good and evil

*** note: This post was first blogged on my other blog mobius faith imaging. Since this blog will be about my spiritual and philosophical ideas It seemed an appropriate first post.

While I am an artist there are many things that inspire me and give me energy. Music, Film, Nature and Mysticism. There are times when I am in this meditative space where time seems to slow down. A time/space when that which is normally solid and concrete becomes fluid and dynamic. A time that leaves me feeling paradoxically exhausted, rested and energized. While this doesn’t happen often – last night was one such time. The following is the fruit of that time.

Many people want to think of God as all good and that God would never do any evil. But I wonder if that’s true. There are instances in the Jewish and Christian Bibles where God says he will “work evil…” If that’s so then God is not only the God of Good but also the God of Evil. God is not Good OR Evil he is the totality of Good AND Evil. God cannot be divided. God is the ultimate non-duality. It is humanity and religion specifically that try to divide God. And see Evil as something that must be eliminated.

While evil can be defeated it can never be eliminated. So that next thing is how to defeat evil. All that is evil can only be defeated when we recognize the capacity for evil within each of us. We both hold the secrets of good and evil. After all that was the whole point of the story of the Garden of Eden. Humanity had consumed the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It has been with us from the beginning.

When we recognize the ways we can be evil and accept it – evil has no power over us. It is always there. It is always waiting for us to forget or deny its existence. It’s always waiting for us, goading us and trying to get us to fight it. Evil feeds on fear, pride and hate. And when that happens — well — Shit happens!

And it’s not about control. We cannot control evil. We can only balance it with Good. Co-existence.

The evil we see in others is the same evil that is within us.
Example : Who am I to judge a murderer? The evil in that person who murders is the same evil in me when I enjoy saying, “he had it coming to him.” Just because I chose not to murder doesn’t mean I am less evil or that evil doesn’t exist within me. It just means that I didn’t murder someone. The person who murders has the same power as me to create or defeat evil.

Recognize the evil within you

Forgive yourself and others

Be at peace

Love yourself and others
Be the balance

You and I were created in the image of God

We hold within us the seeds of the totality of Good and Evil.