by Andy Drymalski, EdD |
This article examines the concept of evil from a psychological perspective. Its relevance lies in the fact that our beliefs and attitudes regarding the nature of evil have far-reaching effects for the way we live and understand our life. For example, reconciling the reality of love, beauty, creativity, and healing in the world with the coexistence of hate, violence, and cruelty is a dilemma that has led many people to a place of spiritual cynicism and resignation.
We all have our own way of defining evil, and the behaviors or events that one person, country, or religion might call evil, another might call good. This may lead one to believe that the categories of good and evil are always relative judgments without objective basis. However, this perspective ignores the fact that although the attribution of evil may be applied differently by different people, some uses of the term may be more valid than others. As Jungian author Murray Stein writes, “Just because the categories of good and evil are the product and tool of consciousness does not mean that they are arbitrary and can be assigned to actions, persons, or parts of persons [that is, parts of the personality] without heavy consequence. Ego discrimination is an essential aspect of adaptation and consequently is vital to survival itself. Ego consciousness must take responsibility for assigning such categories of judgment as good and evil accurately or they will lose their adaptive function. If the ego discriminates incorrectly for very long, reality will exact a high price.”
In his study of the psyche Carl Jung documented the innate urge of the personality to manifest its deepest potential. Just as an acorn is “hard-wired” to become an oak tree, so each personality is driven from within to give fullest expression to its unique talents and creative gifts. Jung called this instinctual drive towards wholeness and fulfillment of the personality individuation. Through the process of individuation people are challenged to grow in consciousness and to actualize the creative potential of the mature personality. Because our potential is so vast, individuation is not a process that is ever completed in life. The important matter is not where we are in our individuation journey, but our attitude towards this process. Is the ego facilitating the unfolding of the larger personality or is it pursuing its own, narrow agenda instead?
From the perspective of Jungian psychology, evil could be defined as a force, which opposes or parasitizes the natural development and maturation of the personality, including the development of the spirit/soul and of consciousness. Although every religion defines evil in its own way (some even denying its existence), each communicates certain beliefs about the nature and proper aspirations of human beings in life. Certainly, consciousness is one of the defining characteristics of being human, and without it there would be no discrimination of thoughts and behaviors into the categories of good and evil.
It is consciousness which gives a co-creative quality to humankind, along with the burden of responsibility for the decisions we make and actions we take.
One way of conceptualizing evil is through the analogy of the predator-prey relationship. We often describe as evil things or processes that prey upon the “good.” From the perspective of a rabbit, the fox might be the “devil.” Burrowing insects are the devil to a tree. For human beings, diseases, psychopaths, and nations with opposing ideological viewpoints are perceived by some as carriers of evil. We use the term evil to describe not only forces that are detrimental to the physical body, but those that are detrimental to the spirit and psyche as well. We generally recognize the latter to be the more important of the two. When we hear the story of someone who sacrificed his life for the sake of others and that of his own soul, we may regret it had to be so, yet we feel he did the right thing.
Certainly evil is a paradoxical entity; it can be difficult to correctly identify. For example, an egocentric person is tempted to refer to anything that thwarts his will as evil. And yet the opposition he encounters in life may be the expression of his deeper self trying to reorient him to his true path. The cancer that would take the life of a young woman may yet open her eyes and heart to a new level of reality or knowledge of herself. Depending upon the attitude taken by his victim, the taunting of the playground bully may become a psychological trauma or an opportunity for learning how to stand up to life. The sterilization procedures used in hospitals may help prevent post-operative infections, but may also hasten the development of new, more virulent forms of bacteria. Likewise, great technological advances can be helpful or harmful. The energy of nuclear fission can be harnessed to create electricity, or unharnessed to kill millions of people. The internet can be a portal of communication and knowledge, but also of pornography, cyber addictions, and identity theft. And the person who has “found God” may become an instrument of peace, love, and healing or the self-appointed apostle who turns others away from God through his/her arrogance and manipulative behaviors.
It is apparent that the drama of “good” and “evil” is very much like nature itself in that nothing goes to waste. For every creature there is another that feeds upon it (even bears and lions must contend with parasites). In fact, the very diversity and beauty of the biological world would not exist were it not for the timeless dance of the predator-prey relationship. For every new invention and creative spark, a door is opened for their misuse. For every spiritual experience there exists the risk of its distortion and misappropriation by the ego. It seems that the dilemma of evil is part and parcel of consciousness and spiritual growth. It can be their enemy and the motivation behind their development, at the same time. Like nature herself, evil can be a trickster, taking life or provoking it to become stronger.
“The lion shall lie down with the lamb.” This is a future-oriented vision, the goal and promise of a time when peace rules the world. It suggests a state in which the cunning, aggressive, and deadly forces in life find friendship and harmony with those of childlike innocence, trust, and receptivity. Projected into the future of human society, it is the idea of a utopia. Projected into life after death, it is heaven. This image is often interpreted as pointing to a time when the predator stops being a predator, evil is banished, and all creatures live together in harmony.
There is another way of looking at this image, one that does not require the denial of the lion’s instinctual nature. The predator lying down with its prey can also symbolize an inner attitude in which we find peace–or make peace–with the predator-prey duality that forms the foundation of our being and of our world. Can we find a way to accept that as long as we are conscious and, therefore, able to form judgments about events, the dilemma of good and evil will always be present? This proposes the acknowledgment and acceptance of life’s fundamental nature, and the fundamental nature of the psyche. To ask that life be otherwise is like trying to have wanting to have light without shadows. Perhaps peace is not to be found in the denial or obliteration of life’s duality, but in making peace with that duality.
To make peace with the existence of evil does not mean that you adopt a passive stance toward what you “believe” to be evil. But it can mean becoming more attentive and discerning as to the nature and ways of evil (and goodness). Just as biologists and ecologists study the relationships of animals and plants to each other and their environment, we are challenged to become ecologists of the soul. To do this we may need to focus a little less upon the way we think life should be, and a little more upon the way it is. We may need to focus less upon the ways that we have been hurt, cheated, tricked, and abused in life, and a little more on what these experiences can teach us about ourselves, other people, and the universe. We may need to move from the worldview of a victim to the more assertive and proactive standpoint of the warrior.
Although at times we strenuously protest evil’s presence in the world and in our lives, and cry out in anger, frustration, and hurt regarding its unfairness and apparent lack of purpose, it is possible that at some time we ourselves consented, and do daily consent, to the rules of this “game” because we know that the game ennobles us, matures us, deepens us, and draws us further into the beauty and mystery of a universe we help create. And we know intuitively that it does this far better than any game without risk and death, puzzles and sorrow ever could.
References:
- Peck, M. Scott. People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil. Simon & Schuster, Inc., NY 1983.
- Sanford, John A. Evil: The Shadow Side of Reality. Crossroad Publishing, NY 1982.
- Stein, Murray (Ed.). Jung on Evil. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ 1995.
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