A Wisdom Archive on Evil

Introduction and links to related topics

Evil - That which is bad, morally wrong, causing harm, pain, misery. In Western religions, evil is often thought of as a moral antagonism to God. This force is the source of sin and is attached to the soul from its inception.

Whereas, for Hindus, evil is not a conscious, dark force, such as Satan. It is situational rather than ontological, meaning it has its basis in relative conditions, not in ultimate reality. Evil (badness, corruption) springs from ignorance (avidya) and immaturity. Nor is one fighting with God when he is evil, and God is not standing in judgment. Within each soul, and not external to it, resides the principle of judgment of instinctive-intellectual actions. God, who is ever compassionate, blesses even the worst sinner, the most depraved asura, knowing that individual will one day emerge from lower consciousness into the light of love and understanding.

Hindus hold that evil, known in Sanskrit as papa, papman or dushta, is the result of unvirtuous acts (papa or adharma) caused by the instinctive-intellectual mind dominating and obscuring deeper, spiritual intelligence. (Note: both papa and papman are used as nouns and adjectives.) The evil-doer is viewed as a young soul, ignorant of the value of right thought, speech and action, unable to live in the world without becoming entangled in maya. -

intrinsic evil: Inherent, inborn badness. Some philosophies hold that man and the world are by nature imperfect, corrupt or evil. Hinduism holds, on the contrary, that there is no intrinsic evil, and the real nature of man is his divine, soul nature, which is goodness.
See: hell, karma, papa, Satan, sin.

Evil - Evil Good and evil are attributes of relativity in nature as cognized by the minds of percipient beings.

"Esoteric philosophy admits neither good nor evil per se as existing independently in nature. The cause for both is found, as regards the Kosmos, in the necessity of contraries or contrasts, and with respect to man, in his human nature, his ignorance and passions. There is no devil or the utterly depraved, as there are no Angels absolutely perfect, though there may be spirits of Light and of Darkness . . ." (SD 2:162).

Pythagorean philosophy regards the duad as evil, and the One as the only good; which symbolizes that manifested qualities are in pairs of opposites, so that contrast subsists not merely within the pair itself but also between the pair considered as a whole and the One which is superior to it. Since throughout nature we find such pairs of opposites, reconciled by a synthesizing unity, it follows that the words good and evil of necessity are used in a relative sense, and convey the notion of incompleteness as contrasted with an intuitively conceived perfection. We cannot suppose that things can be good or evil in themselves, except relatively, or even in their relations to other things.

Evil: - Primarily a Judeo-Christian concept which says that sin is doing that which is contrary to the will of God.

This doctrine treats evil as if it were an actual substance or being. It states that there is natural evil (floods, storms, famines, etc. ) and moral evil (adultery, murder, idolatry, etc. ).

Christians teach that natural evil is a result of moral evil - i. e. Adam''s sin. When Adam sinned, sin entered into the world allowing floods, storms, famines, etc. According to Christians evil originated with Satan and is carried on by man . (See Theodicy. )

Evil Spirits - Evil Spirits A vague expression, often applied by theological misinterpretation to the Fallen Angels -- the cosmic spirits who form or produce the lower worlds; or to the powers of the matter side of nature. Again, it may designate any of a numerous class of nonphysical beings, such as elementals, nature spirits, ghosts, or astral entities generated by human thoughts, all known in Christianity under the generalizing term Devil.

Daemon - A “supernatural” spirit or being in ancient Greek religion and philosophy, far below the Gods in power for good, evil or neutral purposes; probably the actual sort of “demon” conjured by Goetic magicians.

Asura - Asura (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root as to breathe)

A title frequently given to the hierarch or supreme spirit of our universe, as being the primal "Breather"; also a class of spiritual-intellectual beings. In Hinduism it commonly signifies elemental and evil gods or demons. "Primarily in the Rig-Veda, the ''Asuras'' are shown as spiritual divine beings; their etymology is derived from asu (breath), the ''Breath of God,'' and they mean the same as the Supreme Spirit or the Zoroastrian Ahura. It is later on, for purposes of theology and dogma, that they are shown issuing from Brahma''s thigh, and that their name began to be derived from a privative, and sura, god (solar deities), or not-a-god, and that they became the enemies of the gods" (SD 2:59).

Further, the asuras "are the sons of the primeval Creative Breath at the beginning of every new Maha Kalpa, or Manvantara; in the same rank as the Angels who had remained ''faithful.'' These were the allies of Soma (the parent of the Esoteric Wisdom) as against Brishaspati (representing ritualistic or ceremonial worship). Evidently they have been degraded in Space and Time into opposing powers or demons by the ceremonialists, on account of their rebellion against hypocrisy, sham-worship, and the dead-letter form" (SD 2:500).

Asura is employed with frequency in theosophical writings to signify the class of spiritual-intellectual beings called manasaputras, kumaras, or angishvattas. As a matter of fact, asuras, maruts, rudras, and daityas are but various ways of describing the intellectual gods or manasas, as contrasted with the as yet incompleted devas or suras.

Asura is used in the earliest Vedic literature as a title of the cosmic hierarch or supreme spirit. The Vedic Asura is nothing other than the Great Breath of archaic occult literature -- the Great Breath coming and going as manvantara and pralaya. The other Vedic gods mentioned so much more frequently in the slokas, such as Agni, Indra, and Varuna, are all subordinate hierarchically and cosmogonically to the Vedic Asura, which is really Brahman-pradhana or the Second Logos, Father-Mother; Varuna is the acme or summit of akasa-tattva; Agni is the summit or hierarch of cosmic taijasa-tattva; and Indra is often identified with Vayu as the summit of cosmic Vayu-tattva.

See also MAHASURA

Goat - Goat The animal and its horns were symbols of generation, regeneragtion, reproductive power, strength, and might. The Hebrew scapegoat, Azazel, was originally a Promethean figure, head of the six men-spirits (ishim) who came to instruct mankind. Its horns are seen on Pan, the Greek nature god; and on Capricorn, the goat-dolphin; etc. When the original meaning of the symbol was misunderstood, the goat was associated with evil -- the devil, witches'' sabbath, and the scapegoat.

See also AMELTHEIA; AZEZEL; BAPHOMET; HORNS (SD)

Mary Magdalene - Mary Magdalene A woman of Palestine, who had been a woman of low repute but who reformed and became a follower of Jesus. In the Gospels, however, she first appears in company with "certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities" (Luke 8:2), and it is specified that out of Mary in particular went seven devils. The women were all reputable apparently -- among them Joanna, wife of the royal steward -- and there is nothing in the text to indicate that the disorders were morally reprehensible.

The Pistis Sophia is a Gnostic work, and certain Gnostic schools were contemporaries of the primitive Christians and undoubtedly contributed heavily to primitive Christian belief. Here Mary Magdalene is one the twelve disciples, asking more questions than any one of the others, and making observations which called forth frequent commendation. Phrases like "And Jesus said, Well done, Mary" and "Jesus commended Mary" are numerous. The questions, many of them at least, appear to pertain to the highest Mysteries.

The following is a typical one: "Mary Magdalene came forward and . . . said unto Jesus: ''Bear with me O Master, and reveal unto us all the things which we seek out. Now therefore, Master, how is it that the First Mystery has Twelve Mysteries, where the Ineffable has One and only One Mystery?'' " (sec 237).

In section 231 we find the following as words of Jesus: "Wherefore I said unto you once on a time: ''In the Region where I shall be, my Twelve Servants (Diakonoi) shall also be with me, but Mary Magdalene and John the Virgin shall be the most exalted among my Disciples . . .'' "

Darkness - Darkness In theosophical philosophy light is not regarded as self-existent, but as primordially the spiritual effect of a spiritual cause, the emanation from something grander and more radical beyond it.

This unknown divine substratum, the original superspiritual intelligence-substance of the universe, is sometimes called darkness; likewise, it is spoken of as absolute light. Thus absolute light and absolute darkness are the same, so that manifested light sprang from unmanifested light or darkness.

Philosophically, non-ego -- which is freedom from the limitations of egoity and manifested particularities -- voidness, and darkness are a three-in-one, darkness being Father-Mother and light, their Son. Night or darkness preceded day and light in cosmogony, as is recognized in Genesis, where darkness broods over the face of the deep. The creation of light, or the emanation of light from darkness, is the first step in cosmic manifestation. Light thus is truly called original substance or spiritual matter; darkness, purest spirit. Synonymous with this darkness are ''eyn soph, the Boundless, the bridgeless abyss, the unmanifest, the ever-invisible robes of the eternal parent.

Light and darkness on manifested planes constitute a duality, correlative and interdependent, neither conceivable without the other. But what is darkness to our physical senses may be light to our inner senses.

Darkness is also used to denote the shadow side of things, and hence in popular speech evil as opposed to good, ignorance to knowledge.

See also DAWN; LIGHT; USHAS

Voodoo - (Or VOUDON; from Tovodun, the Dahomean gods.) The West African religion together with its transplanted form in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean and Gulf. It derives from Dahomey or Yoruban vodun, "god" or "spirit" and the chief spirits are Legba, Ogoun, Ghede and, in the new world, Baron Samedi, Piquant and Cimitère. Rites are said to involve serpent worship, sexual magic, cannibalism and corpses (see ZOMBIE). Another name for spirits, those that actually possess the worshippers, are the loa.

According to Michael Bertiaux, latterday priest or Hungan, Voodoo is not an evil religion and is much misunderstood. He heads La Couleuvre Noire, or modern "Black Serpent" Voodoo Cult working with the so-called "Ophidian Current" and "the leapers of the paths" on the other side of the Tree of Life. The latter practice is associated with Juju, another "modern" African religion.

Esoteric Voodoo is actually a highly practical procedure for leading us into making contact with our deepest levels of being and most ancient modes of consciousness, through the dark spirits of the universe that operate on the same frequencies.

Michael Bertiaux''s Voudon Gnostic Workbook is probably the most comprehensive and illuminating contemporary work on the subject, both from the practical and from the philosophical, mystical points of view. It ranges in mind from the basic desires of the most ignorant levels of society to the esoteric abstractions of the heights of untrammeled consciousness.