For Good Or For Evil

Good and evil, are they opposite sides of the same coin?  Are there twins living inside the human body – the good one and the bad one?  All of us have faced crossroads - having to decide which way to turn can dominate the day.  There is the right and the wrong choice; no one else owns the decision.  Is it really a matter of chance, a flip of a coin that establishes our moral fiber?  The odds on a coin toss are 50/50.  That means fifty percent of the time good triumphs over evil.  Fifty percent of the time evil wins.  However, a coin toss seems to be a bit simplistic.

Thrown into the mix of good and evil is free will.  This adds a third side to the coin – a trinity creating dissension and mayhem at least as often as harmony and prosperity.  Compare this to a pair of dice.  The odds of a three-sided coin are half as diverse as a six sided die.  With sides added to our coin for guilt and greed, we are not too far away from shooting craps here.

The Catholic Church offered absolution for sins committed as long as you confessed your wickedness and were penitent.  For a price a sinner could receive dispensation for a bad decision; such as annulling a marriage.  Through Church largess good was sprinkled amongst all the bad.  Having slammed shut, the gaits to heaven reopened and the Lord on his thrown restored the sanctity of the soul.  It’s amazing what a little good will and pocket change could do for spiritual health back then. The heavens were brought back into balance. Good triumphed and the church got rich.  This was before the age of reason and unfortunately, the church is no longer so powerful.

Now omnipotence belongs to corporations.  The only balance in the universe is their bottom line.  Bad guys hide behind corporate law and they grant themselves dispensation and absolution for bad deeds.  A new ad campaign fixes all.  Corporations buy our politicians, steal our money and destroy what little dignity we have.  They expect us not to notice the hardship corporate policy causes.  Slogans replace human decency and it is very important to their shared image that we be happy in our destitution.  Credit cards keep us in financial slavery but if we are lucky we have a roof over our head.  At least with the Church there was a Hereafter to look forward to.  Our immortal soul was intact.

Could it be that good is only a distant myth? Maybe I’m only seeing the dark side.  Must I look deeper?

Philosophers and gurus say that positive and negative forces are with us always, keeping the universe in balance.  Does this duo really keep order in the universe?  Cataclysmic disruptions of balance occur so often that it has been given names – Incompatibilism, Biological Determinism and Theological Determinism are a few.  Murphy's Law is probably the most pessimistic.  That pesky free will keeps rearing its head.  If right and wrong are polar ends of the same axis then no wonder the world is spinning out of control?  All that free will in the middle makes the earth a volatile place. U.S. politics is a prime example of the imbalance.

Has Washington chosen too many negatives and not enough positives?  Republicans are union busting, cutting taxes to billionaires and destroying everyone's livelihood.  Democrats, even with a president in the white house and control of the senate are powerless to stop the shenanigans of the Far Right.  Where's the balance?  I’m beginning to feel like a punching bag.  Knowing right from wrong is less important in congress than knowing which corporation will give the most money for reelection.  So many wrong choices, how can the tangled mess be resolved.

Many alternatives that feel good are destructive.  Yet, the least attractive opportunity can blossom into something wonderful.  But if one chooses good every time then positives would outweigh the negatives.  That's supposed to bring us closer to God and harmony.  However, there is a quandary.  If we shun the dark for the light then what happens to the delicate balance that dark and light, positive and negative, good and evil produces.  Doesn't that disrupt everything?

Personally I run from good or evil wherever I see them because both scare the hell out of me. If I manage to do something good how can I keep up the good work?  I’m always falling short. Secondly, if I fall into the surly clutches of evil, the dark abyss (so tangible and invisible) seems limitless.  A perpetual fall might be attractive to those who parachute off stationary objects, but for me it is too compromising a proposition.  What to do?

Sometimes I have allowed mediocrity in my life because it is safe.  If I don't move closer to the light I won’t be sliding back into the shadows.  The abyss is farther away if the possibility of a horrible miscalculation is not so likely.  With luck I won’t find myself in a dark corner.  Perhaps this is faulty logic.

If by seeking the light and only the light, will there be a new balance or some fresh harmony that replaces positives and negatives? If truth reveals itself beyond the disinformation distributed everywhere the eye rests – what happens to all that energy put forth that is purposefully wrong?

Standing in the dark may force us to realize that there has to be something better than groping around blindly.  The world is visible in the light – you can see what you're eating. You can step around the potholes.  

Maybe it's not so important to know the mechanics of Heaven and Earth.  Let's make the best of ignorance and have a little faith.  But if that is too difficult keep your nose to the wind and move onward through the fog.