I don’t believe in the concept of good versus evil, although recent tragic and disturbing events may make others assume I’m terribly misguided in my thought process. In my humble opinion, the Universe is not good, nor evil. It just is. Its been around for (best guess to date) approximately 13.8 billion years. Planets, stars, solar systems, and galaxies have come and gone during this time. Earth has been here about 4.5 billion years, a mere baby in the grand scheme of things within the universe. We won’t be here forever. That is not good, nor bad. It just is. It is reality. It can be no other way.
Dinosaurs roamed this planet we call home up to about 66 million years ago, give or take. A catastrophic event – asteroid, volcanic activity, whatever – doomed the dinosaurs to extinction for the most part. That catastrophic event was neither good, nor evil. It just was. Okay, perhaps from the dinosaur’s point of view it was evil. From humankind’s point of view, however, it was good. We wouldn’t be here now, having this discussion, if that event had not happened. This planet would be very different indeed.
Catastrophic events happen. Hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, blizzards, you name it. They happen all the time, and they kill. They are not good, nor evil. They just are. This is reality. It’s what happens in the Universe we live in, in this galaxy called the Milky Way, in this solar system, circling this sun, on this very small, insignificant planet amongst trillions and trillions of other small insignificant planets. Stuff happens. Reality. Nothing more, nothing less.
Good and evil therefore, are concepts created by humans. They don’t exist in nature, but they do exist in our minds. When someone attacks, abuses, or kills another human, we believe them to be evil, unless we’re able to find a way to justify their actions. For instance, it was wartime, it was self-defense, it was to save a child or animal, it was done in God’s name. But really, no excuse is necessary because whatever that person does is not good, nor evil. It just is. It is reality. If it happened, it can’t be right or wrong. If good and evil don’t exist anywhere else in the Universe, they cannot possibly exist here, and only here.
We are part of this Universe, created by whatever force created it. I believe we are here to experience this form of life in all its aspects, with the ultimate result being the addition of our knowledge to the Universal knowledge pool which has been filled with all the knowledge by all those who came before us (humans and animals, and what we would term “alien” life forms), and all who will follow. Because energy can neither be created nor destroyed, we have been, we are, and we shall be. We may not like another’s path in this life, we may find it to be abhorrent in many ways, but it is their path. Even with the premise that there is no good vs. evil we, as a civilized society, have enacted laws and formed police forces in an effort to stop those who choose to harm to others. Hopefully their path does not cross ours. If it does, it was meant to be, and then we must find ways to rationalize and deal with the results of that encounter. Reality is. It can be nothing else. And wishing that were not the case changes nothing. We need to expand our viewpoint to one worthy of a child of the Universe. We need to know and understand that our personal lives must be lived within the confines of our own moral compass. We are all star stuff and it is all good. It has to be.
~ jwb ~