God and the Devil have been popular deities understood by the world in different forms as the ultimate higher powers of good and evil. God and the Devil have also been viewed as the spiritually dignified leaders of angels and demons. Even outside of Christian religions, satanic cults and religions also acknowledge and revere the existence of these deities as the authors of both good and evil. Humans of many diverse cultures are innately aware of distinct differences within our understandings of virtues and morality and have developed many different codes of conduct and religions to maintain the survival of mankind. As humans, we have the ability to not only understand the differences between that which is good and evil, but we each have the individual ability to choose which path of spiritual direction we will take.
What Is The Difference Between Good And What Is Evil?
Within American culture, good and evil is often defined by Christian belief systems. Outside of religious perspectives, we replace the words "good and evil" with the words "right and wrong" and organize human morality within the political laws of the land. Either way, humans acknowledge the difference between a right way of doing things and a wrong way of doing things, but why? Mankind has learned over the centuries that a culture without some form of spiritual structure result in self destruction through methods of crime, violence, and war. Having distinguished good and evil as separate entities has allowed mankind to avoid potential self-destruction and ill-will towards our fellow man, but what really is good and evil? How can we define it?
From my personal opinion, things that pertain to being evil or wrong are simply the decisions or actions we take that are destructive to ourselves and/or others, while things that pertain to being good or right are simply decisions or actions we take that are beneficial to ourselves and/or others.
All human needs revolve around a single human instinct we know as survival. As humans, we can choose to support our need to survive by means of promoting the quality of life towards ourselves and those around us (which is right and good) or by acting negligently towards the quality of life of ourselves and those around us (which is wrong or evil). It really is that simple. Upon reading and understanding the Bible as a whole and not just picking and choosing scriptures to support my own personal religious viewpoint, I realized that this is the single message it teaches and uses many great moral structures and guidelines to help humanity to attain this method of survival. The teachings in the Bible do in fact support survival not only for our individual selves but also for those around us. To love God and love others as we love ourselves is in fact the most important rule of the Bible, as quoted by Jesus in the New Testament in a couple of passages. (Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:27, Mat 22:37-40)
Likewise, even pertaining to what is considered right and wrong in following the political laws of the land, these laws have been put in place to not only protect ourselves but also fellow citizens within our culture. For example, theft is considered to be a crime because it unjustly interferes with the quality of another fellow citizen. Hard work is not considered to be a crime because it justly benefits not only the individual but also the economy of our culture. So whether we are looking through a political or even a religious lens, "good and evil" and "right and wrong" are determined by how we support the overall quality of both our personal survival as well as the survival of others. The difference between good and evil are simply the man made intellectual distinctions that either support the survival of mankind or destroy it.
The Missing Links
Having personally experienced drastically different lifestyles as both a devout Christian and a carefree hippy, I was able to gain some interesting perspectives on good and evil. Living on the Christian side of things, every decision you make is taken and compared to Biblical teachings. This allowed a strong sense of spiritual stability in that every questionable situation in life could be compared to strict Biblical guidelines to maintain a straight course of action. These Biblical guidelines and teachings helped me on a personal level to be at ease with the storms of life and supplied a firm foundation to stand on.
Upon walking away from Biblical teachings for a time and exploring life on my own outside of religious doctrine as a hippy, I got to witness and see goodness in places I was once taught to be evil. I also began to see evil in places I was taught to be good. Most hippies and Christians alike are striving for the same goal to survive. Let me use drug use for example. In the perspective of a hippy, drugs are a method of maintaining survival and are not always an addictive habit. But because doing drugs is inherently considered by most religions to be a sinful act, I often found myself being excluded and judged for something I personally considered to simply be a form of survival not only for myself but also for those around me. Within healthy hippie communities, mild drugs are often shared and given in the same way food is in church potlucks. I am not defending the use of illegal drugs, but I had to notice the good will of sharing illegal substances was much more loving than judgement and exclusion by religious sects. This is not to say that all hippy related habits are healthy and beneficial to the survival of self and the community, but I did see much love in places other religious sects would define as bad or evil.
Talking To Our Self
The whole idea of talking with one's self is more real than I ever imagined before my hippie days. As an individual who talks to himself frequently, I have discovered there are two methods of mentally conversing with one's self. There is a state of speaking to an imaginary or existing person much in the same way one may practice a speech. This state is based more on imagination and less on truth. There is also a state in which you can speak to your virtuously insecure self. This state is more or less a verbal argument between your conscience and lustful self. In states of deep intoxication and/or hallucination, the characteristics of lust and conscience hypnotically manifest into what seem to be distinct entities within one's self. Within the act of "letting go", these manifestations are free to roam and speak honestly without bias.
God And The Devil
My most common interactions with these "entities" were during the days of chronic addictions and drinking issues. Conversing with myself would often go as follows...
"I really want another drink."
"No, you don't need another drink, you already had two."
"I am free to do as I want."
"Yes, but you know you will regret it in the morning."
"The night is early, I'll be fine."
"Okay, well, sip it slow."
In hindsight, these very real intoxicated conversations with myself manifested into basically listening to my shoulder angel lose a battle with my shoulder demon. These are relatable to the subconscious thoughts we all have on a daily basis, but upon hearing them speak verbally to one another through my own mouth really gave clarity to who God and the Devil were to me on a personal level.
Fatal Lust And Fatal Abstinence
Upon being open to the idea that God and the Devil within could converse with one another, I began to wonder if they truly were enemies despite their polar opposites pertaining to virtue. While all of these conversations with self began to unfold, I began to realize that both the demon and the angel were trying to support my well being, the difference being one wanting pleasure in the moment while the other only sought out quality of life for my future self. One entity always wanted to have fun in the moment while the other wanted stability and survival for the future. Within the clenches of addiction, the shoulder demon will always win, while the shoulder angel will give in to appease the other.
But I had to wonder, does this always mean that choosing short term pleasure is evil or of the Devil? This can't be so, because even natural pleasurable urges like appetite and sex promote survival and the quality of life. This is when I began to ponder over the idea that perhaps God and the Devil might actually simply be friends arguing over how to balance human urges and appetites which can be distorted between fatal lust and fatal abstinence.
To Become Morally Balanced
I would like to suggest that a huge problem with religion is the far right leaning towards abstinence without first virtuously determining what will be beneficial towards both our self and the rest of the world. Religion will twist a nonintellectual mind into pointing fingers and to judge in accordance to law without viewing the entire situation, while a lawless lifestyle will land an individual into a meaningless mess of pleasure and self-satisfaction until chaos and lawlessness overtake him. This further drove me to ponder over the idea that what might be good and right for one individual can be absolutely fatal for another. Alcohol is a great example. While one individual may greatly benefit from drinking socially, others will fall into fatal alcoholism due to a lack of self control. Food is another great example. While one individual underweight may benefit from having a slice of cheese cake after a meal, for someone who cannot control their urges to consume might develop fatal health issues upon over eating.
All of this to say, I do not believe the war is between God and the Devil so much as I believe the real war lies between how we control how they interact with one another. Sometimes we should let the Devil win and give into healthy urges, while other times we should let God win and support healthy abstinence for our future self. We cannot simply say one thing is a sin and always a sin and we cannot always say one thing is right and always right. The real battle is to love others as ourself and to act justly to promote quality ridden survival for both ourselves and the rest of the world. This is what I call love.
