difference between good and evil

[loppoppy]

"Thinking deep is easy for me, yet thinking clearly is not. "
haha i totally get that.
erm yes, a spirited debate where both sides are emphasising their point, my favourite kind of discussion =).

"a different state of being entirely where thinking is not at all necessary (a state I've felt only for as long as I completely cleared my mind of all thoughtforms and accepted only the here and the now as reality)."
i know of this state, though i believed it was an incomplete state, only complete once enlightenment is attained. It's a special feeling, hopefully i can experience it totally one day =)

[Starvingpercussionist]

Some would call this state enlightenment itself, although I think of all enlightenment as a process. I believe that this state is simply having self awareness, body awareness, and environment awareness all at once permenantly. So it's really about being here, now, the way I see it.

[healixe]

there technially isnt good and evil but evil and netural.
there are people who do evil then be who do both.

but on another suject.
if the world was perfect it would be boring
and if it was evil we would destroy ourselves.
there is no perfect balance but both need to exist

[loppoppy]

little more good in the world wouldn't hurt...and it sure wouldn't bore me
a small example...knife crime in my area is the highest in the country or something close to that...and even though i'm not getting stabbed, if i'm ever about the town with my friends we face confrontation.

i would much rather go about the town with nothing going on rather then my life being threatened haha.
just because something is not bad does not mean it is boring, i rather enjoy peace, and i find fun without someone getting hurt much more satisfying.

it is true both are needed for us to exist...but this has nothing to do with if there was only evil we would destroy ourselves and if there was only good we would get bored...it is because if life was perfect it would be too easy, and we would not face the appropriate challenges we need to grow and learn about our selves. life would be great constantly, and we would not learn anything from it, life would be in a repetitive and motionless loop. And if it was all evil, we would not be able to grow from our experiences because we theres is so much bad going on it would be overwhelming and we would not be allowed to break free as there would be nothing to break free to.

these days evil and such seem to have the upperhand though...progress is difficult for me, and i take any good i can and indulge in it, bonding me to this material plane through desperation because that good is so rare to find i cling to it. not much of a balance goin on rele...sort tht out...

[Starvingpercussionist]

If evil is necessary, then why do we struggle against it?

[loppoppy]

because it is necessary for us to do so.
and more importantly because we choose to! Choice is a huge factor

come on now ur losing your touch =P that was almost too easy XD.

[Starvingpercussionist]

But why is evil necessary? What is the good that are we preserving from destruction by evil and for what purpose do we preserve it? Is it that innocence is the good, something that will be lost in time eventually, or is it that innocence reminds us of something else? What is the end that good aims towards? Is it perfection, or something else?

If good is something other than unconditional love, then why is it that good is vulnerable to evil? Is it because we have a choice to choose it or not, or because goodness itself is weak?

[loppoppy]

evil is necessary because without it we wouldn't be able to grow stronger and progress would stop.

"What is the good that we are preserving from destruction by evil and for what purpose do we preserve it?"

There are many questions like these. The answers would bring you a lot closer to the truth. The good is the resulting force created from a certain purpose, choice and perception of the self. We preserve it because only this force can move us in the direction we have to go. If we gave into evil we would be trapped as we are and even break down into lower forms of being.
The end that good aims towards is unknown, but we know in ourselves that there is something to move towards...and until we get there, we won't know what to do next. Is there even an end we are moving towards, or just something that is constantly growing or is unreachable?

good is as vulnerable to evil as evil is vulnerable to good. on a physical level people can be influenced by either very easily due to the choices they make.
good is not weak!
putting it in terms of light and dark:
no matter how much darkness surrounds the soul as long as there is a spec of light then the darkness can not win. Light and dark are both very powerful forces but work in different ways. Light may seem weak when compared to darkness, but that is just because it's power works in a different way to darkness.

sorry to put it like that, some people get all roudy when i use good and evil as light and dark...but u get my point.

[Starvingpercussionist]

Good answer. I consider good to be a new beginning, not an end in and of itself. If good is, as you say, "the resulting force created from a certain purpose, choice, and perception of the self" then what would be the  resulting force of a consciousness in a state of unconditional love? Unconditional love is not a thought, it is a lack of need for thoughts - something unimaginable, yet something possible for every human being to achieve. What you also say is very close to what I deduced, in that "good is as vulnerable to evil as evil is vulnerable to good" because of the fact that unconditional love can spread from consciousness to consciousness.

I think that we could grow much stronger and progress much farther actually if we had a base of unconditional love to build from (and towards greater expression of).

[loppoppy]

unconditional love is a choice, a perception of self and can be used to define a purpose, the resulting force is one of purity, truth and the ability to make a lot of things possible =). A force to be reckoned with to be sure =).
Any kind of love is not a thought, it is an emotion. Love is the closest emotion you can physically feel to what you are calling unconditional love, a very good label for that particular state if i do say so myself.

Very well said for the most part, i couldn't agree more.

[no_leaf_clover]

Poor Bush.... always being compared to such evil.  That doesn't sound like practicing love.  In your opinion, Bush causes pain..so why bash and not love?

It's obvious to me you still have strong feelings for the former president.

[Xanth]

There is no "good".
There is no "evil".
There is only a whole.

[Nameless]

Good old conversations sometimes just need another glance. Admittedly I have not read through every post so my answer goes as follows.

Difference Between Good and Evil?

Good makes you feel happy, content, satisfied = Loved

Evil makes you feel afraid, angry unsatisfied = Not Loved

Everything else is a matter of perception and how we get to one or the other. But more importantly it's how we get from fear to love.

[tides2dust]

If you'd like a nice read, the website is my daily inspiration:
Volume VII - In an Eastern Rose Garden
THE PRESENCE OF GOD

What is really good? The answer is, there is no such thing as good or evil. There is beauty. That which is beautiful, we call good. That which is ugly compared with the beautiful, we call evil: whether it is custom, idea, thought or action. This shows that this whole phenomenon of the universe is the phenomenon of beauty. Every soul has an inclination to admire beauty, to seek for beauty, to love beauty, and to develop beauty. Even God loves beauty.

In all ages the various religions have given different standards of good and evil, calling them virtue and sin. The virtue of one nation has been the sin of another. The virtue of the latter is the sin of the former. Travel as we may through the world, or read the histories and traditions of nations as we may, we shall still find that what one calls evil, another calls good. That is why no one can succeed in making a universal standard for good and evil. The discrimination between good and evil is in man's soul. Every man can judge that for himself, because in every man is the sense of admiration of beauty. But he is not satisfied with what he does himself, he feels a discomfort, a disgust with his own efforts. There are many people who continue some weakness or some mistake, or who are intoxicated by some action which the world calls evil or which they themselves call evil, yet go on doing it. But a day comes when they also are disgusted. Then they wish for suicide. There is no more happiness for them. Happiness only lies in thinking or doing that which one considers beautiful. Such an act becomes a virtue or goodness. That goodness is beauty.

What is beauty? One sees beauty of form, and beauty without form. Beauty of thought, beauty of feeling, beauty of ideal. Not only does one see beauty in flowers and fruit trees, but one sees still greater beauty in imaginations and thoughts. One feels one could give all one's wealth or life for a beautiful thought or a beautiful dream.

Full article,
https://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VII/VII_31.htm

[LightBeam]

The concept of "evil" is the product of developing personalities in the lower frequency realms of learning. It is lack of knowledge. It is a projection of our own believes and fears. We create it within our personal realities and en mass as collective consciousness. And one of our lessons to learn here is to recognize that. The natural state of the multiverse is joy and love. No need to battle evil. If we do, we are battling ourselves, because we are the originators of it. We are battling parts of our own selves. We observe of course that bad things happen here and exist. Yes that is true, but if we understand its origin, fear will be dissolve and on a personals level we will no longer encounter like events and interactions. We can continue observing what the rest of the world is experiencing, but it wont affect us much. We will understand that those who are affected by its presence have still to learn.

[omcasey]

Another perspective.

No matter who you are : evil is what opposes you. - you are evil to those your energy-and-activity opposes.

If the pattern works only one way it is not structurally sound.

Not whole. not balanced. not just.