Dear Friends,
It seems to me, a fundamental difference between good and evil is that good is a force for creation while evil is a force for destruction. We see this paradigm all over. Often we lack the ability to define what we see as evil though we understand it in our hearts. This is because evil often couches itself as good. The true test, however, is to ask, “is this creative or destructive?” If something is creative then it is good and if it is destructive it is bad. Put another way, things that are good increase the stock of human goods, while evil destroys the cache of human goods. This is a way to discern them, when the good is called evil and evil is called good. Often, those with nefarious intent will claim we must destroy the evil, so the good can flourish. Pol Pot was of this type.
What about destroying evil? Wouldn’t that be good? That question revolves around, if evil is capable of eliminating evil. The question of discernment of evil set aside for a moment. Fire is destructive and if fire is used to fight fire, the strategy is to consume the fuel in as non-destructive a way as possible to starve the real fire. The fuel is consumed either way. In this we can see that it is a destructive mechanism. It destroys as efficiently as the original fire. The best that can be said is that a prescribed forest fire might limit the damage of an out of control forest fire. In either case, we have a forest on fire. Trying to destroy evil, then, is often the best way to usher in new and deeper evil. How many “people’s revolutions” have resulted in despotism? Most, I would wager.
The urge to limit creation is born of darkness. By darkness I mean the base human emotions, pride, gluttony, lust, indolence, envy, greed, and wrath. The glutton is a black hole of hunger. The prideful can’t tolerate a diminishment of their luster. The lustful seek material elation at cost to others. The lazy are ashamed of the diligent. The envious can’t stand anyone else getting ahead. Meanwhile, the greedy want it all to themselves. Lastly, wrath reduces everything it touches to ash. These dark emotions lead to destruction for their own purposes. This is why abortion must be legal, to allow the lustful to have their way. Billions in fraud disappear, for the gluttons and the greedy. Regulations and taxes drag on those trying to get ahead, to satisfy the envious. Laziness is itself destructive.
The urge to build is born of light. The light are represented by emotions and actions such as humility, delayed gratification, self-control, diligence, thankfulness, charity, and forgiveness. These emotions lead to creations that benefit all of mankind. To build a house it takes diligence, self-control, delayed gratification, thankfulness and a large dose of forgiveness. I have built several houses and so I know this from firsthand knowledge. Those homes now house people who had nothing to do with their creation, yet they are housed, and others will be until they are destroyed. Charity builds safety nets. Thankfulness creates connection. Self-control makes one strong. The ability to delay gratification makes a person wealthy. Then there’s humility, the king of virtues. It builds character.
We all understand some things are evil though we struggle to put a finger on why. This idea allows us to distinguish good from evil and why it is evil or good. War is universally understood as evil. This is because it is destruction. Dion removed the tyrant of Syracuse, only to be killed and a worse despotism took its place. Timoleon later removed that evil by building coalitions and systems to make it counter-productive. The US founding was an act of creation, not destruction, while the French Revolution was pure destruction. From this, we can see that destruction typically results in more evil, while creation results in good. Creating a family, a home, a community, friendships, a prosperous culture, well raised children, a civil society, etc. these are examples of goodness, destroying them is evil.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
