Let me clear my attitude towards people before i start on my subject of good and evil. I love individuals, i like individuals, i personally do not believe in the emotion of hatred towards individuals although i may not enjoy being with every individual and i absolutely despise hatred towards a random group of people or towards an individual due to his belonging to that group. Because i think it is illogical to judge individuals on the basis of their friends or family or community etc:
However, i have had a general hatred towards the human race as such and this hatred traces its origin to my belief that given the circumstances, every man would sin. It is his fear of society, it is his fear of punishment (in the form of threat against reputation, imprisonment, death.. anything and everything) that makes him portray himself a good man. And this is why man lives in harmony with all other humans. I always thought that that man who did not commit even a venial sin in circumstance favourable to his sin is a good man and that no such man existed. Hence, every man is evil in the true sense of the term. And then i thought to myself.. would I kill a baby for a private benefit of mine even if i had all the circumstances in the world in my favour? And my answer was a very clear NO! Nd m sure that most of humanity would have the same answer. And then there were other moments were I thought that even the sins I was tempted to commit could be prevented by myself by my self-control... but how strong is this self control? Does it work all the time? Does it work for everybody? So, are most people essentially good? Or are they all bad? A question that haunted me for a very long time was answered when I read a book THE DEVIL AND MISS PRYM by PAULO COELHO. It was an absolute eye-opener!!! It gave me the answer which I had so often passed by in my own heart but never accepted because I like every other man would believe only that which he wanted to believe. I had spun a hatred for the human race as a defence mechanism for the harshness the world has done against me and I like every other man would illogically come up with rational arguments to fight and place my propositions at the ne plus ultra of the so called theory of realisation. But this book took me to the empyrean, that is realisation. It helped me realise the truth which lay in myself for so long and then reminded me of a little something a friend once said:
“ you have so many questions. Do not keep asking them. The answers are within you and when it is time for you to realise them it will come to you. Until then you will pass by it every day but you will not see it.”
When I began reading this book, although I strongly believed in my hatred towards human race, I hoped that this book would prove me wrong and I would taste ecstasy in realising how beautiful the people around me are.. and how beautiful I am. However my rationality would not quit. I still went ahead with an open heart, i turned the pages, it kept me going forever and made me feel for a few moments that man is good and then it led me into believing or rather realising that man has both good and evil in him. Every man had Good an Evil struggling in him and in some Good wins over Evil and in some others Evil wins over Good. No man is forever Evil, nor is any man forever Good. He has Good and Evil in him at all times.. it is the external manifestation of either one that outweighs the other and it is this manifestation that men can individually control. Some are good at it.. some fail. It’s not their inherent smartness that brings some the success over Evil, its just that they get lucky a lot more than the rest. And it’s not their inherent evilness that brings some to manifest the devil in their actions it’s just that they got a little unlucky or were more foolish.
So, today i leave behind my hatred for the human race and i love them for being human.. for being vulnerable to both good and evil and for, if not at “all times” at least for most times overriding the evil. It might sound to some that such a silly truth as this had to be taught by a book. But, the truth that each of us long for is as different as our fingerprints and this was a truth that always baffled me.
I stand to correction and this is a personal view! Time may mature me and take me away from these ideas but as of today, I stand in this faith. I look forward to growing in thought and this definitely is a very important revelation for me. Read the book and you will know! J
go sleep, gal :)
ReplyDeletePeople are most creative hours before their annual exam they say, interesting read :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff Teza... :) I'm sure the Leonardo Da Vinci part impressed you most..
ReplyDelete@greeshma zzzz!!
ReplyDelete@jithin :p
@kirti tz actually d salt story dat caught me.. maybe coz i've heard d leo story a lotta times earlier. but thnx fr telln me abt d book! totally worth it!
Cohelo churns out what I call "romantic philosophy". This idea that we are all cosmic beings ingrained within the fabric of the universe, destined to find the glittering path to realization. I've read it, tried it, scrapped it.
ReplyDeleteThe TRUTH is that we are a sum of our actions and environment. Where we have been and what has happened to us mould us into what we are. A man lives by the morals laid out for him. Failure to do so doesn't necessarily have to result in some form of retribution and I refuse to believe all men live in fear of it.
The biggest issue I have is with the abandonment of rationality. To me, irrationality is a form of escapism. It's just something easier to do. Like riding a bike downhill instead up a slope. Perhaps rational decisions aren't the easiest or definitely not the ones closest to your heart, but they are backed by logic - and THAT I can understand!
I like the Good-Evil theorem, though I feel that we control not only external but internal manifestations of Evil. Isn't that control our 'conscience'?
Well, at least now you know why they call me what they call me... :-)
lol! okie.. i tink we'l agree to disagree then. :p
ReplyDeleteaccordin to me "awareness" does not necessarily require us to renounce rationalism. Awareness is realisation and there are very few men who have realised themselves and i have not had the privilege of meeting one yet.
There was a point in the book were paulo coelho earmarked rationalism as of being the activity undertaken in the left hand side of the brain where he claimed evil resides. I too would like to overlook so much of his philosophy. But then everything else he said need not be overlooked in the same way. I did find some rationality to his thought process from which i derived the Good-Evil theorem. :-) there definitely is a factor of conscience (the baby killing example). However, i feel conscience is not something within the control of man. it is beyond his powers to lose his conscience (the level of which may vary from person to person) or gain his conscience and i was still haunted by the feeling that in most other cases man would prefer to sin and it is this feeling that the book helped kill! nd m glad it did! :-) :-)
First of all im sorry for my bad english. Second this theory about the good/evil state of the person it's not true and it's a lie. I've not been living for a long time, but i have seen enoght of the world to know 1 thing. There is more evil than good, cause the path of the evil its much easier to take than the path of the good. What i want to share with all of you are those quotes that i have found trought my lifespam. I hope that can help to someone so they could never feel the lonelyness that i have felt, the sadness, the pain and the sorrow I have felt and still feeling...
ReplyDelete* A person who lives in the past doesn't have dreams for the future. A person who have lost everything in the past, even the hope its capable of everything.
* If the price of the freedom is truly to become a monster, my decision its to become a monster with wings and be free forever, than to be a creature caught by the claws of slavery