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By evil, I mean the root of all things that bring suffering, hardship, etc. in your own world view. Evil is a relative term and does not exist in and of itself; rather it is the word people use to describe what they deem harmful.
| Human Instincts/Nature (Specify the exact traits or characteristics) | 46 | |
| Money | 11 | |
| Government | 9 | |
| Society | 13 | |
| Other (Specify below) | 11 |
I honestly don't believe that there are "evil" people. Yes people do bad things but they don't do them to be cruel. Usually they get something out of it like a reward. We were taught good and bad by rewards for good and punishment for bad. So if we receive a reward for a "bad" action, we see it as acceptable. We keep doing it for the reward. Selfishness is the root of all evil.
Some people do commit bad things because they want to be cruel. You obviously haven't been around here very much.
Interesting; I too don't believe that there is such a thing as evil people, only evil structures. And I don't think selfishness is the root of evil though, I think that the *lack* of selfishness is one of the roots.
Structures like communism try to eliminate selfishness, but fail. Selfishness is too selfish to listen to anybody. But if you were to teach everybody to be selfish (not greedy, there's a difference) then no corruption can occur because no one is able to take advantage of the other-- they are all selfish. Corruption, greed, and evil only occur when people are too selfless or self hating to where they allow people/structures to take advantage of them. Mob mentality plays a huge role in it, too.
Depends on what you mean by "evil". The suffering of some people can be caused by other people who enforced their authority by simply overpowering or outsmarting others. This is just how nature works. The strong prey on the weak.Doesn't mean the strong are evil. Because creating hierarchies is something specific in most species.
Natural selection.
"The suffering of some people can be caused by other people who enforced their authority by simply overpowering or outsmarting others."
Yes, I agree. I think that human instinct plays a great role. Most people are born with a Mob Mentality instinct, but a small percentage of the population are not, these are people who do their own thing and usually rise to power, we call them psychopaths. The psychopaths find the opportunity to live lavishly by taking advantage of the majority, thus creating a governmental system based on hierarchy.
"This is just how nature works."
Human nature, at least. Other animals don't seem to rise to power for personal reasons or to take advantage of fellow members; they simply do it because it works and because they have instincts that instruct them to do so. Humans lack these instincts, giving rise to unnecessary corruption.
"Doesn't mean the strong are evil."
I agree, there is no such thing as an evil individual, only evil structures and instincts.
"Natural selection."
I think humanity has found loopholes in natural selection; the weak don't die out, instead they are simply there, serving the big guy.
Human Instincts. We share traits with ape species such as bonobos and chimpanzees. Chimps are naturally more agressive. Bonobos are quite passive. Our 'chimp side' of us makes us 'evil'. Things dont become evil out of themselves.
Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the vilest of them all?
Magic Mirror: Homo Sapiens, the most corrupted and evilest of all.
I'm surprised that 'humans' are winning.
It's quantum physics. We are all made up of energy. This energy makes up the cells in our brain and so affects our minds. Our minds have the ability to make something manifest. Humans can't be the core of evil if they are a product of what makes both good and bad, which is energy.
As humans we are born evil. It's society that instills a sense of order in our lives through punishment and persecution.
Humans. We like to organize things that are already organized. We love to group people into other groups. Most issues that we face today were taught by earlier people and we just follow.
In my opinion, the root of all evil is the very fact that we as humans have the need to define certain things or situations as "evil". If we think about other animals, they don't feel in constant anguish about the cruelty of the animal world, they just live and accept things that happen. There is no thing as "moral" among them.
"Adam and Eve" did not live in the paradise before eating the fruit, they were just happy being ignorant. The fruit symbolizes the time humanity actually started caring about their destiny and crap like that.
People are the root of all evil broadly. We created the term anyway, not sure it exists anywhere else.
I wouldn't say there is a single root.
And as you yourself say, evil is relative; so too is suffering, hardship etc. Horrible things happen for many reasons, and what causes one to suffer can cause another pleasure.
Evil is a human concept, just as good is. It's silly to try to apply these subjective terms to the world and the animals that populate it.