I really enjoy the concept of the supernatural. The idea that there are things out there that are just beyond our comprehension is somewhat appealing to me. In a way it gives me a bit of comfort to know that there is more to life than just what we're presented. Maybe those in charge don't have all the answers. Maybe science, which is quickly becoming the new religion, can't explain everything out there. There is mystery left in the universe and maybe there always will be. There is a flip side to that comfort though. In the vast ocean of space and time there must be things out there in the darkness that we would consider to be evil. In thirteen billion years there must have been things that have come before us. Things that we couldn't comprehend. The motivations of these things would seem evil to us. However, if you think about it, our actions would seem evil to an ant when we destroy their homes and lives for our own benefit or just because we can.
Before we get into that there is question regarding people. There are really two schools of thought on the nature of humanity. The first is that people are basically good, who want to do good, but occasionally do bad things. The other is that people are essentially bad, who do whatever benefits them most or what they feel they can get away with without consequence, but occasionally do good things. Maybe it's possible that everyone is one or the other, but there is most likely an overlap between the two. There is an ever-present argument about nature vs nurture. Some believe that people are simply products of their environments. Others feels that most behavior is innate and that we're born with certain predilections for evil. Of course with anything there are exceptions that prove the rule and exceptions to every exception. Not everyone who experiences sexual abuse perpetuates the cycle of violence so it's not always easy to identify where the root of evil comes from. I do believe that give a person enough horrific experiences they're going to adapt to those situations to a point where that's all they know. Their response to those experiences can be equally horrifying, but for that person it's all they can think to do in order to survive. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Then maybe evil is also.
The idea of evil can be somewhat subjective even though people often have a pretty black and white notion of how things are supposed to be classified. Killing a baby; probably evil. Torturing a puppy; most likely done with evil intent. Genocide; unquestionably evil? Taken out of context just about anything can be misconstrued. The people performing genocide may not think what they're doing is evil. In their mind they may believe they're purifying the world. Several religious groups have attempted it and at the time they were doing what they thought was right, even if their methods were brutal. The Serbians and Albanians have been in a centuries old conflict with each other. I'm guessing both sides see the other as the evil one. Both sides have done horrific things to each other, some as revenge for past aggressions. If given the opportunity to permanently remove the other side, it's very likely they would take it, regardless of the cost. In that situation is any one side in the right or is the whole thing just blanketed in evil? If someone killed a family member of yours would it be considered evil to burn down their house in retaliation? What if you found out that your family member had stolen from them in the first place? There is a saying that violence begets violence and in that evil must predicate more evil.
If you're like me, then you like to eat meat. I eat meat because it's delicious and more or less good for you. We were given canine teeth for a reason and it wasn't for just tearing into a piece of broccoli. When I eat a steak I don't feel that I'm doing anything wrong. For me it's a necessary part of my diet so that I can survive. Could I get mostly the same nutrients from somewhere else? Maybe, but I don't want to. A strict Hindu may see my actions as evil because I'm consuming a sacred animal for my own benefit. Even a vegan could look at my diet and say that I'm evil for putting my life above another living creature when we both deserve to live on this planet without harm. Now while I don't agree with either assessment of my choice of food, I do understand how it could appear to someone else. It goes back to the point that evil may be tied directly to perception and might not be an absolute. Is evil simply a concept used to classify actions based on how we specifically feel about them?
Going back to the beginning though, one has to wonder about the things that are out in the world, things that we don't fully understand, which could be seen as being evil. Many religions have some figurative concept of evil such as the Devil, which could be just a representation of human sin or opposition to God. In many cases there is this idea that there is malevolent being working to spread evil for the sake of evil. Maybe both theories are partially correct. As I mentioned, evil may only be question of perception of the act. If you were brought into a world that only knew evil then would it be possible for you to see something that is good as being the opposite of your sense of right and wrong?
There are plenty of entertaining stories out there about people fighting evil. It's pretty common in movies, television shows, and books for characters to face off against some great evil. The demon hunters have been fighting monsters for four seasons, eventually the battle has been ratcheted up to a point where fighting a rogue yeti just isn't going to hold the audience's attention any longer. So they're put up against something larger, such as Lucifer himself. Of course the stars of the show are going to somehow win. It doesn't matter that Satan has been around since before creation, these two plucky anti-heroes will manage to beat him back to hell. Since it's a piece of fiction we accept it, depending on how well it's written. If you think about it though it borders on the unbelievable though. Something that was ancient before the Earth was even formed would have millenniums of experience that we couldn't even grasp. How is someone with roughly twenty five years of life going to sort out how to outfox something like that?
If there are things like that in the world then they've probably been here long before we arrived and will be here well after we've shut off the lights. There is some good news though. If evil exists then good also exists out there. Both could just be ideas we use to describe its impact on the world around it. Or they could exist as something more and something we will always wonder about. That can't be a bad thing.
