Satan, is red, has a pitch fork, pointed tail and horns. Ask a child to represent evil and this is likely one answer received. Discussions of good and evil often revolve around highly honed perceptions of good versus evil. “Good and evil are not figments of the mind or the subjective creations of men; they are inherent in creation.” (Kinneging 256) Concepts of good and evil conform to absolute perception in western cultural philosophy. Buddhist philosophy has a different perception concerning good and evil.
Buddhist philosophy illustrates the path to an enlightened soul using the Bhavacakra, or “Wheel of Life”, a representation of saṃsāra, or the cyclic existence. The center of this wheel contains the “Roots of Evil” - represented by a cock, a snake and a pig. The “Three Poisons” corrupt man from within. The cock represents desire, the snake hatred and the pig delusion or ignorance. While these three poisons are the root of human bondage and misery, it is delusion that drives the wheel.
No meaningful discussion of good or evil in Buddhism can be undertaken without a summary understanding of karma. Buddhist philosophy teaches karma as a “creation” based on intentional acts of body, speech and mind, and that man is affected by the karma he creates. “When we plant a seed – an act, a statement, or a thought – it will eventually produce a fruit, which will ripen and fall to the ground and perpetuate more of the same.” (Makransky 334) This is to say that the “fruit” (creation of karma) results from care of the tree or as commonly mentioned in Buddhism; what a man does is what happens to him.
Western philosophy might argue that desire, hatred and delusion are not the roots of evil. It could be argued: “For the love of money is the r...
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...ally principled core. Through exacting application of the three trainings, corporate managers will recognize and understand undesirable mental states that produce suffering for their customers, employees and shareholders.
Works Cited
Kinneging, Andreas. The Geography of Good and Evil. Translated: Ineke Hardy. Wilmington:
ISI Books, 2011. 256. Print.
Makransky, John. "Buddhist perspectives on truth in other religions: past and
present." Theological Studies 64.2 (2003): 334+. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
Kaza, Stephanie. The Vision of Dhamma. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2005. 24. Print.
Palmo, Tenzin. Reflections on a mountain lake: A Western Nun Talks on Practical Buddhism.
1st ed. Crows Nest: Snow Lion Publications, 2002. 43. eBook.
Thera, Nyanaponika. The Vision of Dhamma. 2. Onalaska: BPS Pariyatti Editions, 1994. 122.
Print.
Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.
“Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It's a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other” (Eric Burdon). People do not think they are doing good or evil, they just think that they are doing the right thing. Evil comes from within each one of us. You just need to something to bring it out.
It is often said that money is the root of all evil. The Robber Barons of the late 19th century proved this theory without fail. They showed that greed can overtake morals if the conditions are right. It
The article I picked to show the evil in the world today was about a man named Abner Louima. This man was arrested in 1997 and is suing the state of New York for being beaten in a restroom in the station while being questioned. The sole witness Conelle Lugg, 19, he heard loud screaming and banging noises against the wall of the bathroom while he was in his cell, he then saw a police officer push Louima into a cell pants down and blood rushing out of his open wounds. The officer then proceeded to tell Louima to get on his knees. After all this Lugg said, that Louima fell to the floor and screamed in pain and begged to be taken to a hospital.
What is good and evil and where did it come from? Everything in the world was created from the one God. The God theory infused all things in the world and that live beyond it. From this viewpoint good and evil both derived from the God law. They have both lived since the construction of the world. Yet, evil was in a dormant form at that juncture. Evil is in our mind, not inside our aspiring heart (http://www.srichinmoy.org/spirituality/spirituality/good_and_evil).
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (Lewis, 1994, p. 91). Throughout history man has had to struggle with the problem of evil. It is one of the greatest problems of the world. Unquestionably, there is no greater challenge to man’s faith then the existence of evil and a suffering world. The problem can be stated simply: If God is an all-knowing and all-loving God, how can He allow evil? If God is so good, how can He allow such bad things to happen?Why does He allow bad things to happen to good people? These are fundamental questions that many Christians and non-Christians set out to answer.
In the writing Why We Crave Horror by Stephen King he states several reason to why we crave to watch Horror in our life. In the movies Misery by Stephen King and The Doll directed by Dan Curtis, I will explore the reasons Why We Crave Horror written by King and confirm two of the points with examples from the movies. Additionally, I will explore the parallel relationship between the two movies.
The short stories 'The Lottery' and 'The Possibility of Evil' by Shirley Jackson expose the wickedness of human nature. Shirley Jackson displays that human beings have immorality lurking within them, and that immorality is a driving force that causes people to find enjoyment and pleasure out of the evil and horrid things found in life. Shirley Jackson shows evil in a way that most readers wouldn't expect. The evil in her stories do not come from a super villain; the evil portrayed in her stories lie within all her characters. Her writing implies that everyone is capable of acting evil; it is a part of human nature.
“…And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-13) As it says in the Bible, we wish to be led astray from evil. However, evil is a very curious subject. For most intensive purposes, evil can be described as cruel, heinous, and unnecessary punishment. Evil is a relatively accepted concept in the world today, although it is not completely understood. Evil is supposedly all around us, and at all times. It is more often than not associated with a figure we deem Satan. Satan is said to be a fallen angel, at one point God’s favorite. Supposedly Satan tries to spite God by influencing our choices, and therefore our lives. However, this presents a problem: The Problem of Evil. This argues against the existence of God. Can God and evil coexist?
My claim that we have evil in this world because of our libertarian freedom does not fully answer the notion of “the problem of evil”. Saying we have evil in this world is just like saying we have bad decisions in this world. Bad decisions just like evil do not have a form. Every decision that God makes is a good decision therefore God cannot do evil. Human beings initiated evil. In fact, the first human beings (Adam and Eve) gave ongoing birth to evil because everyone ultimately came from them. So everyone after Adam and Eve is inherently evil. This idea is evident in our lives because every human being has committed evil. The ultimate problem is not how an all-powerful God can exist while evil exist, the ultimate dilemma is how a holy God can accept human beings that are not holy. Stephen T. Davis in “Free Will and Evil” writes, “All the moral evil that exists in the world is due to the choices of free moral agents whom God created” (Davis). Davis argues that free will is the answer to the problem of evil. This is consistent with my view that evil exists because of our libertarian freedom. Unlike Hick, Davis is consistent with my answer for evil and he is also consistent with how evil is solved in regards to heaven and hell. Davis states, “I do believe hell exists, but I do not hold that it is a place where protesting people are led against their will to be tortured vengefully. I believe that the people who will end up separated from God freely choose hell and would be unhappy in God’s presence. Having lived their lives apart from God, they will choose eternally—to go on doing so. So it is not a bad thing that they do not spend eternity in the presence of God. People who will prove to be incorrigibly evil will never come to th...
The following analysis deals with the nature and source of evil and whether, given our innate motives and moral obligation, we willingly choose to succumb to our desires or are slaves of our passion. From this argument, I intend to show that our human nature requires that we play into our desires in order to affirm our free will. This is not to say that our desires are necessarily evil, but quite the opposite. In some sense, whatever people actually want has some relative value to them, and that all wanted things contain some good. But given that there are so many such goods and a whole spectrum of varying arrangements among them, that there is no way we can conceive anything as embodying an overall good just because it is to some degree wanted by one or a group of persons. In this light, there arises conflict which can only be resolved by a priority system defined by a code, maybe of moral foundations, which allows us to analyze the complexities of human motivation. I do not intend to set down the boundaries of such a notion, nor do I want to answer whether it benefits one to lead a morally good life, but rather want to find out how the constructs of good and evil affect our freedom to choose.
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being.
In the story, The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson, has an upcoming theme of judging others can lead to bad karma. Miss Strangeworth is so bored of her perfect life, she rudely judges others. Even if she is narcissistic she tells others what to do more often. As her actions settle down, consequences rise up. In conclusion, the theme to The Possibility of Evil is judging others can lead to bad
of evil, and Hell’s Satan as a creature seemingly capable of good. At every moment, good
“Money is number and numbers never end if it takes money to be happy your search for happiness will never end.” (Bob Marley). For the majority of people in our modern-capitalist world, money is the first thing, and sometimes the only thing that measures success in life. Money can buy power. Money can buy fame. Money can buy time. Sometimes money can even buy a life. So money has become the first common goal for everybody. There are many different perspectives, and how people view the world, in terms of success, and money. Money is not the root of all evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil.