Beauty and Evil

A simple seeker was meditating on something that St. Augustine was supposed to have said, that all evil has a reason.

“You seem to have difficulty accepting that reality, chela.”

“Reason sounds so overly deliberate and intentional.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Intention sounds predetermined.”

“And, deliberate?”

“Perhaps in the heat of the moment.”

“As a reaction rather than as a response?”

“Yes.”

“And, intentional?”

“Either way, it would have to have had a pre-existing cause?”

“Yes.”

“But, a cause is not a justification, but just something that came before.”

“Wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Wrong.”

“Please explain.”

“The number two comes before three, in simple number progression, but it doesn’t cause three.”

“Three is just the next number following two?”

“Yes.”

“What has that to do with evil?”

“Everything.”

“How?”

“Evil is a consciously, intentional, and extreme form of violence.”

“That explanation seems to separate the evil deed from the doer of the evil deed.”

“One is not the other.”

“One who bakes is considered to be a baker.”

“Regardless of the quality of her baking?”

“Doers of evil are not all the same?”

“Exactly. And, what is seen in the eyes of some as evil, may be considered by others to be a necessary or expedient means to further an end that may, or may not, in itself be considered to be evil.”

“The means doesn’t necessarily measure the quality or value of the end result?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a sad situation.”

“Yes.”

……….

A simple seeker’s note to herself

I don’t feel comfortable with the idea that “all evil has a reason,” even if St Augustine said it, if he did.

“What’s your problem?”

“If all evil ..”

“Yes, and all good.”

“Yes, but some might do good because it’s in their nature to do good.”

“Yes, but they’ve developed that inclination or intention, over time.”

“So, couldn’t a doer of evil ..”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Doers of evil haven’t yet learned that evil doesn’t pay. They’ll suffer personally from their evil deeds more than any they harm, until they develop a higher level of consciousness.”

“And they will?”

“And they will.”

……….

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