I don't know when I stopped believing in "evil", possibly around the time I discontinued the idea of "hell" for myself. At 40 the burden of other people's fears overwhelmed my ability to breathe. Gasping for breath I unloaded my pack mule and with a cautious lightened step headed in an unknown direction. Everything changed. My perceptions and viewpoints softened, illusions drifted to the side of the road, unfurreling and disappearing. The world became more real, the idea of a big red dude with horns seemed comical. Even the gargoyles looming from the turrets of Notre Dame were interesting pieces of architectural art not objects to fear. This process made my perception of life less prone to fictionalized stories and ultimately more interesting.
There are many fucked up people. They do seriously fucked up things, but I can't classify them as "evil" because to do so would limit my ability to accept that anyone can do anything.
Anyone can do anything.
People have an enormous capacity for love and an equal vat of hate. This may be unique to humans (though I know a terrier that can impersonate a flying monkey down to the bared grisly teeth), but it probably isn't. We aren't actually that amazing. Our DNA is ridiculously similar to every natural thing on the planet. An outdated perception may be the main problem of the current population cluttering the continents. There is a pervasive idea we are at the top of the food chain when in actuality the food chain isn't linear, it's circular.
Breathe for a moment I'm not trying to freak you out.
Every single living experience has the perception of a beginning (birth), and an end (death), which makes us think that most things are linear. They aren't. Most experiences are circular, encompassing the entirety of life. In this context I'm using "life" to signify all existence at a particular time on Earth.
What I do impacts indirectly and directly everyone I know and those I've never met.
People have the illogical assumption that if they speed on the highway, love their dog, beat their children, plant a tree, leave their wife, never get a job, shovel snow from their sidewalk or sleep all day it doesn't make a rats shit bit of difference in the grand scheme of everything.
Au contraire.
It ALL makes a king size rat shit bit of difference. If a tree stops leafing the animals residing in the branches have to move or die when the tree eventually thunders to the ground. Every single thing shifts the formation somewhere on the giant orb. This organism, Earth, has multiple parts; arms, butt cheeks, eyebrows and they are all necessary for the continuation of the experience.
This experience, yours and mine.
Which brings me back to the notion of "evil". Faced with unmentionable circumstances a human digs into their vat of history to choose a reaction. It's not that complicated. Sprinkle in some hormonal or chemical crazy dust (which can be found in all elements of DNA...I saw a two headed cow on the internet), add a tractor load of neglect or abuse and "evil" becomes ordinary.
A life form has choices, based on circumstances and perceptions those choices are made, rippling out in a cascading mass to the nether regions of the planet like a video gone viral. Awareness of this is the key to our survival ("our" being a collective term I do not use loosely). Knowing a choice has impact on the entirety of life may bring a shudder step to rash unconscious thinking and a boot in the ass when movement is vital. This doesn't mean to be frozen in terror before a decision.
It means, Pay Attention to the cause and effect of action or inaction.
Our communal vat is circular, inside are elements of ALL. To fantasize any aspect removes the ability to move forward as human beings precariously perched on an orb in a circular existence of everything.
Wake up, wake up, WAKE THE FUCK UP.
By the way, I don't believe in bad words either.
I plunk a pebble into the pond, watching the water until the ripples move out of sight.
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