posted August 27, 2012 05:24 PM            

So, I ask what constitutes evil?

Views on the nature of evil tend to fall into one of four opposed camps:

Moral absolutism holds that good and evil are fixed concepts established by a deity or deities, nature, morality, common sense, or some other source.

Amoralism claims that good and evil are meaningless, that there is no moral ingredient in nature.

Moral relativism holds that standards of good and evil are only products of local culture, custom, or prejudice.

Moral universalism is the attempt to find a compromise between the absolutist sense of morality, and the relativist view; universalism claims that morality is only flexible to a degree, and that what is truly good or evil can be determined by examining what is commonly considered to be evil amongst all humans.

A prominent psychiatrist, M. Scott Peck, characterizes evil as a malignant type of self-righteousness which results in a projection of evil onto selected specific innocent victims (often children or other people in relatively powerless positions). Peck considers those he calls evil to be attempting to escape and hide from their own conscience (through self deception) and views this as being quite distinct from the apparent absence of conscience evident in sociopaths.

According to Peck, an evil person

Is consistently self-deceiving, with the intent of avoiding guilt and maintaining a self-image of perfection

Deceives others as a consequence of their own self-deception

Projects his or her evils and sins onto very specific targets, scapegoating others while appearing normal with everyone else ("their insensitivity toward him was selective")

Commonly hates with the pretense of love, for the purposes of self-deception as much as deception of others

Abuses political (emotional) power ("the imposition of one's will upon others by overt or covert coercion")

Maintains a high level of respectability and lies incessantly in order to do so

Is consistent in his or her sins. Evil persons are characterized not so much by the magnitude of their sins, but by their consistency (of destructiveness)

Is unable to think from the viewpoint of their victim

Has a covert intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury

Does your concept of evil fit an above catagory or would you define it differently? How do you recognise it?
Is Peck on target or too simplified?

note, I thought Peck`s use of "sins" odd or rather not fitting the subject.

(if this fits SPITR more aptly,send it over.)

posted August 27, 2012 06:03 PM            

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Passion, Lust, Desire. Check out my journal

posted August 27, 2012 07:24 PM            

It's when the mass of the people believe in the tree of good and evil and limitation when nothing exists but perfection, purity, love, and freedom.

It's when people have forgotten what they are, and why they are here.

It's when you use your consciousness and will for everything that doesn't represent the light of God and the love of the Mother.

It's when a life stream is completely focused on human will, completely devoid of divine will.

It's when we don't know we are creator beings, having created hell on earth.

It's only experienced on Earth, and is something we have created to be as truth. When you 'die' there is no hell, but only the planes of bliss; Heaven.

It's when people are born into slavery and don't even realize it. This is the most horrific act of evil. When the people are blind to what it is they are creating.

It's the people of Earth being asleep, having forgotten they are one with all of creation, having gotten lost in the small things, runing our planet in the process.

posted August 28, 2012 12:14 AM            

Evil is a human construct for examining behavior, it is merely a perception of someone with an opposing view in relation to what they deem "Good"

Very few Nazi's considered themselves evil. Had they won the war they would have been hero's in their culture's eyes, with none to say otherwise, no opposing perceptions -nods-

posted August 28, 2012 04:50 AM            

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quote:

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Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.

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posted August 28, 2012 09:20 AM            

Charm, good idea and sending it over