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Nancy Garcia

Does Good & Evil Exist?



Some say good and bad depend on the era, culture or scenario. And because of that some say there is no such thing as good or bad. People say it depends on the perception. We can ask what is perception? But for now we'll stick to the question: Does good and evil exist?


A man murdering another man for his own pleasure is evil. Most would agree a firefighter helping a cat down from a tree is good. In obvious or extreme examples we can see the difference in things. These extremes can show us that good and evil exists. This is like burning hot and ice cold. It exists in all the obvious and not so obvious choices we make. However, there is a spectrum in between the extremes. The same goes for good and evil. This is why people say "choosing the lesser evil".


When life's basic needs are considered, the outright knowing when something is good or bad gets murky. The water also gets murky when our convenience is at stake. Comforts can tempt us to make decisions we know definitely harm others. And we can go into justification. We can go into denial. We can even have faith in our IGNORance. What's more evil? Is it worse to take action or go into inaction? Does my participation in something cause harm? And is not doing something to oppose a harm -like watching a harm being done- causing harm?


The belief that good and bad does not exist can be used as a way to excuse oneself of any responsibility. That line of thinking leads to sayings like this: "the end justifies the means." Thought forms like "the end justifies the means" lead to value being put on efficiency and productivity despite the cost. Thinking like that trickles down into all parts of society. It creates a dog eat dog type of world in small and big ways. It creates a survival of the fittest mentality. It creates a scarcity mindset. Instead of bringing ourselves up and those around us, we are too busy burning our focus on petty things that do not matter.


In the end you will see or not see the truth of good and evil’s existence. All you have to do is spend your time paying attention to the world around you. Use the following: “does this cause harm to others?" or "is this a voluntary decision?" as your measuring stick. And see if you can distinguish good and bad in the murky waters of society.


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