What is the root of all evil?

[Baby Steps]

its a construct by the goodies to remind them who they are not.So an anvil for source to form awareness from gowing soul. yes, its just a phase really

[Violet]

Hybris

(link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris)

[greybeard]

One word covers a multitude of so called evil--EGO.
c

[Michi]

Well, alright - I have seen a lot of different views you have of what "evil" may consist of. Perhaps the title is a bit off the center of what I would like to impart:
Let's say you are part of a council or committee who should give a practical solution on how to achieve universal peace with joy for everyone.
(Or even just our own planet.)

What would be your advice?
Wouldn't it start with ethics and responsibility?

The handling should be something down-to-earth. (pun intended)

[joeecho]

Posted by Sam Hunter (here)
anything anti-life

Anti-life = Dead

Dead = Nonexistent

So if evil is nonexistent, why do we perceive/ experience it?

Hmmmmmm

There has to be a 'story' there somewhere.

[joeecho]

Posted by devplan (here)

The handling should be something down-to-earth. (pun intended)

Attempting to handle it gets ones hands dirty. (pun intended)

Hint: Ever notice that you never hear the term 'up-to-earth'?

It's up-to-us to get down-to-earth. Mission accomplish!

[Michelle Marie]

We are responsible for our own actions.

We can respond with love as individuals.

We have self Authority. Not authority over others.

Others do not have authority over us unless we allow it.

We are One in spirit, yet we are responsible to direct our own energy field.

No ambiguity; just clarity.
Hope this helps.
MM

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Look within.

Trust the light of Truth.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Posted by joeecho (here)

Posted by Sam Hunter (here)
anything anti-life

Anti-life = Dead

Dead = Nonexistent

So if evil is nonexistent, why do we perceive/ experience it?

Hmmmmmm

There has to be a 'story' there somewhere.

Anti-life is not dead. It is potential unrealized. ....another perspective.

[Innocent Warrior]

Posted by TargeT (here)
Judgement is the root of all evil.

If you don't judge it to be evil, is it?

Hamlet:
What have you, my good friends, deserv'd at the hands of
Fortune, that she sends you to prison hither?

Guildenstern:
Prison, my lord?

Hamlet:
Denmark's a prison.

Rosencrantz:
Then is the world one.

Hamlet:
A goodly one, in which there are many confines, wards, and
dungeons, Denmark being one o' th' worst.

Rosencrantz:
We think not so, my lord.

Hamlet:
Why then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or
bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.

~ William Shakespeare

[Anchor]

I strongly suspect that "good" and "evil" are illusions set up to enable something to happen and so that our lives can be an endless stream of choices.

Most people would agree evil conditions are undesirable, good conditions are desirable - yet these are still relative terms, and even working within this limitation can we even say what is the root of this evil? Love of self before others? Love of money (as in the bible)? Abstaining from thought and acting on rash impulse, driven by base instincts? The love of power?

I think the OP has it right - how to improve is by taking responsibility for the outcomes of all your choices. Mindfully.

We are the product of one decision after another.

However taking those decisions responsibility and choosing wisely requires wisdom and knowledge. Then there is the way of those that say, "not my will but thine", referring to the will of whatever it is that you conceive as that creator entity that we are all a part of and that connects us all - for these ones such as these there is no error and all is done under love of the creator.

Perhaps we judge an outcome as "good" and "evil", but in our ignorance we might judge something is wrong - when in the larger scheme of things it is not. For example: the destruction wrought by a huge forest fire might look "evil" particularly if people and flora and fauna perish in large numbers, only to find after the passage of time that what comes after is better than what was before.

I thinks the best we can do is keep making the best choices we can with the light available to us at the moment and perhaps go lightly on that judging part.

[Baby Steps]

[QUOTE=devplan;1054513]Well, alright - I have seen a lot of different views you have of what "evil" may consist of. Perhaps the title is a bit off the center of what I would like to impart:
Let's say you are part of a council or committee who should give a practical solution on how to achieve universal peace with joy for everyone.
(Or even just our own planet.)



we are in duality so the darkness is within us, as gandhi said, that battle is the important one. but 99% of people here just want to live in peace, prosper and bring up their kids. if their aspirations were honoured in society we would have peace. so beyond the personal balancing of dark, there is a societal challenge.


i see it as a discernment issue, like we as a society have a parasite issue, a small minority of hidden people whos agenda is not in service to the great majority. we have spent millennia pointing fingers at one group or another, and getting into manipulated conflicts, these people are too clever so we should give that up.

rather we should concentrate on building processes that exorcise the bad behaviour. so we need much greater democracy, transparency, and whatever will minimise the manipulation.then we can devote more time to living out our duality in a peaceful space

[Michi]

Maybe I found the root of all evil after all!
It is so unsuspecting, even kids are doing it.
Perhaps you say: I lost it! - But hear me out:

It's games (or lost games)!
I saw yesterday night a competition between grown-ups and kids and one girl said "I wish they [grown-ups] drop that (object)."
The contest supervisor corrected the girl saying to her that this isn't a nice thing ...

So I looked up the word "game" and "playing" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Play:
... 3 a : recreational activity; especially : the spontaneous activity of children b : absence of serious or harmful intent : jest <said it in play>

game:
... a physical or mental activity or contest that has rules and that people do for pleasure
...
3 a (1) : a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules with the participants in direct opposition to each other

And this is where it leads down the rabbit hole:
A game is always a contest with winners and loosers. Actually everybody on earth is playing a game.
Some are legal - others don't.

Imagine this dramatic situation.
A friend ask you to compete with you at a game where you are 100% certain you win and your friend says ok, when you are so sure, let's say I 'll get your wife and house if you loose - and then the impossible happens: YOU LOOSE!
I am sure, he is no-longer your friend!

And now, let's say - instead of just being self-determined you are pan-determined and take full responsibility for all sides in a game!
Then it isn't a game any-longer, is it?

And nothing against playing per se - just the end which complicates things!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0sryOCnuj7c

[joeecho]

Posted by Michelle Marie (here)

[/COLOR]

Posted by joeecho (here)

Posted by Sam Hunter (here)
anything anti-life

Anti-life = Dead

Dead = Nonexistent

So if evil is nonexistent, why do we perceive/ experience it?

Hmmmmmm

There has to be a 'story' there somewhere.

Anti-life is not dead. It is potential unrealized. ....another perspective.

Aye. There are many words that touch on the same concept.

Here is another one thrown in the ring:

Unenlightened

[Ernie Nemeth]

To round out what you said, Baby Steps, I would add that nobody is innocent and everyone has part of the blame. Because those that wish only to live in peace, prosper and raise their kids also agreed to a pact with their respectful governments. Their pact is, and most do not even know this about themselves, to agree to the rules of society as they now stand, so long as if they acquiesce to the rules all those that don't WILL BE HUNTED DOWN AND PROSECUTED. Those innocents who only want to play by the rules and be left alone also want all rule breakers to account for their actions and take their punishment for not agreeing with societal rules. And this makes them unwitting allies of the very power that threatens to take away the life they wish to lead. But they blame the rule breakers, not the rule makers. So we now have a situation where a majority of citizens have decided it is better to live with the evil they know than to give up their dreams of a good life, fight the good but inconvenient fight, and then live the lives THAT WE ALL WANT. That we includes both the law abiders and the law breakers today.

[Love]

coercion

the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.