The Dark Side?
July 13th, 2007 by John Wolfe
Almost all films and novels, whether they’re dramatic, action, or suspense based feature villainous characters- it’s pretty much a rule of thumb. We love to see some sort of battle, be it psychological or physical, between good and evil. The horror movie genre is no different, except for the fact that evil triumphs most of the time, at least until the production company runs out of sequels in the series. 
If you’ve got a good guy, you always have to have his polar opposite- the night to his day, black to his white, and on and on. It’s all symbolic of duality. Fiction typically mimics an aspect of human consciousness, be it sometimes an absurd or exaggerated translation. Movies and books aside, what about the notion of “evil” being motivated by the actions of some sort of overseer of darkness?
The concept of evil is based on belief and opinion. It’s a word we use after making up our minds that an event or action, which sits outside the boundaries of what any “good or decent” person would do, must be negative. An action or event is neither inherently positive nor negative, it simply is. Our opinions, judgments, and the emotions the action evokes are the only things that determine its worthiness or lack thereof, in our lives. The event and action will always remain neutral, but it’s our reaction to it that determines how affected we will be by it.
Reaction is exactly that, it is a re-acting to and sometimes re-acting of the circumstances (in our minds) over and over again. While this doesn’t mean we are impervious to the action’s outcome, it does mean we have an option for how we choose to let the outcome impact us; if we see ourselves as a victim and continue focusing upon it or if we choose to release the experience from our awareness. By discussing the concept of evil as more of an opinion and a reaction based response to an action or event, than an actual thing, which stands separate from our awareness, I feel we can start detaching ourselves from the idea that there is some concentrated force of darkness out there (metaphysical or otherwise).
I personally don’t believe there is a devil, Beelzebub, Satan or whatever other creative names exist to describe it. These terms are a means for people to plaster a face on their opinions and fears of all things they consider bad or evil. It’s much easier to say the devil made someone do it or to believe that evil does exist, than it is to clean up the way we view the events in our lives and how we react to them. Do “bad” things happen? Absolutely, but again, who’s making up the rules of what’s considered good and bad? Each one of us is doing it.
When fear is our dominant expectation and primary way of relating to our world, we are going to see certain things as horrible and evil. We may even believe there is something or someone out to get us. I’m not saying that each one of us doesn’t have the right to feel however we are feeling in the moment- we absolutely do and should. What I am saying is that there are options to taking on the protracted role of victim and to letting undesirable emotions rule our mindset for any prolonged period of time.
While it’s quite natural to initially react in a fearful manner to a scary or dangerous situation, it’s not beneficial to allow these emotions to become our primary way of interpreting life. When fear becomes the dominant filter for viewing reality, it’s easy to believe evil exists and bad things are always waiting to happen. As this develops into our predominant viewpoint, there is an unmistakable self fulfilling prophecy at work- what we consistently focus upon expands.
I’m a firm believer in personal empowerment, I feel it’s our right by birth, but because of the opposing beliefs most of us have picked up throughout our lives, we have to want it and work towards it. It’s easy to just look around and let our emotions run rampant, it’s much more work (initially) to take an active stance in directing our feelings and looking within, instead of externally, for the direction to take.
People that are consistently controlled by their emotions are constantly searching outside themselves for others to validate their experiences and to agree upon their interpretation of the circumstances and events that have transpired. Those in touch with themselves and their emotions do not need external verification.
While they may react initially in a fear based manner, they recognize it’s unhealthy and counterproductive to stay in that mode for any length of time. They immediately begin finding things, thoughts and emotions which feel better to focus upon. They may even recognize that their initial pronouncement of the event as being bad or evil is only a knee jerk response brought on by their past social conditioning.
It’s fine to feel the emotions we are feeling in any given moment, but if they are primarily fear based or undesirable, then it’s extremely important to take hold of the reigns before our thoughts and feelings build up a full head of steam, becoming our predominant way of being and viewing life.
I feel that the concept of evil and the devil are fear based mechanisms created and perpetuated by individuals who have lived primarily in a mode of fear. I don’t believe these are actual things that exist external from our own emotions and expectations. These views stem from conditioned responses and from prolonged ways of undesirably viewing the neutral events and circumstances of change that are a natural part of the life experience.
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