Why there is evil and what is evil

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kurtykurt42

What exactly do you mean by dualists?

zareste

this is another one of those moments when a dictionary is useful

kurtykurt42

The term 'dualism' has a variety of uses in the history of thought. In general, the idea is that, for some particular domain, there are two fundamental kinds or categories of things or principles. In theology, for example a 'dualist' is someone who believes that Good and Evil are independent and more or less equal forces in the world.
examples: male and female, light and dark, active and passive, motion and stillness, good and evil.

Dualism contrasts with monism, which is the theory that there is only one fundamental kind, category of thing or principle.

According to monism, there can be no dualism existing in any corner of our universe. There is only one power that is overriding, and that power is God. According to the scriptural evidence, there is only one power that is omnipotent, not two. Thus, any doctrine of dualism which contends that there are two equal powers opposing each other (good and evil) is a false doctrine.

So, I'm guessing you are a monist?


no_leaf_clover

It isn't a matter of whether you "are" one philosophy or another.  They are all perfectly correct in their own right.  They simply offer different perspectives.

"Good" and "evil,"  I still say no such thing.  "Entropy" is a physics concept and the closest thing to real "evil" that exists.  The opposite of entropy in physics would therefore be "good," but no such thing technically exists.  It would be the equivalent of intelligent life forces at work (in fact the only thing which defies entropy), which science has yet to consider in any of its calculations.

But everything IS one.  This is a realization, not a philosophy.  It is true whether you realize it or not.  Yes, you can see things as two different things, or three, or four, or infinitely many different separate parts.  But ultimately everything came from one thing, or everything "came from" nothing but IS one thing all together.  When science says it's looking for "grand unification," they're talking about this "one" that spawns all else simply by its existence.  In their case, a formula, but what they are really looking for will never be simplified into a formula.


What I would like to see though is discussion on how you all determine what you consider to be "good" or "bad," which is really just defining your purpose here.
What is the sound of no leaves cloving?

Yamabushi

Quote from: no_leaf_clover on September 28, 2009, 04:52:22
It isn't a matter of whether you "are" one philosophy or another.  They are all perfectly correct in their own right.  They simply offer different perspectives.

"Good" and "evil,"  I still say no such thing.  "Entropy" is a physics concept and the closest thing to real "evil" that exists.  The opposite of entropy in physics would therefore be "good," but no such thing technically exists.  It would be the equivalent of intelligent life forces at work (in fact the only thing which defies entropy), which science has yet to consider in any of its calculations.

Schroedinger once said he thought human beings fed off "negative entropy" (the good entropy). He got a lot of flak for that though.

Stookie

What no_leaf_clover is getting at is that we all have different standards as to what good and evil is. Most people base their morals in what they perceive to be good and evil, whether that perception is right or wrong. I think that war is a good example of this difference in perception and morals.

no_leaf_clover

Let me try to explain what entropy is in physics,  so that we may consider its opposite and what about it resembles common notions of "good."


Entropy is...

A loss of energy to the environment,
A loss of information (another kind of energy), or in other words dis-organizing something, scrambling it up.
The cause of inefficiencies in all machines for any purpose.
(Also, not scientifically, a lack of awareness!)


Before these things are considered "bad," though, it is the cause of separation, splitting things apart from divine inherent potential (union), into individual existences and experiences.  Thus "carving" space from the infinite energy source to make creation appear within it.  You would not exist if not for entropy creating voids.


So the opposite of entropy would be,

Gaining energy from the environment,
Gathering or re-creating information,
The reason and mechanism by which all machines are created in the first place.  (Entropy does not create machines that minimize work, rather it inflates the amount of work to be done)
The increase of awareness.


Gathering, organizing and using energy from the environment is basically what all of our technology does, and basically what humans do in order to continue to live.  To lose energy, organization and awareness is to increase suffering and eventually die.
What is the sound of no leaves cloving?

Alan McDougall

Quote from: no_leaf_clover on September 25, 2009, 16:22:36
Nothing, because there is nothing to either "good" or "bad" in the first place.

Quote that to the victims of the Holocaust evil like good is a aweful reality of every day life
Take Care

Alan

no_leaf_clover

a Holocaust survivor
a toddler who's had a toy taken from him
a man reading an internet page who is offended by seeing such a comparison
I can't control what any of these people think or feel, but I can control my own feelings.

Everyone knows many people talk the talk with philosophy, but rarely implement their beliefs to the full extent to their own lives.  Ie they partake in behaviors, ways of thinking and feeling, that seem to be at odds with the philosophy or belief system they profess to embody.  I cannot say that I am not such a person myself, and I would readily admit I have much work to do with various parts of my spiritual process.  But I still stand by my words 100% that there is no such thing as evil.  Or good.  In the ultimate sense.  There is pain,  but there are no hard rules how you much experience or interpret your feeling of pain.  There are evolutionary, biological, inherited implications of how you should interpret pain, but still no rules that you can't rewire your brain to handle.  There is no good in suffering, that I'm sure we can agree upon.  All I am saying is that there are many different ways to interpret and interact with the reality all around you, and many different levels which we can operate on.
What is the sound of no leaves cloving?