Radical Good and Evil
Let's call a spade a spade
"Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil." - Albert Schweitzer, 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
This is one of the hardest posts I’ve ever written.
First, because “Good” and “Evil” are words that the post-Enlightenment, non-religious world has declared taboo, and with which I, as a product of that liberal educational and spiritual system, have struggled. And secondly, because of that struggle and questioning my own beliefs, I have come to an understanding that shocks me. It might also shock you.
Every spiritual and religious tradition throughout history has separated the world into some concept of Good and Evil. You can call it God/Adonai/Allah and Satan in the Abrahamics, Moksha and Dukkha in the Hindu/Buddhist traditions, or any number of “good” deities or forces and “evil” deities or forces in the Indigenous traditions. Even Jungian psychology makes a distinction through the mythic interpretations of the Hero’s Journey to vanquish the Forces of Darkness (either within self or outside) and other archetypal stories.
You could argue that at their root, all traditions say that in the Absolute, there is no distinction: It’s all good, or at least, “Not Two.” But we don’t live in the Absolute. We live in the Relative, and here in the Relative, there is no getting around duality. There are things we call Good, and things that aren’t.
This is a foundational moral distinction, and it’s an important one. By defining the boundary between what is Good and it’s opposite, we derive a moral or ethical code that outlines behavior that is acceptable, admirable and aspirational, and what is not. Moral values might exist on a spectrum, but at the far end of that spectrum lie things we should consider “Evil,” but, in the post-modern world, we don’t.
Instead, we have created intellectual categories that both redefine and justify these beliefs or behaviors. We call them Trauma, Oppression, Injustice, Resistance, Zionism, Antisemitism, Colonialism, Capitalism, Poverty, Bad Parenting, or any number of other psycho-social-political concepts. We decide these are our new evils, and anything opposing them is deemed Good and Right, often going so far as to excuse those who perpetrate real Evil in the name of those “evils” or giving a free pass because they are “victims” of these psycho-social-political “evils.” It’s like saying it’s OK or justified to be a rapist because you were the victim of sexual assault as a child. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but in today’s convoluted moral universe, they often do.
This kind of mind-numbing, inverted, word-game denial is not just in the academic or socio-political world: in much of modern “feel-good” spirituality, we deny Evil exists through spiritual by-pass, claiming that “it’s all good,” or some other mental gymnastic that Dostoevsky decried when he said, “Without God, everything is permitted.”
It’s as if we are deathly allergic to the word, Evil. These days, we can’t even use that word without being called some kind of crazy fundamentalist (unless applied to those hard intellectual socio-political categories, in which case we stand righteous). But I want to argue that, in fact, there is such thing as real Evil, and we need to start calling it what it is. Deflecting, denying, justifying or soft-pedaling it does us no good: we simply keep moving the bar, so anything – and everything – falls somewhere on the spectrum from acceptable to good. Tolerance taken to the extreme means anything goes.
As a result, we are drowning in the quicksand of moral relativism, calling that which, by any other definition, would be considered vice, virtue. While a certain moral flexibility has expanded our lives from a strictly repressive and orthodox view for the better, the “Both/And” of inclusion and empathy is not the same thing as “It’s all good.”
By not calling real Evil what it is, we end up with things like Holocaust denial, rape denial, and the celebration of violence in the name of Resistance. We end up blaming the victims of Evil instead of facing the Evil head on. We end up with a convicted rapist who claims he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, while celebrating hateful groups as “very fine people,” as President of the United States.
I actually believe that even if we live in the Relative, there are Absolutes. Call me extreme. Call me a fundamentalist, but I believe that there are some fundamental, universal, moral laws that make us human (and divine), and violating those laws constitutes what I would call Evil. I don’t claim that they derive from a judgmental deity (and I’m not saying you go to Hell for breaking them), but they are actual principles of the Universe in which we live. When we break them, we live in Hell right here, right now. Look around.
In today’s world, that’s a radical statement, but I am not alone. Every one of our faith and wisdom traditions says the same thing. There are certain specific things that deserve to be called “Evil:” Sexually molesting children; rape; torture; the wanton destruction of our environment; intentional murder. Celebration or glee over any of those. Those are the absolute basics, and that’s why all of our faith and wisdom traditions – even non-theistic ones - have prohibited them. Many of the precepts or commandments specifically say, “Don’t do these things.” (there are a few others I could name as well).
Most of us would agree that those things are worthy of being called, “Evil.” And yet, here we are in the modern world, equivocating, excusing, or worse, condoning or even celebrating them. I’m sorry, but there is and should be NO excuse for these things. Period. And if you are one of those people calling for or celebrating the murder of others, the cancellation or decimation of a nation, or the destruction of our environment, denying the reality of rape, justifying torture, or engaging in child porn or sex-trafficking or abuse, you need to look pretty hard at yourself. I might go so far as to say when you look in the mirror, you are looking at the face of Evil.
Without doubt, there are things that are sometimes muddied (and, in some cases culturally defined), and the line isn’t always clear, but in many cases, it is. It is Black and White. The Good is life-affirming, and Evil is anything that purposefully goes against the live-affirming force of the Divine. Evil is anything that intentionally denies the sanctity of each being and the given right of all beings to thrive for no other reason than one’s own selfish belief or benefit.
On the flip side, however, we can’t just call anything we don’t like “Evil.” Not all political ideologies or economic systems, while sometimes unjust, are Evil. For example, our government’s new tariff policies – though completely wacky and damaging – don’t classify as Evil, but deporting people in the middle of the night to inhumane “prisons” in El Salvador (or now Libya?!) probably counts. Students protesting aren’t Evil, even if they are sometimes misguided and out-of-line, though threats and physical harm to others, or celebrating the intentional destruction or death of a group of people or their country crosses the line. War is inherently bad, and often results in some of the behaviors we call Evil, but is it always Evil? Is there such a thing as a Just War? Was war to defeat the Nazis Just or Evil?
By the same token, we cannot excuse one Evil in favor of another, quantify Evil in terms of body counts, or hold one group of people or nation to an impossible moral standard that we don’t apply to others or ourselves. Evil is evil, no matter who perpetrates it. No true Evil is any more legitimate than another; there is no “lesser evil” when it comes to that which intentionally denies or destroys life.
I realize that in the warm, fuzzy world of modern spirituality, the intellectually “nuanced” ivory tower, or the outrage-fueled streets of social activism, I am taking a stand that might have me excommunicated. And I might even be pissing some of you off. But, when I find myself waking up each morning in deep grief, sadness, and anger because many of those around me and my own country are guilty of this kind of unhinged moral relativism and confusion that, in some cases, actually endangers me and people and places I love, I need to call it out for what it is.
(Case in point: my local synagogue was recently vandalized with graffiti saying, “Nuke the Jews.” Local protestors publicly supported and celebrated that act and its intent. Where is the line? Sorry, but for me, that’s getting pretty close. Dangerously close. That’s already vandalism and Hate Speech (not Free Speech) and is illegal. For a reason. That’s where ideology becomes fundamentalism. Celebrating hate crosses the line into Evil. It’s a very slippery slope. And it terrifies me. If that were followed up with violent action, say, burning the synagogue or physically harming its worshipers, we would be unmistakably in the realm of Evil. Things like that have already happened here and elsewhere, and sadly, more might come. )
This attitude surprises me as much as it might surprise you, but I think it’s time we stop equivocating and call a spade a spade. We can’t be afraid to call something that violates the universal moral laws of life, Evil. Here’s why: when we draw the line and objectively identify something as Evil, then we have an obligation to do something about it. If we call ourselves spiritual, that obligation means doing what we can to support life, repair the world, bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, or end the cycle of suffering and work towards a better world for all. All.
The first step is to look carefully at ourselves and see if we are contributing to it in any way. Are we blindly or gleefully supporting causes or leaders that are perpetrating Evil? Are we calling for harm to others in the name of some righteous, academic, socio-political theory or religious belief? Are we guilty of that spineless moral relativism that blurs the lines and inverts right and wrong, or justifies or prioritizes one Evil over another? Are we demanding something Evil to eradicate something or someone else we call Evil? We have to be willing to look at even our own cherished beliefs or ideals, probe them, and disavow them…even if that means being accused of heresy or betrayal by our friends or family. We have to take a moral stand.
And then, of course, the question is how we change it. I am not a fan of the language of war – fight, conquer, defeat – but how do we return to a mindset in which we don’t tolerate, condone or celebrate Evil? How do we root it out, call it out, and through love, support and heal those who are its true victims, and help reform those who perpetrate it?
Our faith and wisdom traditions all had prescriptions for how we can to rid our world – and ourselves - of Evil. Obviously, some of those aren’t applicable or tolerable today, but their lessons remain: Sanctify life. Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. Alleviate suffering. Love and care for each other and the world around us. Build communities that uphold those values and transform those that do not.
But, if we continue in this muddied morass of moral relativism or don’t make the hard distinction between Good and Evil, do our best to turn towards the Good and help others do the same, then our world is doomed. Point blank, we end up in a Nietzschean nightmare where the unthinkable eventually becomes tolerable, then acceptable, then legal, then praised, where, as Frank Turek said, “love becomes no better than murder.”
We are dangerously close to that precipice, now, here in this country and around the world, and if we can’t get out of this moral quagmire, we will go over the cliff. It may be radical, and it may be unpopular, but we need to see things for what they are, call them what they are, and do what we can to stop ourselves and others from letting Evil become banal, or even worse…celebrated.
"Moral relativism has a reputation for being compassionate, caring and humane, but it is an extremely useful philosophy for tyrants." ~ Peter Kreeft
Thnkbyou Lauryn 🙏💜 I hope you have a Happy Mother's Day.