint of the human world, the physical world, or from the absolute, seeing only the one God. From the absolute viewpoint there is only God, no good or evil, just God. From the human viewpoint we recognize good and by so doing we also establish its opposite, evil, just as by seeing up we also establish down..

What did Jesus say regarding evil? Remember, He was living in this physical, human world. In Matt 5:38-42; “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, Do not resist evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your shirt, let him have your robe as well; and if any one forces you to carry a burden for one mile, go with him two miles.“

 Jesus apparently recognized evil in the physical world. But He also told us how to deal with this apparent evil; Don’t resist it. If evil is “Something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity; the fact of suffering or misfortune; causing discomfort or repulsion.”, why does Jesus tell us not to resist it?

Why do we resist any thing? In the human world there is love and there is fear. Love and fear are opposites. Do we resist out of love or do we resist out of fear? We say that Love is the Light of God but fear is the absence of that Light. We also say that good is love and light but evil is fear and darkness. Resistance comes from fear and resistance is evil or darkness itself. The harder we push against an object, the harder we resist, the closer we become to the object. When we stop pushing, the object is then free to drift away on its own.

All of life exists within God. If we resist we are denying that God made everything and that all things have their place and their purpose. When some thing or some person expresses as evil we must remember that it is not in its right place and doing what it was created to do. Evil is coming from darkness, from fear and not from love and light. Since evil is nothing more than the absence of light, the absence of love, what must we do to counteract it? We must replace that evil with love in our thinking, in our feelings, in our choices, in our lives. To resist we try to hold it back but what we want to do instead is absorb that evil with love.

That is why Jesus said, “If any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your shirt, let him have your robe as well; and if any one forces you to carry a burden for one mile, go with him two miles.” It is much better to have a sore cheek than to live in the darkness. It is much better to give away your shirt and robe than to live in anger. It is much better to carry a burden two miles with happiness and joy in your heart than to carry the same load one mile with hatred. Your cheek will heal, you can get another shirt and robe, you will soon be shed of the physical load you are carrying, but what about the mental, emotional, and spiritual load?

When you find yourself becoming angry, don’t continue being angry. Don’t resist the object of your anger. Replace those thoughts of anger with thoughts of love, thoughts of forgiveness. Ask yourself, “Would I rather be right or happy?” Jesus knew that resisting evil just imprisons us in that evil. This material world is a world of duality. We always have two choices. We can choose good or evil. We can choose love or fear. We can choose Light or darkness.

Jesus told us to love our enemies, to pray for them, not for their sakes but for our sakes. In Matt 5:45, “So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” The good and the bad, the just and the unjust. All exist in God. All are available to each of us.

We resist out of fear and by resisting we are choosing evil in our lives. Instead of resisting, we are to bring Light into that darkness of evil. We do this by loving our enemies, by praying for them, by forgiving them, by choosing to see the good in the them and the situation instead of whatever we are fearing. In that way we become perfect just as our Father in Heaven is perfect.

Is there evil in the world? It depends on your viewpoint. The human self says, “Yes, of course.” But your Christ self says there is only God, nothing else.