There’s no denying that there’s both good and bad in this world (Note that I didn’t use the term “evil”).
We know there are people who commit loathsome deeds against other humans that raise the hair on the back of our necks. Yet on the other end of the spectrum, we also know of untold numbers who step in to help a person in need — many times putting their own lives in danger.
We recognize that some people suffer from severe physical maladies and handicaps, while others enjoy almost perfect health and only rarely experience any kind of physical ailment.
We are aware of folks that fight daily battles with mental issues (often as a result of damaged childhoods), yet we also know of others who always have a smile and seem to enjoy a nearly carefree life.
Each of these examples are simply illustrations of life as a human being. NONE of them have ANYTHING to do with whether there is a good or evil force in the world.
Yet there are untold numbers of people who are CERTAIN there are two opposing powers battling for control of our lives.
Within the Christian community (of which I am the most familiar), these powers are known as “God” and “Satan.” All that is “good” is identified with the former and all that is “bad” (evil) is laid at the feet of the latter.
Thing is … no one knows for sure if either of these entities even exist. Believers will swear to and/or voraciously argue for the actuality of either or both, yet NO PROOF of their existence has ever been established by any creditable means. (However, this doesn’t stop them from trying!)
The most common way these folk offer “proof” is by referencing a collection of VERY old (we’re talking ancient!) stories that have been passed down over many CENTURIES. Stories they are convinced (by what source?) are totally true and (verifiably?) accurate.
A second method they use is physical – as in they feeeel a presence in their hearts (?) – and they are certain this feeeeling is connected to some supernatural entity that exists … where?
Nevertheless, all this devotion to and belief in a hypothetical source doesn’t change the undeniable fact that humans (all of us) are going to commit good and bad deeds in life.
It also does not change the fact that some people who are ill are going to get better and some aren’t. Nor does it change the fact that some folk are going to commit unspeakable acts against their fellow humans while others are going to devote their life to helping the sick, the dying, the poor, the mistreated … and any others who need help.
THIS. IS. LIFE.
We live … we die. And all that happens between those two events is OUR responsibility. To lay it on an entity who has never offered evidence/proof/validation that it even exists is, at best, foolish.
At worst, it’s living this life as though you are a participant in a children’s story – one that involves a wondrous force, special beings, and improbable events. All in hopes of experiencing a (very unrealistic) “happy ending.”
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Image by John Hain from Pixabay
Nan's Notebook 
Life in a nutty cell. Oops, I mean nutshell. Funny you should say we all do good deeds, and we all do bad. I am working on getting a manuscript published right now, and part of what gets explored is the doing of good and bad. Yup, even fictional characters do both. And I definitely agree about not using the word evil, lol.
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You wrote: “And all that happens between those two events is OUR responsibility.” With which I could not agree more. Far too many people do not understand the nature of responsibility and think, that there is no responsibility if there is no certainty of reprecussions to themselves. We all know how the actions of people holding that sort of belief affect us all every day. When infact responsibility refers to all reprecussions of our actions, not just the ones we get punished from. An adult takes responsibility of their actions – regardless of the consequenses to themselves, because they understand, that this behaviour makes the world a better place for everyone. One would expect any adult to understand this, but alas…
The thing is, that the infantile beliefs in good and bad supernatural entities seems to make people voulnerable to immoral behaviour. In the sense, that they think morality is about adhering to some set of rules (written by dudes claiming to know what these supernatural entities want). As if the will of these imaginary entities would set the limits to what is moral or not. It is a childish and terrifying approach to life.
“What we do in life echoes in eternity!” Does this mean there is an eternal reward or punishment for us personally, or simply that our actions speak for us even after we are no longer? There is no evidence for the first, but we all know the latter to be true about the people we know/knew. What should an adult and responsible mind think about it?
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[…] and brothers in Christ, and I, are taken to task for assigning responsibility for what we do to forces outside of ourselves. Variations of the devil made me do it. Fair enough. […]
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The trick is to trust the good as well as the bad. This would require brute honesty which is lacking in our culture of pretense.
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Couldn’t have put it any more succinctly Jim. Bravo Sir. 🙂
And if I could add to your accurate assessment and Nan’s accurate post…
Life is quite messy. Or perhaps more explicitly, Life and all her forces dictating said Mess-management and its variable influences upon forces both within our Homo sapien reach and currently well beyond our reach show us our management skills are and will always be: evolving. Or should be.
But too many of us Homo sapiens do indeed like (love?) to blame ‘other’ less understood forces when in fact the actual domain of our control, authority, or responsibility as Nan correctly addresses here… though certainly limited in some degree, not limited in others… is much more empowered to us than many would care to accept—accepting BOTH the successes and failures—despite our contributions or apathetic accessory to those outcomes/consequences. I see religion’s excuses of “Good and evil,” God and Satan, as a very poor game of laziness (prayer!? 🤦♂️ ), and shirking our responsibilities that are too often well within our control and management despite what antiquated, theocratic ancient traditions and papyrus have brainwashed humanity to believe!
My learned motto? “Learn to fail better, each time.” Embrace it. Then get on with it, to the next “better failure.” Repeat. But do NOT shy away from your responsibility—or being an accessory, silent or lethargic—to domains you certainly have influence! Sometimes a ton of influence. 😉
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I love this quote “What is good for the spider, is not good for the fly” because it shows just how subjective these terms are.
You are so right, life is what it is. All ideas of bad and good are human concepts applied to the world we experience, based on our own perspective only. Some people call the covid virus “our enemy”. The virus doesn’t have an agenda,how could it be an enemy? It tries to live like everything elese in this universe. But this is how mind operates. It is its function to seprate, compare, analyze, break down. We end up with an experience of life that is of those terms. How can life be this or that? It is always one, fully completely whole.
Luckily, I haven’t had much exposure to Christianity, especially American Christianity (ahh, it has it’s own stench!) But recently I’ve come to understand just how guilt ridden, devisive and detrimental it can be. Especially for promoting such ideas like “god” and “evil”. How much more childish can it get?? Not much more.
The eastern traditions teach that true reality lies beyond both dualities of good/bad, pleasant/unpleasant, beautiful/ugly, etc. That duality is a symptom of thinking and creates a false reality. When mind is able to accept what comes our way without categorizing either way, then we can experience life as it really is.
Why meditation is such a great tool, because it teaches us to put the ‘monkey mind at rest’ 😊
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There is a superb story that illustrates the impossibility of determining ‘good’ or ‘bad’. It’s naratated by Alan Watts, and it’s called “The story of the Chinese Farmer”
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I occasionally use the word evil even though I’m not religious and I do believe most of this is subjective.
But there just isn’t a good word substitute sometimes for the word evil. Bad, terrible, menacing…just doesn’t quite cover it.
I do believe there are some things that are truly good or “bad” that are not subjective…the love a mother feels for her child or a person raping a child or killing someone just for the “fun” of it.
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I understand, Mary, but IMO, the word “evil” is associated with religion — and since I personally discount the existence of the supposed entity (Satan) most nearly associated with the word, I prefer to say humans are capable of “good and bad.” Although some do commit some VERY bad acts … 😠 … I cannot identify them as “evil.”
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I agree with you, I just need to find a better word than “bad”.😊
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How about —
abominable … horrid … atrocious … deplorable … and just plain crappy! 😄
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It’ that other repulsive word …’Sin’.
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One also has to ask: Who created Satan? How can Satan be “responsible” for evil when everything occurs according to Gawd’s will? The Euthrypo Dilemma has never been adequately soled, even by the most sophisticated theologians (i.e., the most verbose).
So the Christian religion again is utterly incoherent.
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Awesome write🙏
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Thank you Deepak! And thanks for stopping by.
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My pleasure 🙂
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Sometimes it boggles my mind when I think of the idea of humans, solid, earthbound, human beings, believing that supernatural entities watch over them, tempt them to evil, cure the sick, heal the injured, give us good grades or bad ones, and as a cousin once said, “God took the wheel and saved me.” yep. you can’t argue logic with that.
It also seems we waste a huge amount of our lives praying to the invisible, the godly, the unknown entities that apparently surround us, without a trace of fear or hesitation: but mention ghosts or haunted houses and these same people sometimes literally grow pale and say, “err maybe not. You go ahead, I’ll just sit here in the car…”
Religion, when you start pulling the wings off, gets weirder and weirder, the more you look at it. And it does seem that most people who are ‘deeply religious” are also deeply unhappy. Gee, I wonder why…
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Judy, I think the keywords in your comments were … solid and earthbound. IMO, the ones who believe all the “stuff” you mentioned in your comment definitely do not demonstrate either one.
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First, I don’t KNOW that God and Satan exist, second, I can’t PROVE them, or the bible, and third, I don’t FEEL God.
I BELIEVE him, based on my upbringing and a lifetime of being (and observing) good and bad.
To me, the world is mostly tragic, and makes no sense at all, therefore the gospel does.
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It is often observed, that for some people, 1+1, always = Jeebus!
Quaint.
The rest of us look for real answers to real problems. Sometimes though, life is life. It’s what we get. No invisible friends necessary.
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To me, the world itself is wonderful! Some of the people in it? Not so much.
I tend to think the keywords in your comment are: based on my upbringing. This tends to a prime reason why so many Christians “believe.”
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Observing the horrors of “nature red in tooth and claw”, I am not sure the world is that wonderful. Wonderful applies a human definition to things that are beyond human control or purpose. Which is fine. But there is so much horror in the world (by human definition) that I cannot be that blithe.
We must live, nonetheless.
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To me, the world as the world is awesome! However, as I indicated, it’s the occupants of said world that often leave much to be desired.
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Yes, upbringing is an influence, yet beyond youth there seems for some of us an internal attraction to God (that the bible asserts is him indeed).
To me, the issue isn’t, “Yes there’s a God; No there isn’t.” It’s, What do I now do with this attraction? Explain it away, ignore it, or search it out?
I’m a mature 67 yrs old, well beyond youthful exuberances and influences. And I don’t want to dismiss God, nor even meet him halfway. I’m ALL in.
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Even given that the world is “tragic”.
and God created said world.
Why would you worship the Father of Suffering anyway?
Despite what your parents and community taught you?
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I believe what ‘God created in the beginning.. very good.’ Yet now, things are tragically wrong. To me, the bible explains that gap.
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The Bible itself says that God created evil. So your first sentence is flat out incorrect.
Your argument also posits an incompetent God that allowed the world to become tragic.
“Some say it was flawed from the beginning”. Given omniscience, the argument of “free will” is incoherent nonsense. The Fall…evil…the tragic nature of the world (your words) are ALL according to God’s will. We are playthings in the hands of this monstrous being we cannot even hope to understand.
If it was all real. And there is zero indication beyond vague feelings and ancient myths that this is the case. The Aztec priest firmly believed he was feeding the sun as he cut the still beating heart out of a prisoner of war. Why is his belief “wrong” and yours correct?
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I don’t know my belief correct, nor the Aztec priest wrong; we’re a fallible race, things are as they are.
I believe God takes full responsibility for creating evil (his prerogative) in the Cross of Christ. That’s my take.
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I have asked before where on a good—bad axis, the line between really bad an evil is drawn. I just now wondered why there isn’t an opposite to the word evil on the good end of the spectrum. Where is the dividing line between really good and . . . I don’t know, fucking awesome?
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