On the nature of Good and Evil: Who are we and where do we stand - the Speaking Eagle speaks

NOTE: This is not a religious post, it is purely philosophical (Though many religious ideas can be derived directly from it). I do not explain the nature of Toaism, though i do draw on a Taoist principle to illistrate a moral-philosophical conjecture.

Before i begin, allow me to explain a bit about what is here. The first portion will be a philosophical conjecture written by me in the form preffered by Lao Tzu (pronounced lau dzee) who wrote the Tao Te Ching (dow te ching) and the Hua Hu Ching (wha hoo ching). It adresses the intrinsic nature of what we consider good and evil and states that although good and evil exist, they are no more intrinsically malicious or good than shadow and light. They simply exist. I will then discuss how this applies to the world we live in and essentially what this implies about how we live. If there is no intrinsic purpose to good and evil, does it matter to which we apply ourselves? Is a man able to apply himself to one or the other, or is this life a unified and chaotic dervish of shades of grey? How does this change how we define ourselves as people? Remember, it's not enough to question who you are, you must question what it means to be who you are.

-------------------

Goodness or justice is likened to heat

Evil or injustice is likened to cold

Cold is the absense of Heat

Evil is the absense of Good

Injustice is the absense of Justice

Each is relative to the other

The purpose of heat is not to melt

 the ice or to burn the flesh, it simply is

The purpose of cold is not to cool a pane

 of glass or to numb the flesh, it simply does

Thus Justice and Injustice, Good and Evil 

are benign forces with no intrinisic purpose

This is called

Benign nature of Good and Evil

----------------------

Now, from what we see here, it is very easy to understand the phrase: "Evil happens when good men do nothing." It is my belief that the dehuminization and decharacterization of good and evil provides more of a basis, not less, to live a moral life. We see that acts of goodness are rare in this universe, since they are finite in quantity and suffering is infinite.  (This is in accordance with the buddhist concept of samsarah- the cycle of suffering.)

It follows that we should live our lives mindful of the coldness (not to do so would be foolish) but focus on things that are good. It is also worthy to act in such a way as to bring out goodness, in oneself and in others. This is the only way we can keep ourselves warm, not to do so would mean that we as a people would perish. 

In applying oneself to the side of good or evil, it is not always appearent which is which. This is why we invent religions and listen to those we consider to be wise. Through the wisdom of others, we can learn to apply ourselves to the side of good. In a simple world, good and evil are very clear, but we do not live in a simple world. Many things today are a shade of grey. Almost all people are grey, there are no good people and bad people. Only people who do things. The things they do have impacts with either positive or negative consequences. One party will almost always benefit at the expense of another. 

It is my opinion that it takes a great deal of wisodom to navigate through these grey areas. It is best to avoid them, and apply ourselves to what we know to be right. In the grand scheme of things, we will never tip the scales in favor of good, because it requires evil just as evil requires good. They are simply part of the world we live in, each completes the other and each exists within the other. (Consider the Yin Yang) Therefore, seek not eradicate evil, but to sow the seeds of goodness and rightousness. 

Tom