Evil - A Milieu?

Evil – A Milieu?

The world is a beautiful place to live in. The essence of the words of a celebrated ancient Tamil poet-saint goes to say that being born as a human being is a rare blessing. Human life, according to several religious teachings, is the crest of creation. The Christian religious scripture even goes to the extent of saying that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God.
Turning to the other side of the coin, we also need to understand that troubles and struggles are essential parts of human life. Suffering is an undeniable part of human existence. According to Acharya Vineeth, the guruji of Vidyavanam Ashram, Bangalore, “Suffering is the conscious awareness of disorder.” Disorder in the universal rta (rhythm) is what we experience as cosmic disorder or simply ‘evil’, which seems a part of every plausible human situation.
Now how do we reconcile both the aforementioned statements: ‘World is a beautiful place to live in.’ and ‘Evil seems a part of every conceivable human situation.’ Great religions and philosophies – oriental and occidental – have been trying to find a solution to this dilemma. We shall not dare claim to provide a solution here. Yet it would be our endeavour, in whatever small way possible, to eke out a justification for the existence of evil. I do admit the possibility of being looked down upon. The fact that this is an existential predicament relevant to any age gives us the right to try and go down fighting.
Absence of light is what we understand as darkness. We can see sources of light like the sun, candle, incandescent bulb, LEDs, fluorescent tubes and the like; meanwhile it would be a difficult prospect to find the source of darkness. Hence we could possibly say that darkness is nothing but mere nonexistence or dearth of light. Applying the same logic, we could perhaps claim that evil is the absence of goodness, supposing that goodness is the opposite of evil (Certainly, we are ready to concede space to detractors!).
But, the ‘million-dollar question’ of ‘Why evil?’ remains unanswered. We could rephrase the question: Is the existence of evil justified? Of course, this question has a few limitations laid upon the main issue in question. The mite of the humble seeker…!
Commonplace understanding dictates that it is only a person drowning can value air the best. Only a thirsty gazelle can truly appreciate a draught of water. That one who has suffered hunger is able to truly appreciate a mouthful of food. A person who has been living alone away from home can recognize the value of home and its heart-warming security. One could go on.
Light shines out only in darkness. Virtue shines out when surrounded by vice. We call your imagination to take us all to a world of virtue where there is no vice whatsoever. How monotonous and bleak would that life be! Abhorrence of the villainous cunning of Iago brings us closer to the virtuous Othello. The disgusting hypocrisy and deceit of the elder sisters – Goneril and Regan – endears the younger sister Cordelia to the readers.
In most of the films by Indian directors, with which we are much familiar, the hero is raised to superhuman heights of every possible virtue juxtaposing his persona against the character of the villain which is shown as the nadir of human possibilities. The excerpts from a poem by Annie Johnson Flint, we believe, is contextual here:
God has not promised
Skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways,
All our lives through.

God has not promised
Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.

God has not promised
That we shall not know
Toil and temptation,
Trouble and woe.

God has not promised
Smooth roads and wide,
Swift easy travel,
Needing no guide.

But God has promised…
Strength for the day, Rest for the labour,
Light for the way, Grace for the trials,
Help from above, Unfailing sympathy,
Undying love!

Co-existence, rather the pro-existence, of apparent contradictions is the order of the day. The Author of creation apparently sees such a possibility which adds to the charms of what is considered good and desirable in nature, especially human nature! Can this be a possible justification for the simultaneous existence of good and evil – evil providing a milieu for virtue or goodness to shine forth? Let the debate continue…