Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of
Evil: Power, Force, What?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
by Rev. Dr. Gretchen Woods
What
is evil? How does it affect us in our daily lives, not just in the big picture
of history? And how does suffering relate to evil, if at all? What can we
possibly do about it? These are questions thinking people must address.
Certainly, as caring human beings, we find evil around us
and within us, though we often don’t know whether to identify it as evil or
not. Certainly, the characters in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer constantly
struggled with evil within and out side themselves. We usually agree that
Hitler perpetrated evil, given the shoah: that horrid “final solution:” the genocide of
Jews, gypsies, gay men (women did not count), Poles and sundry others. We might
assume that the boys who shot their classmates at
Today we limit ourselves to
just a few perspectives on evil. As out reading tells us, M. Scott Peck sees
evil primarily as a human experience, coming from an unwillingness to tolerate
our own sense of imperfection, of experiencing our own human frailties.
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines evil as “1. morally
bad or wrong; wicked; depraved. 2. causing pain or
trouble; harmful; injurious. Liz Fischer, author of Rise Up and Call Her Name , in a private conversation, suggested that evil
results from tears in the interdependent web. I often think of evil as
disharmony in the music of the spheres. But mostly I think of evil as that
which denies or obstructs our Source as energy/ consciousness from working for
the greater good of all, or blocking and/or withholding love. My experience of
evil is that it is a force that keeps us from being the fullness of our selves
as creative forces in the world.
When my sons played Dungeons
and Dragons, they introduced me to two concepts of evil: intentional and
chaotic. Both are related to the consciousness one acknowledges. This makes
sense to me. Intentional evil is that aware or conscious force in the human
psyche, whether it takes the form of genocide or power-over,
that is repressive. Intentional evil uses violence, mis-
or dis-information to maintain power-over (Can you
say, “present administration”) or destrot
others. Chaotic evil is unconscious or preconscious in the human psyche and
denies its very existence. It blames others and takes no responsibility.
I think chaotic evil may
prove the more dangerous of the two, because it has no acknowledged consciousness. Someone who refuses to
acknowledge to herself or himself that she or he wants power-over and manipulates
information or emotions to gain power is wielding chaotic evil. I suspect each
of you can think of an example from your experience. Some of my mother’s
behaviors come to mind. In an effort to make me a better person, she often
would give me the sense that I had no inherent value unless I did what she
desired, using her notion of love to manipulate my behavior. I found that
destructive for me, and, honestly, I fear doing it to other people. It is a
seductive power-over.
C.G. Jung reminds us that each of us has the potential
for evil in ourselves [The Prince of
Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History by
Jeffrey Burton Russell (pp. 246-247)]. It is when we try to eliminate or deny evil,
to cut it away from our awareness, that we give it its greatest power. Along
with Native Americans, I believe that self-possession, owning all of one’s
consciousness and emotions, even those that seem dishonorable, gives each of us
better ability to cope with the evil within and without. Again, consciousness
of our truth is essential.
This century has seen
terrible evils: genocide in
Are acts of nature evil? Can a hurricane or an earthquake
be evil? Can a cat killing a bird be evil? We often perceive them to be so. I
was upset when our fat old red tabby caught and ate a little Junco. But is that
evil? Is it possible that these are examples of our values not resonating with
natural forces in these situations?
What about cancer? This gets really dicey, and that is
why I have chosen this example. There is evidence that cancer is sometimes
caused by environmental situations, sometimes by lifestyle choices, sometimes
by genetic predispositions, and, most often, it is a mystery. I feel uncomfortable
with those who maintain that, if the victim had only not repressed her or his
emotions, she or he wouldn’t have cancer. It may be true. It may not be true.
But I don’t believe it is healing or helpful to throw that stuff in someone’s
face at a time of diagnosis.
To my mind, cancer is a perfect example of circular
causality, having many potential causes and effects, and coming together for
each person differently, despite common diagnoses. I suspect there is a lot preconscious or
unconscious about cancer, and that we shall take a whole lot longer to get to
the heart of its causes.
This brings us to suffering: “the bearing or undergoing
of pain, distress, or injury.” (Webster, again). I
recall a wag once noting, “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”
According to Webster, they are the same, but I suspect that most of us see
suffering as prolonged, unnecessary pain. Suffering is not usually that of
natural childbirth or most natural deaths, but pain which somehow seems
avoidable, as in prolonged death when life is unnaturally maintained beyond
what is natural.
As someone who has worked with hospices in three
different states over the last 24 years, I know that the value of such care is
that it strives to avoid suffering: prolonging life, not prolonging death.
While I am not a fan of Dr. Jack Kervorkian, I can
understand those who value him, especially if they have watched a loved one die
in agony. I do know that the last days of pain-managed life can be the most
healing for all concerned, even though cure is not possible. I am deeply
grateful that one of my former congregants was able to see his wife peaceful on
the last day of her life, and that another released a lot of her anger and fear
through the dying process. Each was conscious of what was happening and
pain-managed as much as possible, thanks to hospice. This is true death with
dignity.
However, when a group of people in power continually
torture or kill those they deem less valuable, whether in
But what of those Americans in the Stanley Milgrim experiment which served as the basis for the TV
special, “The Tenth Level?” Milgrim found that ordinary individuals are able to inflict severe pain
and suffering on other human beings, so long as they have an authority giving
them orders. Clearly, the participants who administered the electric
shocks were able to set aside their own empathy and consciousness of their
connection to those enduring the experiment, in order to follow orders.
Where do we
place our consciousness? Do we give
our power away to those in authority? Do we
give up our consciousness to those we view as more powerful? These are
questions we must ask.
Another possible evil occurs when we focus consciousness
entirely upon that which is negative for us and lose sight of beauty, truth and
goodness in our world. If we focus entirely upon our weaknesses and never look
for our strengths and gifts, nor for the wonders life
has to offer us in art, nature, or contact with others, we lose the larger
picture. If our identity becomes one of victim, to the exclusion of the
wonderful experiences we have the power to create, we make evil the only aspect
of life we experience. That may be evil as well!
If we cannot tolerate our own imperfection, we probably
can’t tolerate it in others as well. We strike an odd deal: I give you all my
power and consciousness, then you must read my mind and make my life what I
want it to be. Again I ask: Can we learn to accept a world that is not perfect,
ourselves who are not perfect, a life process and/or God who is not perfect by
our standards?
Where is God in
all of this? How can a loving God let evil happen? Maybe God as Source (i.e.energy/consciousness) doesn’t expect perfection the way
we imagine it - not in nature, not in us. Maybe what we experience as evil is a
challenge to move to greater consciousness, an incentive to learn.
Maybe we are God’s image as process, not as
finished product, with all the messiness and radical responsibility that comes
with that. We become responsible for our choices as part of co-creation - for
good or for evil. Our degree of consciousness will significantly affect our
choices, enabling us to be more aware of evil, able to name it and better able
to respond to it. Perceiving and naming evil works against the silence that
allows evil to continue in the world.
Dr. Carol Newsom of
. . . The Wisdom tradition
[in the Bible] thinks that evil can be resisted by depriving it of its “fuel.”
Don’t act in a mirror image way to evil – and then it will be stopped before it
can spread. Don’t return evil for evil. That’s what the nonviolence movement by
Gandhi and Martin Luther King (Jr.) understood. There are ways in which you can
resist violence by performing its opposite. Of course there are some contexts
in which that is not effective. There may well be some times in which the only
viable opposition to evil is violence. But anyone who engages in such action
should not do so in a spirit of self-righteousness. The appropriate emotion is
grief. Even in acting against those who do evil, one should love them and feel
compassion – how awful that anyone could have fallen from what humans were
created to be and do. This is very difficult to do without hypocrisy. But I
think this is what it means that Jesus calls his followers to love their
enemies. If one realizes how easy it is to fall into evil oneself, then it is
easier to have compassion even while resisting evil. (Eugene
Weekly, October 16, 2008, p. 13.)
Newsom, like Peck, captures the recognition that we must
acknowledge the evil in our selves, even while countering it in others, and not
delude our selves that we are always righteous in our actions in countering
this force. We must continue to deepen our understanding and widen our love.
As Unitarian Universalists,
we believe we can make choices and
change our choices with greater understanding, if we find our choices are not
working for the greater good for all of our selves and others. To learn is to
participate in the best way possible by achieving greater consciousness. We
also believe that making choices with the greatest consciousness possible
includes using the best values possible, not only for our own interests, but
also for the greater good of all of life. This is why we focus upon our
Principles, the affirmations that state the values we share.
I believe the essence of a religion for our times must
give us awareness, experiences, and values that teach us empathy and remind us
of our connections to all of life and to our Source, connections that make us
more conscious of the good we may yet do and be and the love we may yet have
and share. Jeffrey Burton Russell notes:
Perhaps love can do what the intellect cannot. Perhaps
the cloud of unknowing can be pierced with the arrow of love. For if we do evil, we also love, and love is the remedy for evil.
We are called to fight evil, but we are also called to know how to fight it. Evil is not effectively
resisted with hatred and guns. Evil cannot be defeated with evil, negation with
negation, terror with terror, missile with missile. The process of negation
must be reversed. Only affirmation can overcome negation; evil can only be
integrated by good; hatred can only be laid to rest by love. (p. 276.)
Paradoxically, as we grow in awareness of true creative
interchange of loving energies, we also grow in awareness of evil, but it has
less power in our lives. As we move into deeper connection with our Source of
consciousness, we can name the evil within and without and make better choices
in our actions. May we do so with respect, responsibility, and relish for the
process.
So Be It! Blessed Be!
Closing Words
May we so live that we
become more aware of all that is possible, for good or ill.
May we open to love moving in ourselves and bring conscious love out into the
larger community to brighten the lives of others, for the greater good of all.
So Be It! Blessed Be!
“Evil: Power, Force, What?”
Order of Service
Sunday, October 19, 2008
9:30 AM & 11:00 AM
Children will be with us for the beginning of this service.
Welcome
Choral Introit “Gathered
Here”
Chalice Lighting
Opening Words
Opening Song: #120 “Turn,
Back, Turn Back” (verses 1 & 2)
Sharing for All Ages:
Michael Molk
Sung Response: “As You Go”
The Hope for Healing
Human Evil by M. Scott Peck, M.D.
(pp. 76-77)
Celebrating with Music: “Kumbaya" traditional Spiritual arr. Paul Sjolund
Sermon: “Evil: Power,
Force, What?”
Sung Response: #298 “Wake,
Now, My Senses”
Spoken Response
Candles: Milestones of Joy
and Sorrow/Offering
Meditation
Closing Song #1 “May
Nothing Evil” {Prayer for This House}
(verses
1 & 2)
Closing Words
Closing Song: #1 (verse 3)
Celebrants: Kyle Jannson and the Rev. Dr. Gretchen Woods, Etc.
Welcoming Congregation
Language
We come now to a sort of paradox. I
have said that evil people feel themselves to be perfect. At the same time,
however, I think they have an unacknowledged sense of their own evil nature.
Indeed, it is this very sense from which they are frantically trying to flee.
The essential component of evil is not the absence of a sense of sin or
imperfection but the un willingness to tolerate that
sense. At one and the same time, the evil are aware of their evil and
desperately trying to avoid the awareness. Rather than blissfully lacking a
sense of morality, like the psychopath, they are continually engaged in
sweeping the evidence of their evil under the rug of their own consciousness.
For everything they did, Bobby’s parents had a rationalization - the whitewash
good enough for themselves even if not for me. The problem is not a defect of
conscience but the effort to deny the conscience its due. We become evil by
attempting to hide from ourselves. The wickedness of the evil is not committed
directly, but indirectly as a part of this cover-up process. Evil originates
not in the absence of guilt but in the effort to escape it.
It often happens, then, that the evil may be recognized
by its very disguise. The lie can be perceived before the misdeed it is
designed to hide - the cover-up before the fact. We see the smile that hides
the hatred, the smooth and oily manner that masks the fury, the velvet glove
that covers the fist. Because they are such experts at disguise, it is seldom
possible to pinpoint the maliciousness of the evil. The disguise is usually
impenetrable. But what we can catch are glimpses of “The uncanny game of
hide-and-seek in the obscurity of the soul, in which it, the single human soul,
evades itself, hides from itself.” (quote from Martin
Buber, Good and Evil, p. 111.)
from The Prince of Darkness: Radical
Evil and the Power of Good in History by
Jeffrey
The good Lord and the Devil, Jung argued, are two sides
to the fullness of a single reality. “The shadow belongs to the light as the
evil belongs to the good and vice versa.”
Light needs darkness to define it; otherwise it could not appear as good. Evil
is ontologically real; the Devil is morally and psychologically real. Lucifer’s
challenge to God produces a higher, deeper wisdom in creation and so is part of
God’s ultimate plan. The demonic energy is part of the natural order of the
cosmos, but when it is repressed it manifests itself in overt evil. If the
enormously powerful cosmic energy represented by the Devil is denied and
repressed, it will burst forth with a destructiveness
proportional to the degree of its repression. But if it is integrated, its
energy can be turned toward the greater good. Repression leads to mental
illness in individuals and to fanatical irrationality in society; integration
leads to health, wholeness, and creativity. The demonic energy is never
neutral; if it is not channeled toward the constructive, it will sweep with
equal power into the destructive.