“Good” being that which expresses truth and virtue and attracts the consciousness to God; and “Evil” being ignorance and delusion, that which repels the consciousness from God.
~Sri Sri Paramhansa Yogananda
A thousand times I have heard people say, “Oh there is no good and bad. It’s all a question of perspectives.”
Or they’d say, “There are no absolutes. Good and bad are relative. What’s good for you may be bad for me- and vice-versa.”
Wisdom is the knowledge of good and evil, not the strength to choose between the two.
~John Cheever
Perhaps the framework within which they make these categorical declarations is different from the one Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda is referring to. But to generalize without first defining the framework, throws doubt and confusion over everything- causing you to throw out the clean baby with the grimy bath water.
By making such statements, (perhaps) without intending to, they plunge the only absolute into the murky waters of gross uncertainty. That is a dangerous way to think.
To see evil and call it good, mocks God. Worse, it makes goodness meaningless. A word without meaning is an abomination, for when the word passes beyond understanding the very thing the word stands for passes out of the world and cannot be recalled.
~ Stephen R. Lawhead
Good and evil are absolutes. Whether your thoughts and actions are bringing you closer to the Divine or away from Him, is absolute. There can be no ambiguity about it; there can be no confusion. You may suppress the voice of your inner being and pretend you did not hear its warning.
A part of you, however, did hear the clarion call.
Of Good And Evil
Absolutely, where there is darkness, there is always light 😀
Also yes, You can’t be a little good or a little evil, can you?
You can’t be a ‘little’ pregnant Sid! 😀 You are or are not…! 🙂
Wow! What a comparison? I suspect the same holds good for crazy? 😀
Absolutely! 😀
Claiming first, first 😛 for this, the first of your blog for this year 😉
Never mind 😛 That didn’t work I guess.
Oh Leo! I think Sid beat you to it this time! You must clobber him. 😀
Evil and bad, I feel, aren’t the same always. A cold is bad for me, but it’s good for the doctor who gets a fee for prescribing me the medicine to make me better 😛 To see evil and say it’s good, yeah, I think that’s not right. 🙂 that “evil” is absolute, or it should be.
When bad is used here, it is meant as evil. And that is the framework. 🙂
Moral/ethical relativism is the gift of the postmodernist that can be in fact much more dangerous than the simple denial of the Good, the Right and the True. Because the only logical destination for a moral relativist is a slippery-slope type of place where nothing really matters and everything is up for grabs. Unfortunately we so much of such mindless opportunism and nihilism in today’s discourse where so many educated, rational people, with power to influence/shape public opinion keep on defending the indefensible simply because they are afraid to speak the truth that there is evil in the world which needs to be eradicated. A timely post, Dagny. Thanks for writing this.
Every word you write makes me realize more and more that I was surely meant to know you. You give impetus to my thoughts and take them further. More often than not, you give words to that which was a confused mass of wordlessness within me. I will never tire of thanking you for the clarity of your thoughts, the lucidness of your expressions and the illumination of your perceptiveness.
A quote from my favorite author would serve as a warning to those who insist upon taking a precarious seat on the fence:
In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit. ~Ayn Rand
Thank you… for more things than I can list out. <3
I hope I don’t get an overly-blown head now 🙂 Thanks so much, dear! And I agree we were meant to “meet” 🙂 That’s how the Universe works.
The Rand quote is so apt.
You’re too down-to-earth to ever get a bloated head Beloo. And if you do, I do have pins I can use. 😀
That’s exactly why I am a fan of Einstein for his theory of relativity. Good, Bad, Evil…all exist relative to something.
Rekha, I’m Einstein’s fan too. According to him, only Good can be created. Evil is automatically created when the Good is absent.
That lays to rest all questions like, “Why did God create Evil when He knew evil was… well… Evil!”
Thanks for coming by… 🙂
Uplifting post. I think the issue of God or no is a matter of belief. What matters is make the heart a temple.
Thank you Vishal!
Evil definitely exists! One doesn’t have to look too far to notice its presence, unfortunately! 🙁
Unfortunately, yes Roshni!