Episode 31 - The Problem of Evil - It's Really the Problem of Suffering

"No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks - Mary Wallstonecraft

This have been a question that has perplexed human beings as long as evil has existed. And in fact, evil is a relatively recent invention.

When we use the word evil, it is burdened by our current sense of morality. This is good so this is evil. We hold to these "absolutes" even though our rules about them change according to circumstance. Case in point:

Murder is bad... unless you are protecting your property, fighting "bad" people, promoting democracy or taking stuff you really need

Stealing is bad... unless it is from people who we don't think are good or entitled to their possessions and taking stuff we really need

Lying is bad... unless you are concealing the truth or justifying all the previous rules

Lust is bad... unless it is in marriage or a man sowing his wild oats before settling down

You are bad... unless you are following all these rules unquestioningly and don't think for yourself

For all its claims to the contrary, morality is relativistic and, in our childishness we argue incessantly over side is objectively "true." If we can't come to an agreement, we go to war. And notice that it always seems to be the right side that wins History is always revisionist..

Let me. put a completely different spin on it, one that is far more practical and we don't have to invent angry super beings to enforce it. The problem of evil is really the problem of SUFFERING. Anything we do that creates unnecessary and avoidable suffering is evil.

As Ms. Wallstonecraft points out in the opening quote, we mistake some behavior as being beneficial to us (namely bringing happiness) but it brings exactly the opposite. So Buddha was right al along. At the root of all human suffering (aka evil) is ignorance. And as another sage put it, "Father forgive them they don't know what the hell they're doing."

So if we are ever to eradicate evil and its compounding consequences from the world, we must make a momentous discovery. Where does happiness truly lie?

Answering that question is the heart and soul of genuine spirituality. To know where lasting happiness, lives and thus reap its inevitable fruits of peace, community, individual self-expression and universal harmony, we must know who we are. Like a lion in a cage or a whale in a swimming pool, I cannot be living a life that does not fit and be happy.

And so, like a broken record (remember those?) I say the same thing over and over in every possible way that I can. I echo the ancient words etched in stone at the prophetic temple of Delphi in ancient Greece. "Know thyself."

When I know myself, as I truly am, I no longer mistake actions, thoughts or feelings, that inevitably lead to suffering, for a path to happiness. And thus I solve once and for all the perplexing problem of evil.


Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time (5pm UTC). at https://youtube.com/gpwalsh.