by Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:10 am
salve
So far I know, the ancient Greeks accepted that there is evil in the world, mostly man-made, sometimes produced by supernatural elements like kako-daimones like the Lamiai or Medusa, etc....
A man once said that the greatest evil is done with good intentions. It's easier to blame your wrongdoings on something supernatural than on yourself.
The last several centuries, evil is associated with chaos, complete lack of good of the ability to feel any remorse whatsoever. A perfect example is how evil is portrayed in fiction: novels, movies, tv, comics.
At its core, all those "evil" characters exist for one thing: to do harm, to do evil by hurting others or trying to destroy everything on their path. Most of the time, they know what they are doing is evil and love doing it because of it. What these characters have in common is that they are one-dimensional at best. It's based on the concept that evil exist only to destroy everything that is good and decent, a concept Christians call the devil and Zoroastrians call Ahriman. Every monotheistic , especially abrahamistic faiths have their version of evil which seems to be the direct opposite of their supreme deity.
I think the ancient Greeks and perhaps the Romans as well, knew that mankind was able to good things and bad things at the same time. Just as the gods were both good and evil. Apollon heals the sick, but sends plagues as well to the Greeks during the Trojan war. Ares is the god of war, but he is out to rescue Thanatos from Sisyfos when the latter captures Thanatos and holds him prison, preventing anyone from dying.
I think that the evil in the world lies not within the actions alone, but more in the intentions of what they are trying to accomplish and how they perceive the world, reality to be.
Afterall, Hitler wasn't just a monster alone, he was human. He could feel pain, remorse (possibly, don't know that for sure), love, happiness, etc...
Still Epicurus does have a point. If God is able to stop evil, than why doesn't he? If he's willing to prevent evil, than why doesn't he?
I don't think it is a question of whether he is able to stop or prevent and/ or willing to do so. I think it has to do with the concept of free will. If we all have free wil to do and say what we want, than it isn't God's fault of anyone elses besides our own for the very evil we inflict upon the world.
It isn't anymore of God's fault than to blame him for a lethal animal attack that has killed a human being.
Couple of years ago, I saw a video of a man in Africa being attacked and killed by lions in front of several people, including his family, only after he steps out of the car wanting to take snapshots of the animals. No one could protect him from the animals and yet he did step out and ignore the warnings. No god can be blamed for this kind of stupidity, neither for the actions of any human beings. It's like blaming God for all the wrongdoings of the Catholic church or the evil the religious extremists inflict upon the world?
I don't think we will ever outgrown or evolve to the point where we stop being who we are and what we are. We are human, another form of life, of animal life that like anything else has the capacity to do both good and evil. Just look at how we treat our world and it's inhabitants.
Anyway, that's my point of view on it.
vale
Quintus
Quintus Aurelius Orcus
Rector ColRel
Rogator
Princeps gentis Aureliae