When studying the darkness one question arise above all others. What is evil? To explore evil we have to look at it from different angles. So let us explore the concept of evil.
Social evil
Evil is a product of society. Society as whole decides what is evil and what is not. Also it decides what evils are greater and what evils are lesser.
The law is a very nice guideline on what society thinks is evil and what lesser evils are. The more severe the punishment for a given crime the more evil it is. Also evil is a big word and for those crimes that are too small we prefer to simply call it illegal rather then evil.
With different cultures all over the world it becomes hard to say what evils are universal. Murder and rape tend to be universally seen as evils yet not every society deals with it in the same manner. This is not strange. Because evil is a product of society every society will appoint its own evils and deal with it in its own way.
Often that which is not understood and seen as harmful one way or the other is accused of being evil. This leads to discrimination and often violence against those who are not understood. The further society advances though the more it learns and the more evils are brought into the light and no longer perceived as evil. Take homosexuality for instance. If we go back to say 1890 homosexuality did not exist. Practising it was a crime called sodomy. When it was accepted that this was actually not a product of debased lust but simply and alternate preference it was no longer seen as evil or a crime. Except for those backward areas where science and humanism holds little sway, mainly because of religious doctrine. The same goes for S&M. While it is a very dark passion it is not evil. Once we understand evil it is dispelled.
Society itself seems to have become aware of this. And therefor those who discriminate and act against those one does not understand are seen as evil. Things like discrimination, racism, fascism are all seen as evils. Though this has led to the fear of being one of those evils. And therefor one condones more then one should. This no doubt will turn soon and so we see that society strives to balance the notions of good and evil. And so it learns what is good and what is evil. Though no doubt these notions will keep evolving. Understanding, knowledge, reason, compassion and open-mindedness seem to be the keys to annihilate evil by dispelling it and the means to integrate the former evil into society.
Relative evil
As evil is a product of society and society over the world knows diversity evil therefor must be diverse. What one society perceives as evil another might not. So we must accept the fact that evil is not universal. Though as stated above many of the same things such as murder are seen as evil within most societies.
Also evil comes from comparison. If one thing is not evil and we compare it to something else that is similar must we assume that this is also not evil? This sounds very vague so lets look at an example.
We have discovered that homosexuality is merely a preference and therefor not evil. Yet we will not say the same thing about paedophilia. While both are a preference the difference is that acts of paedophilia often involves intercourse with children, which are by law not consenting adults. So the fact that a person is a paedophile is not evil, it is the fact that some sexually abuse children. It also these people that abuse children in this way who call the disgust of society upon themselves and the innocent paedophiles alike. This is a very dangerous topic but bear with me for a moment and read on. Lets compare different societies now with the former example in mind.
In Ancient Greece it was the custom, especially in Athens, that a boy would be taught by an older male. It was also expected that these two would have an intimate relation and have sexual intercourse. This was certainly not seen as evil as it was the norm. We can see that evil depends on the society. And that this relation in Ancient Greece that would in the modern day be seen as illegal, and more than likely evil, was not evil within that society. So can we say that this custom was evil? We can be sure it wasn’t back then, but it would be in the modern day. But can we judge such a thing. The answer can only be no. Simply put these are two different societies and as evil is not universal we can perceive something as evil but we cannot judge it. After all, what we make of our society today is our concern, what the Ancient Greeks made of their society back then was their concern.
If we keep this example and add to it the western Middle Ages where it was custom that a girl would marry after her 12th birthday and boy after his 14th we see that again we have a similar case. What should be noted though is that in both Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages people tended to have a shorter life span. So the time between where you where born, could procreate, and finally die was much shorter. So we have to adjust our view again. Then again did children in that time and age grow up faster then children do in the modern day? So much that a girl by her 12th year could be considered a consenting adult? Though they must have matured much faster mentally then in the modern day no doubt there is no physical difference in the maturation time. So in the modern day we would still consider this to be evil, yet back then it wasn’t.
Now enough talk of sex and children. What we can learn from these examples is that there is no universal evil. A society will decide what is evil and what is not. Because there is not one society there are many interpretations on what is evil. We also see that we cannot compare one society to another and judge them. Though we can perceive elements from a society as evil we cannot judge it. Should we wish to judge a society we would need to know all the history and context of current behaviours. Even when we know all these things we can judge it poorly. After all how can one society decide what is good and evil for all societies? Would that not be evil?
Personal evil
If we take a closer look at society we will naturally see that society is build up out of individuals. While all these individuals where raised in this society they are not exact copies of the societies standards. While their opinions are influenced very strongly by the society they have their own ideas on good and evil. We can split up the views of evil in two perceptions. First the view of what is perceived as evil in the world, and second the evil that is perceived in the self.
The evil that is perceived in the world is the evil that exists outside of the individual. This evil consists of elements that exist in the world and are compared to the individual’s sense of good and evil and are then perceived as evil. This system allows the individual judge things in relation to the self.
The evil that perceived in the self is the dark side of the self. This dark side often conflicts with the individual’s views of good and evil as they are greatly influenced by society. So the first perception influences the second perception. If the individual acts upon his dark side he or she will most likely either be ashamed or start to perceive the self as evil. The other option it that the self breaks free and changes both perceptions of evil.
The perceptions may differ however. An individual may have certain principles that he or she has to follow, not following them would be evil for the self. Yet the self may see that other individuals do not have to follow his or her principles. The other way around is often called hypocrisy where the individual makes a ruling that he or she does not have to follow but others do.
If a lot of individuals share the same dark side they may form groups and see that what they do is not evil. Yet they keep away from the eyes of society because it will not understand. Now if most of society has this dark side strange things may happen. Victorian Age England for example, sex was not something proper. It was unclean and certainly not spoken of. It was not even supposed to be enjoyed. But since sex is such a natural part of every individual the sexual self was shoved to the dark side of the individuals and a social dark side came into existence. In secret men (and often women as well) enjoyed themselves with all kinds of sexual experiences. Of course one never spoke about it and one did not want to be seen in such places.
So the influence of society in the individual can also be reversed as you see here. The more society advances and the more individuals advance the smaller this dark side will become. So to explore the self we must look into the dark side of ourselves, we have to follow the evil, gaze into the abyss so to say.
Hungry evil
Which brings us to the final part of this exploration. Why do we feel attracted to the dark side? Simply because the self years for self development and because all the qualities of the self that are considered good get enough attention while those qualities that are considered evil are not. So the self wants to develop all of itself including this dark side. So naturally is turns its attention to this underdeveloped part and wants to pay more attention to it. Yet if the individual retains his current perception of good and evil and resists the “temptation” the dark side will not develop.
This often happens in a society where a certain yearning in the dark side is a taboo. For example alternate sexual desires within a very religious community. The individual will face persecution should he give in to the dark side. So the individual has to deny the self the experience it yearns for, fulfil the desire in secret, or do the most sensible thing and move to a community where this is not a taboo.
So for self-development we need to look into the dark side and bring the evils therein into the light and place them within our own personality in rather the same way as society should as I described earlier. If the evils do not get attention the will feed on the self, making it very much miserable.
I should warn you dear reader that facing your dark side is no easy matter. Also if you feel you have urges that are taboo in your community it is best to move to a community that accepts your desire. Should such a community not exist then you need to talk to someone preferably a psychiatrist or psychologist who can help you incorporate your urges into your life in a legal manner.
