Good vs. Bad

Is Evil a Thing?

In a previous post, I stated my belief that we are all, each and every one of us, part of Divine Spirit.

That may feel like sacrilege to some. How could I possibly suggest that we are all part of God when we are so far from perfect?

How could I think that we are part of Loving Spirit when we do so many hateful things?

Watch the news almost any day and hear reports of horrendous acts committed by people who couldn’t possibly have any connection to the Divine.

And then there are those mean, stupid spiteful, hurtful, inconsiderate, and unloving things that each of us has done.

We couldn’t possibly be part of Divine Love since we did those things.

I’ll discuss that in a moment, but first …

Before I directly address these valid concerns, I need to lay some groundwork.

In our experience, there is heat and cold. However, only heat is real. Heat is a form of physical energy that can be generated and measured.

But there is no cold! Cold is a word that we use to describe an object or a place where there is relatively little heat energy. Cold is simply a shorthand for “there isn’t as much heat here as I would like.”

We “create” cold – for example with a refrigerator or air conditioner – by moving heat from one place to another. There is no physicality to cold, it is just a shortage of heat.

In the same way, there is light energy, but there is no darkness.

When we say that a room is dark we are stating that there is relatively little light energy in the room. We are not saying that the room is filled with darkness. There is no dark.

You may have heard physicists talk about dark matter and dark energy, but that is something entirely different. It is not the opposite of light energy.

When you go into a dark room and turn on the light switch, there is no competition between the light and the dark with an uncertain outcome. There is no dark. There is no cold.

And, by the same token, there is no evil, no badness. There is no force that God does battle with.

So, What About All the Bad Behavior I See?

I’m sad to say that there definitely is bad behavior. It’s easy to find. Just turn on the evening news.

But there is no Evil, no Badness.

Like cold and darkness, evil is just a language shorthand for “there is not enough love in this situation”

Spirit, or God if you prefer, is an Infinite Source of Love. It is Love. It sends out only love and sends it to everyone all the time.

The Creator created us as free will beings so that we could learn who we really are. Free will includes the ability to ignore or disconnect from the infinite supply of Love that Spirit is sending to us all the time.

Stories in sacred texts that tell of the negative emotions like anger coming from God are stories not truth.

When we decide, for whatever reason, to reject or ignore the Love that is offered to us, the result is bad feelings and bad behavior.

So there is no energy source that is evil or badness. There is just Love and a deficiency of Love. That’s how I account for bad behavior in all its forms. The same is true of the entire universe.

So, What To Do?

When our human self encounters bad behavior in any form, our human tendency is to respond in kind to punish the offender.

This person who just behaved badly did so because they have lost their connection to the Source of Love that is available. If I treat them badly in return, it will just fuel their belief that they don’t deserve that Love. I would be removing Love from a person who is already deficient.

It would be like trying to fix a cold room by bringing a big piece of dry ice into the room. We know in advance that it won’t work.

The person who is behaving badly needs to be reminded that they deserve to accept the Love that is available to them. There is an old biblical saying that is appropriate here. My version is:

Love the sinner, reject the behavior.

I am very clear that this is no easy task. I am still very much an amateur when it comes to responding to bad behavior with love. I get angry and want to strike back when I am hurt. It is my intention to wait until the contracted emotions pass before responding.

And be very clear, that I am not saying that you should condone or tolerate bad behavior from anyone, ever. But I believe that the goal is to separate the person from the behavior and treat them both appropriately.

Give yourself some time to calm down. Then, tell the person who offended you how you feel and that you will not tolerate that kind of behavior in the future. Tell them that you are clear that they are better than that.

The Hardest Case

When practicing this you may find that the hardest case is with yourself. You may think that because of the ‘bad’ things you have said and done, you don’t deserve to live a full, healthy, and happy life.

You may believe that you can’t possibly be accepted by God, much less be a part of God as I suggested earlier. But that is just trying to remove Love from a situation that is already deficient in Love. It can’t lead to a desirable result.

The idea is to remember that you are deeply Loved by Spirit. It has no anger or punishment to pass out.

Those contracted feelings are a human response to not feeling enough Love. We are short on love because we are have disconnected from the supply. And we disconnect because for some reason we believe that we don’t deserve it.

Bottom Line

The next time you behave poorly apologize to the person you may have hurt and promise yourself to learn from this mistake. Then love yourself for being a good person who just made a mistake.

Your comments are appreciated.