Good vs. Evil, Light vs. Dark etc have had a long battle since the beginning of the intellectual era of mankind. Evil/Dark is always frowned upon. It has been revolted against so much that any talk, discussion on it is seen as blasphemy.
Evil/Dark however is important.
Take for instance the earliest concepts the war between light and dark. The Sun God came out of this concept. People feared dark, as they could not see, and fell victims to unknown predators. They hailed the morning as it brought back the vision all over again.
But it’s the darkness that allows us to rest, to sleep, to regain our strength after a hard day’s work, and equally important, to dream, the phenomenon which lets us connect with our subconscious. Is it so bad?
I am no Satan worshiper, if thats what you think. I just don’t understand the glorification of God with the total ignorance of Its alternatives. Ignorance is itself an act of Evil.
Judas is considered by many as the ultimate incarnation of Evil in Christianity. How many of us have read the Gospel of Judas? I have seen reactions on the faces of people the moment they see the book lying in my room. Why so much hatred? Was it not Christ who said to love all. If Christ had any problems with Judas would He have not shown his wrath. When I read the Gospel of Judas, I thought it was so much more correct in terms of the story of Christ being conceptually possible. Jesus is seen as a simple human with extraordinary ideas. Who detested the idea of being labelled as Son of God. Who performed miracles, but by words which touched the hearts of the people to do miraculous things.
“It’s your faith in me which has cured you” is what he said to anyone who considered his/her sickness drawn away at the touch of Jesus.
Does Judas condemn Jesus? No. What’s wrong with Judas asking Jesus that they could have sold off the perfume brought by the lady who poured the precious liquid on his feet? Why is it mocked? How many of us know that Judas was the accountant in the group. The one who kept stock of the money and ensured everyone had food etc. Was it so wrong of him to worry about feeding his fellow companions and Jesus himself? Jesus was a man with a mission, Who did not worry about petty things.. of worrying about arranging the next meal etc. But would He have been successful without His disciples. How far would Christianity progress without His disciples? It is considered by many that the true founder of Christianity could be St Paul, cause he was the one who propagated it. It was his views of Christianity which helped it propagate much easier, as it had some relaxed rules for adopting Christianity.
All I am saying is don’t be quick in condemning something branded as Evil. It’s our ignorance and fear. And it’s this ignorance and fear that has made religion do unthinkable evil acts, which even Satan would condemn and shiver at the thought of. The countless people burnt alive including Joan of Arc, and Giordano Bruno for blasphemy. Why? Just being radical thinkers and revolutionary leaders. What was Giordano Bruno’s fault? Why was he Evil? Because he supported Copernican model where the Sun was the centre of the universe. He was imprisoned for 8 years and possibly tortured to change his beliefs and finally burnt alive with his tongue tied so that he could not speak the final words to the public. So much is our fear of Evil!
The genocide of Jews was again an act of religious hatred taken a step further. Hitler took support from the teaching of German priest Luther, for his propaganda against the Jews. The same Luther who first translated the Bible in German so that a common person could read it.
Mankind’s biggest curse was that God made Man an image of God Himself. Because God is flawed. He is a jealous God, a virtue of Evil. He asks us to prove ourselves all the time. Our literature shows that God did more destruction than Satan. In the story of Moses it was the chaos and destruction he caused against the Egypt ruler with plague, and undrinkable water which affected the common people. And what about the destruction of all, to so called purify the Earth when he got floods, and asked Noah to built an Arc. Does that not sound like a bit paranoid God? What would happen if God walked on Earth as a human being and decides to do the same again. He would be arrested and psychiatric evaluation would label him as Schizophrenic (ha). Which Act of Devil has been so merciless? However perhaps the reason for this is the duality of his nature. My friend and I once had a long discussion on this, and my friend had a radical idea. Just like how a person is not good or bad, but its his/her acts which are good or bad, similarly the Good and Evil are just acts, and don’t signify a person/individual. So the concept of Good and Evil reside within the same single all powerful, merciful and merciless, giving and taking, blessing and cursing, loving and hating entity call it God or Devil, they are 2 sides of the same coin. So the Wrath of God is nothing but the Devilish side of His.
A question is being asked by some and indeed by me. Would the world have been a better people place without religion?
The problem with religion is that is it not practiced as it was preached. The original idea Jesus had as per the book “The 100” was if someone slaps you on one cheek offer the other. In fact the lines say something like this “…resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Please note the start “..resist not evil”). How many of us do that.
Most of the popular religions are old. The original thoughts are all lost and what remains are the fragmented pieces in the minds of few people who wrote it down years after the actual incident. And the interpretation of this is left to the few religious leaders who try to show the way to others i.e. When I was young I was always told that Adam and Eve ate an apple. But apparantly nowhere in the original bible is it mentioned that apple was the fruit. Some say keeping the time in mind and the place the most probable fruit could have been dates. (This was in a National Geographic Episode telecasted years ago). Its misinterpretation that has at times led us to conflits. Do you really believe that if Jesus, Prophet Muhammad, Ram or any of the religiously labelled Gods would come to Earth now, they would be pleased with our way of practicing it? They would be horrified and cried out loud, and would have hoped they had never been born to start such a twisted sect.
Its very difficult for anyone to follow religion in its true original sense because of one big problem, many bits are not relevant in todays time. Rules were written so many years back which were relevant in that era, but not in this. The mordernisation of religion however is an unthinkable and strongly opposed act. The only thing that can happen is a fall of a religion after its been superseeded by a new one.
Dont deliver us from Evil. Let us have the open mind to reach out to Evil and understand it before condemning it blindly. Cause there is nothing worse than blind faith. Cause when you are sick you just dont ignore or outcast or cut of the part which is sick, you understand the issue and fix the source of the problem.
This image was clicked under low lighting conditions with candles in the front to add to the effect eg the shine in the eyes.
