Is Evil Really Winning? (Blog)

[Erin Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Erin Pavlina's blog:

Is Evil Really Winning?

[st33med]

Very inspiring post Erin

When my mom looks at the news, I always think, how do people think that this murder or rape or oil spill or etc affects them so deeply that they need to watch the news for reporters who highlight the most devastating parts of the problems? It makes no sense!

People say, oh, I have to stay an informed citizen. But, I don't think that staying informed needs to involve listening to a negative source for 2-3 hours on the same topics each hour.

[elucidate]

I don't think evil can ever win.

Both forces balance each other out in an eternal cosmic display...almost like a performance for the gods witnessing...which is us I guess.

You can be part of the solution and balance for the stronger party IMO, or you can be part of the problem and balance the weaker force.

I see love all around me in the people I interact with. It can never be beaten...it's simply the most powerful force there is.

[ssandra]

Just posted this in a different thread, and it makes a lot of sense here as well:

Maybe it is a perspective thing here, because I see people doing good things and good deeds all the time.

I mean, sure there are people doing bad things as well, but not as much as there are people doing good things and being good persons. It is just that bad news sells better so that is what you hear more about in the papers and on the news.
I choose to put my focus on what I see with my own eyes, and make my judgment on how the world is on that. And what I see is people willing to help other people, selfishly.

Just the other day, there was this woman in the market near my house. The people who sell things here aren't very rich. They are actually borderline poor. She had just enough to buy tortilla's for 50ct. (in pesos, so about 5ct in US dollars?). Instead of taking her money and giving her for 50ct tortillas, they gave her tortilla's for 5 pesos, and didn't take her money.
Just like that. No fuss, no nothing. Just a friendly thing to do for a neighbor and fellow human.
She also got some fruit from another stall.

Those are the things that I focus on. Those are the things I see with my own eyes.

[Angela]

It's a nice perspective shift, but one that still incorporates a view that there is a battle going on between "good" and "evil." As long as you're believing there is such a battle raging, it doesn't matter how loving and peaceful you are; the best you can hope for is temporary triumph of good over evil -- as an element of the universe, evil will keep comin' back, sluggin' away, like the monster that you thought the hero killed but it just comes back in another form, and everyone stands around at the end looking kind of relieved but hopeful, and the audience knows there's a sequel coming!

[Anna Conlan]

Lovely post. For a while I've noticed that kind people are everywhere. I meet incredibly kind, good people all the time. But they're everyday people - not worth making a program about them because it's not dramatic.

[elucidate]

Originally Posted by Anna Conlan

Lovely post. For a while I've noticed that kind people are everywhere. I meet incredibly kind, good people all the time. But they're everyday people - not worth making a program about them because it's not dramatic.

Yes, I've known some extraoridinarily kind people over the years. It started occuring for me when I started cultivating kindness within me towards others and animals , plants, the earth etc. Like attracts like.

[SarahJaynee]

My friend just put this on his Facebook status "In d Universe there is neither good nor evil, because everything has been created according to immutable rules, where in d Divine Principle is reflected & only by knowing these rules, shall we be able to come near to d Divinity"...and then I checked out this thread which links in nicely.

There is no such thing as "evil". When we deem someone, something or a situation as evil we are creating a separation initiated by our own judgment.
When people stop believing in death they will be better able to see how evil does not exist.

Everyday on this planet approx 80,000 - 100,000 croak it! Some die peacefully of old age, some die in their line of duty, some are murdered, some are kids that are murdered, some die in groups of a few thousand because of a bombing or whatever. The end result is the same. So what is the point of reading or listening to news which will highlight just a handful of cases as deemed the most important by an editor or two? Why would people be as narrow as that, yet hundreds of millions of us tune in to hear what the news has to tell us each day...crazy!

[ChrisG]

I see what you're getting at, Erin. I think it's also a case of what one sees in their particular subjective reality- good triumphing in their world or evil.

I've always believed that the world is broken and those in power are only making it worse, not giving humanity much of a chance. But I think I can see a new way of thinking in your article. What about the people I see when I look around? Are they doing good in the world?

It's still difficult for me to accept a worldview like this, where the world really is full of good people doing good in the world. But at the moment the good seems like meaningless gestures against the big stuff going on in the news- Greece, the oil spill, Israel-Palestine, the economy still on the ropes, etc.

Nonetheless, it's a good new way to think. As you said, the news is a bad measure of what's going on anyway.

I'm glad you didn't hype your article up too much. This sounds really honest and from the heart. Thank you

[Erin Pavlina]

Yeah even though there are many parts of the world that are at war, I still think the majority of actual people on this planet prefer peace to war, and are kind hearted souls.

[dhg]

I think there is an increasing polarization. An escalating amplification of everything. A scaling up as we get more and more connected.

I see lots of love, but there is also lots of hurt. We _are_ hurting the planet, and we are hurting each other, maybe because we hurt, ourselves. And maybe this is natural, maybe we need to pass through hurt to find love. What we need then, is to not be afraid of hurt or deny it, but to lovingly embrace it.

Finally it all comes down to the individual. Wars out there in the world are reflections of the wars within us (and vice versa). Heal yourself to heal the world; be the change you want to see.

[supernatural]

Originally Posted by dhg

I think there is an increasing polarization. An escalating amplification of everything. A scaling up as we get more and more connected.

I see lots of love, but there is also lots of hurt. We _are_ hurting the planet, and we are hurting each other, maybe because we hurt, ourselves. And maybe this is natural, maybe we need to pass through hurt to find love. What we need then, is to not be afraid of hurt or deny it, but to lovingly embrace it.

Finally it all comes down to the individual. Wars out there in the world are reflections of the wars within us (and vice versa). Heal yourself to heal the world; be the change you want to see.

Excellent comment, I agree totally with you, we need to start the long road to loving ourselves and healing our own emotional problems and then we will love the planet and each other.
We can all make a little prayer using visualizations for love and peace in the parts of the world where there is violence and corruption, it only takes less than 15mins each day.

[wstein]

Since 'evil' is always a duality in relative opposition to 'good', the answer is no. It not possible. These kind of dualities come in a spectrum of gray. Cutting off one end or the other does not change that. Duality is not a win-lose situation.

If you want to ask a more meaningful question: Are we soon all going to better off when people give up judging and labeling 'good' and 'evil'?

Probably that's not close enough to bother with yet

[Gene]

Originally Posted by wstein

Since 'evil' is always a duality in relative opposition to 'good', the answer is no. It not possible. These kind of dualities come in a spectrum of gray. Cutting off one end or the other does not change that. Duality is not a win-lose situation.

If you want to ask a more meaningful question: Are we soon all going to better off when people give up judging and labeling 'good' and 'evil'?

Probably that's not close enough to bother with yet

Would the human race still be human if the race as a whole gave up judging and labeling things "good" and "evil"?

[wstein]

Originally Posted by Gene

Would the human race still be human if the race as a whole gave up judging and labeling things "good" and "evil"?

A very good question that I have asked myself. It does get very close to transforming into something else.

When does a species change enough to be considered different species? I eventually decided it's a matter of definition.

I have investigated this as some length. Most humans are very species centric and are quite defensive about anything that might make them no longer human. They get quite threatened, react strongly and defend their species before considering the implications. Interestingly it does not seem to matter whether or not the change would be in their best interest. They wish to hold on to being human at any cost.

[tlaskcor]

I like this blog post because I have never believed evil is ahead on the scorecard. And what you see does depend on your perspective.

This duality thing...having seen some horrible 'evil', I do not accept that it is the necessary flip side of good. If we relinquish all judgement, I believe we step on the road to insanity. Mental illness is a state of being unable to make correct determinations between 'good' and 'bad'.

[dhg]

Originally Posted by tlaskcor

I like this blog post because I have never believed evil is ahead on the scorecard. And what you see does depend on your perspective.

This duality thing...having seen some horrible 'evil', I do not accept that it is the necessary flip side of good. If we relinquish all judgement, I believe we step on the road to insanity. Mental illness is a state of being unable to make correct determinations between 'good' and 'bad'.

If we stop judging, I believe we're on the road to paradise. When judging, we seem to decide what is worthy of our love and what is not. But this isn't love. Love is unconditional, it knows no limits - it is blind, symbolically speaking.

This is a fine line, though, because I'm not completely sure what your word judging implies, and we might talk of slightly different things. Being judgmental and having good judgment seem different. My intuition lights up a little warning sign, though.

[dhg]

Originally Posted by supernatural

Excellent comment, I agree totally with you, we need to start the long road to loving ourselves and healing our own emotional problems and then we will love the planet and each other.
We can all make a little prayer using visualizations for love and peace in the parts of the world where there is violence and corruption, it only takes less than 15mins each day.

Thank you and yes! Because we always did love, we've just seem to forgotten it. This is maybe the original sin?

[elucidate]

Really well said. I think that facing our own pain is the only way to heal ourselves and therefore the world...which takes alot of courage, but we can do it...we HAVE to!

Originally Posted by dhg

I think there is an increasing polarization. An escalating amplification of everything. A scaling up as we get more and more connected.

I see lots of love, but there is also lots of hurt. We _are_ hurting the planet, and we are hurting each other, maybe because we hurt, ourselves. And maybe this is natural, maybe we need to pass through hurt to find love. What we need then, is to not be afraid of hurt or deny it, but to lovingly embrace it.

Finally it all comes down to the individual. Wars out there in the world are reflections of the wars within us (and vice versa). Heal yourself to heal the world; be the change you want to see.

[Smurf]

Did you say:"HOLD ON TO LOVE"?