Evil

A 2008 Swedish film, Troubled Waters, frankly explores the concept of evil, goodness and atonement. I think the average American viewer would be astounded by it. There are neither all-bads nor all-goods in this film, despite its subject matter of child murder. 

The world is currently plagued with "moral crusaders". These include the bearded hoodlums of the Taliban as well as the Bible-interpreting hucksters of American mega-churches. However, we see that these crusaders have already lost their battle with their own evil from the start. They consciously exploit and subjugate their followers for their own power and profit. Their core evil is hypocrisy.

Conformist morality is overrated and ever-changing. The nuclear family, a current conservative icon, has become increasingly dysfunctional in the face of social change. It has been eroded by the hypocrisy of superficially monogamous, sexist marriages which eventually end in divorce. The single parent, once scorned as somehow morally inferior, is common. Life goes on. The world has not fallen into chaos, as many Bible-thumping zealots had predicted. 

With the advancement of science and the tortuous decline of religion, it is becoming clear that secular ethics are an improvement over dogmatic religious prescriptions. Civil and criminal law trump faith and cultural tradition in societies which are less violent and more generally prosperous. There is a greater understanding that evil is really a disease state which any person can develop when subjected to violence, psychological abuse and/or extreme poverty. Once driven sufficiently mad with negative conditioning, some people cannot come back from a state of self-fueling violence, hatred and aggression.

None of us is all good or all evil. However, it is naive to believe that every form of evil can be overcome with simple kindness and love. As with other human disease processes, there are degrees of rehabilitation which often require expert help. There is no pill for personal evil. However, the practice of intentional good action, good speech and good thoughts, based in equanimity and generosity, is one method for overcoming the capacity for evil which resides within each of us.