I have always believed in the goodness of human beings, and always fought those who claim that some of us are just purely evil. We usually like to demonize each other, which is something that comes out of us because of our fear on ourselves rather than hatred for those who we don’t know much.
While goodness is my perception of people, I am not naive to ignore our capability of committing the most of evil we can imagine. Sometimes evil hits me hard on my face, it shakes my believes, and makes me wonder whether what I have always believed in is not totally right.
In “The Devil and Miss Prym” Paulo Coelho explores the goodness and evilness in humans. Like most of his novels. He gives a compelling story with a lot of wisdom.
What really stopped me is the talk about Devils’ origin in Chinese philosophy. According to them, devils are made of human souls which experienced evil.
It does make big sense.
I have always percieved people who do evil to be the ones who experienced evil the most. I wouldn’t label them as devils because they are reacting to their own pain not acting out of nothing. It seems that only those who are in pain that can inflict pain on others.
Another concept that Paulo represented in this book is a way for people to let go of their pain. When we are hurt, we feel bitter and injustice. We keep the pain in our hearts, and feel it is our right to hurt others in order to take our own revenge of life (God).
Paulo suggests when you address God and asking him for forgivness for the list of sins you have committed, you should build another list for the sins committed upon you by God and forgive him from your side for the injustice you felt inflicted on you.
Bad people are in pain. Their pain are not clear to us. It is only manifested in their actions. When you find someone hurting another one, you can see clearly that he is in pain himself. It is a good sign for people who can help to address those in pain and try to heal them with love.
People are good. When you feel injustice, let it go. Don’t let your own experience with evil blind you and turn you into a devil. No matter how much pain you inflict on others, it won’t erase the feeling of injustice you have inside of you. It can only go by your own well of letting it go.
Fadi Zaghmout فادي زغموت 
I do actually believe that humans are inheritly good beings, but the goodness is often lost by the person being exposed to evil, and the person transforms feelings into evil actions.I think the percentage of goodness is a person is highly dependent on genetic and social/cultural factors. What may be defines as a good person in one culture may be evil in another.
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true Fadi,, even the worst human being has something good inside somewhere, and if one works on that part, it can grow to balance out the hardened part of the heart but it can’t be done with one’s individual initiative,, bidha therapy. but you should get one to admit that he/she need help first. the real real problem is when you do wrong and hurt others and you are convinced you are totally right or even people still owe you
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You know where is the big irony; we all pray for the same God and ask him for forgivness,yet,we also ask the same Go to grant us the power to inflict pain on one another.Do you see the contradiction!
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Kj, I agree with you. I think genes and environment affects the goodness in us. Tala, I agree with you as well, no matter how bad a person seems to be, you can find a good heart inside of him. Anonymous, yeah, I see it! We can be so selfish sometimes! 🙂
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Despite the limitless benefits of being a good person, some evil is necessary to help us survive and defend ourselves. A simple example is how cavemen used traps and tricks to hunt animals for food. again, I believe its all about balance. Evil & Good are inseparable Yin Yangs.
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I get to be the dissenter again. 🙂I believe people are inherently selfish and greedy, and will do what ever it takes to get what they want at the expense of any others.I see lots of good in people, but even then, why are they doing/being good? To get what they want? to keep away from punishment? Is it ever the highest value of someone else, putting their own needs aside, that motivates? Yet even then, it is easy to love the best of people, knowing what is in their heart. That’s God’s love, unconditional. This bent toward self-worship keeps us from worshiping and trusting God. It keeps us independent of Him , from seeking His heart and will. For me as a Christian, I go back to the tenants of our faith…Christ gave his life to cover our sin, guilt and shame, and reconcile us to a holy God. The ultimate example of selfless love.I don’t believe God needs to be forgiven. He deserves to be thanked for knowing our inner heart and not giving us what we truly deserve. We generally don’t turn to God when things are going well, we only turn to him in pain. Pain is the gift nobody wants, but is the tutor to relationship with him.Do I blame God that my father was an alcoholic abuser? No, I blame my father…but I also forgive him as Christ Jesus forgave me. I see now, that my abuse was used for good so that I can reach other women in pain with the same healing I received. Had I not gone through what I did, I would have remained a shallow, self-focused individual with not much of value to add to the world.
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Hamza, I am not sure if there is a balance or not between good and evil, maybe in the world, but in people I believe that they are mainly good unless their goodness is tarneshed by evil. Kinzi, it is good that you disagree so that we can discuss it.I am sure that those who see the bigger picture wouldn’t feel bitter or feel injustice for what happens to them in their lives. Like what happened to you with your father. Maybe at some point you felt injustice and bitterness. Maybe you couldn’t forgive God back then, maybe your pain pushed you to hurt others as well. After a while, you grew up. Remember the other day’s post about how pain is a way for us to grow up. I bet that the pain that you went through forced you to grow in a way others who didn’t endure that pain didn’t grow. Forgiving God doesn’t mean that he has been mistaken towards you. It means that you get rid of the negative feelings created within yourself out of the evil you endured. As for the main issue of people being essentially good or bad. I believe that selfishness and greedy can be a good traits. It doesn’t make one bad if he knows how to take care of himself and ask for more. What is bad is being only selfish, and over the top greedy, which happens when a person is subjected to a kind of evil that pushes him in a self protecting mode. I believe that there are a lot of atheists in this world that do good because they are good, not because they want something from God which they don’t believe in. People are good, and so are you 🙂
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Hmm are we talking about evil as in sin, wrong doing that do have a justification a reasoning even if it was a valid one ? I don’t really see that as evil since its usually a reaction to something…Evil in my eyes is you are walking in the street you see a person for the first time and you kill him. no reason no justification but for the act itself. As for god and demons, why does it matter ? isn’t it just easier to blame our wrong doings on the devil in us and our right choices to god’s guidance. There is pure evil in this world, and its not really prone to therapy since usually that involves identifying a cause. There is also pure good. tying those to religion and higher power is really just saying that before a region was hit with religion they were evil (kinda sounds like how history is portrayed from a religious point of view) which is not true at all.As for asking for forgiveness, why is it done ? isn’t the act of you forgiving your self and recognizing what you did enough? does god have to be notified every time, wouldn’t he already know about it since thats the plan he set out for you ? Am developing a bad habit of answering questions with more questions 😦 EnJoy!
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No_angel, man, you speak different language :). I mean it is one thing to speak with a spiritual tongue and another thing to speak with a scientific logic tongue, although sometimes I find it very nice to try to mingle between them and connect the lines. I guess that asking for forgiveness is not meant to be truely asking for it. It just means as you stated that you are aware of your mistake and admitting it. Evil is always a reaction to something. There is no pure evil in this world. At least, I myself, don’t believe in its existance. Maybe that is the core of my whole post. To say that people are good, and the evil they do, it out of their hands. Those words can be an outer effect to initiate a change in people who do evil because of their pain. Healing can be by letting it go. Forgive life/God and you would be healed. Kj, lol. You are good man 🙂
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We need to agree on the definition of evil, since its a vague concept and everyone has his own interpretation.Anyways, I personally think that everyone acts in the way they see as good. Everyone does what he believes is good, and doesn’t do what he believes is bad.But as KJ pointed out, <>“What may be defines as a good person in one culture may be evil in another”<>. The same goes for individuals, not all people see the good and the bad from the same perspective. Thats why we might think that others are doing evil. They would be doing what evil in our own judgment.When people refer to something as bad, they usually refer to the common view. No person would ever do anything that he *honestly* believes is bad. If a person lies, then in his own mind, lying is good; If a person steals then in his own mind, stealing is good; And so on….
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hehe speak in different tongues (hmm i could never bring my self to do that kinda “tongues” speaking :P) anyways when you talk about evil there is always a religious tone to it, and a psychological tone too so thats where the logic and spirituality comes from i think. as for specific examples of what i consider pure evil.charles manson: tho there was abuse in his case H.H. Holmes : had no reason or justification reallyAndrei Chikatilo, iceman kuklinskithose are just a few i can think of or find 😀 ENJOY
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Devil’s mind, this is the first time that I really feel I can correct you 🙂 😛I mean that if people don’t do what they consider to be evil, then no one would feel guilty of what he did. There are people who know that what they do is evil, and they insist on doing it because it makes them feel better. Maybe they think it is the right thing to do interms of achieving justice for themselves, but they know that it is an evil thing to do as well. No_angel, I have no idea about the men in the examples you stated, but I think that there is always a reason for evil, if it isnt clear, it is hidden. I am not saying it to justify it, but to understand it.
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Most people “fake” guilt!! Not everyone who claims to regret his action in genuine in his claims…If someone later regrets his past actions based on new experiences, or in general, new information, this does not deny that at least AT THE TIME they committed the action, they believed it to be good.If someone claims that he knows that something is wrong, yet he does it, then he’s bluffing!!
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Also, don’t expect a liar to tell you that lying is good. A liar would lie to cover his tracks!!
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Devil’s mind, some people may lie about their guilt, but some other do really feel guilt when they do evil. I guess that we don’t agree on this one.
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in the right time 😀
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