Evil and the Intelligent Universe

We must look at evil from a new paradigm to understand it—the old paradigm of seeing good and evil as absolutes no longer works. Humans are much too complex for that. The new perspective centers on an intelligent, creative, and evolving universe. The fundamental value of the new paradigm is evolution.

The New Paradigm

The universe itself has evolved through many stages. It has gone from different forms of matter to different forms of life, leading up to humans, the first species who can evolve themselves. Previously when a life form stopped serving its evolutionary function, the universe cast it on the scrap heap. Humans, even with the ability to evolve themselves, are in danger of being tossed on that same scrap heap.

So, what constitutes good in this new paradigm? For humans, it means anything that promotes the evolution of the individual, the collective, the earth, and the universe. They are all intertwined. What then constitutes evil? Anything that blocks or hinders that evolutionary path.

Nietzsche’s View

Nietzsche made this point, when he said,

“What is good? – All that heightens the feelings of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is bad? – All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness? – The feeling that power increases – that a resistance is overcome.”

Of course, we can look at this statement in different ways. For my purposes, when Nietzsche says, “heightens the feelings of power,” I take that to mean the power to overcome the doubts, fears, and ignorance that keeps us from growing. Weakness is our inability to overcome these obstacles. Happiness occurs when we work through them.

Where Does Evil Come From?

If we look at the world from this perspective, we can see where “evil” comes from, and by evil, I mean the violence, hatred, homophobia, sexism, racism, nationalism, fundamentalism, and so on. It’s all the result of individuals stuck in an evolutionary rut.

As a result, all those natural uplifting feelings that accompany growth and development get sublimated and transformed into hatred and violence.

We can see it in the wars, and the growing possibility of nuclear conflict. We can also see it in the treatment of immigrants, the gross economic inequality, and, worst of all, climate change.

With all the warnings about climate change, why isn’t the planet on red alert? Why aren’t we putting aside our petty differences to come together to solve this global threat before it ends us? It’s because we can’t get over ourselves; as Nietzsche says, we are weak. We lack the power to overcome our egoic desires.

These wars, which both sides justify as right and good, supersede the threat to the planet from climate change. So, instead of putting our differences aside, if only temporarily, to deal with the global threat of climate change, we ignore it, busying ourselves with warfighting, continued weapons making, and other destructive but money-making endeavors.

Climate change is the universe’s last attempt to wake us up. We need to evolve into humans who are run more by their higher than their lower selves.

Our Evolutionary Constipation

So, all this mess in the world, individually and collectively, results from evolutionary constipation. We are at an evolutionary dead-end with our modern worldview that tells us we are separate from the universe, the planet, the environment, each other, and most importantly, ourselves. We don’t know who we are. We are lost. Unbeknownst to us, our deepest selves are interconnected with everything, but since we have lost touch with that part of ourselves,

“we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” as Einstein famously said.

Socrates’ View

So beyond this, what is evil? I agree with Socrates’ statement that “evil is ignorance” and “virtue is wisdom.” Ignorance of who we are and why we are here. Socrates believed no one knowing does evil because we always act in what we think at the moment is in our best self-interest.

If we are ignorant, we don’t know what is in our best self-interest, so we usually act for the immediate reward, ignoring its long-term consequences. However, if we are wise, we look at both the short-term and the long-term effects to make more intelligent choices. The more we know ourselves, the smarter we are and the better choices we make.

In short, nobody is evil per se; we are just ignorant of who we are and what will truly benefit us. We long to do what is right, but we don’t know what that is. We often mistake short-term gains for long-term good.

Jesus Agrees with Socrates

Jesus agreed that evil is ignorance when he said on the cross,

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

He didn’t say they were evil; he said to forgive them because they were ignorant. They didn’t know. As the humorist Art Buchwald, now deceased, once said,

“There are no bad people; there are just good people doing bad things.”

If we apply this to the world, we can see good people doing bad things. Everybody thinks what they are doing is right. Nobody thinks I’m doing this because I’m a badass and love doing evil for evil’s sake.

If someone does say that, then it’s because they think they get some benefit from it. They like being considered badass. Usually, that is until they get caught, and their fantasy dies. But I digress.

So, what happens when a person gets stuck in an evolutionary cul-de-sac? We just need to look around us to see the devastation, and it will only worsen if we don’t wake up.

Shiva, the God of Destruction, Agrees

In Hindu mythology, Shiva is the god of destruction whose purpose is to destroy ideas, worldviews, systems, structures, and so on that no longer serve a purpose. Shiva can appear to people as loving and supportive or as ominous and terrifying. What’s the difference?

When we live authentic lives, in other words, carrying out the evolutionary urge of the universe, then Shiva will take on more benevolent and supportive appearances. However, if we live inauthentic lives, in other words, out of step with our true natures, Shiva will take on increasingly darker forms to shake us out of our stupor. It’s the spiritual version of “scared straight.”

Summing Up

So, evil is the result of not evolving. It’s a denial of the evolutionary urge. The natural good and healthy feelings we are born with get suppressed and metastasize into something nasty.

Unfortunately, instead of looking inside for the cause of our hatred, we look outside for people to blame for our miserable lives. We then create all kinds of schemes to get back at them, and this keeps us from looking at the actual cause of our problems, ourselves.

Changing our worldview to this new perspective of an intelligent, evolving universe is critical. The universe has the answers to our problems, both individually and collectively. We need to go inside and immerse ourselves in its still silence. That’s where wisdom bubbles up.

To learn more about the Intelligence and Magic of the Universe: Click this link: The Magical Universe