Standing in the Snow at Dawn

Well, its not quite dawn right now, but nearly so. As I start this, I've just spent 40 minutes or so standing in it...rather foolishly, might I add. Not for fun, like in the rain at night - though I have been meaning to take a good walk in the snow, I'd probably want to be wearing a few pairs of socks when I did so. Ugh, wet feet.

In any case, while looking at the snowflakes falling off of the buildings and the tree, and (trying not to stare) at the hazy yellow-white sun, obscured by snow and clouds, I was thinking about the nature of Good and Evil.

It occurs to me that, perhaps - the greatest of evils is not Murder but Ignorance, the most deadly of Sins not an excess of Wrath but a lack of Compassion, and the duty of each human being not to struggle against the evils of another but against the darkness within themselves.

Before I get to the logical argument, let me state that I believe that these principles are at the heart and soul of all religions; that my fundamental point is written upon the innate...sense of ethics of all mankind. I do believe we have a certain innate sense of moral values. One can argue whether or not this is so, but I take the point to be so self-evident that I will not here discuss it, nor bother to argue it. In any event, gaze upon some of the following religious quotes first:

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" - Jesus the Nazarene, 5 B.CE - 33 BCE (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31, Luke 10:25)

None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." — Muhammad (c. 571 – 632 CE) Hadith.

"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD." — Torah Leviticus 19:18 (Judaism)

Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18
(Bhuddism)

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn. (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat 31a. --Hillel the Elder) (Judaism)

"This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you." - Mahabharata 5.15.17 (Text from a famous Hindu epic)

"All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One." - Black Elk (Native American Spirituality)

"Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss." - T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien. (Taoism)

"Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." - Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 1970 BCE, Ancient Egypt.

As you can see, all religions have some version or concept of compassion. Though not necessarily emphasized by the /followers/ of each religion, I propose that an adherence to this universal law of compassion is a prerequisite for any being to be morally upright, and the lack of it is (along with Ignorance and a lack of Curiosity) one of the signs of the greatest forms of evil, no matter the moral system of the person in question.

Case in point. While one can murder a man and by so doing destroy him, and thereafter scatter both his ashes and his memory to each and every corner of the earth, making it as if he had never been - and some would call this (rightfully so) an evil; it is an evil due to a lack of that individual caring for the well-being of his victim, of caring for his rights. It is innately the same sin as rape; which is also a lack of respect and understanding for another being, of caring for your rights and feelings over theirs. Theft, adultery - all sins can be traced back to a simple lack of empathy and compassion.

A person with true qualities of compassion would not commit murder, because it would feel to him as if he were murdering himself. He would not steal from another because his conscience would in turn steal from him any satisfaction from the event, any mental peace or happiness regarding it, and so would feel as if he had stolen from himself. The difference is the degree to the lack of compassion. Some can merely tell lies, or treat another unfairly. Others feel comfortable with taking away the legal rights of others, or in insuring they have less medical or social rights (this is the same sin) - while others are capable of murder or even genocide. In the end, though the acts are different, each cause is the same.

And yet, sometimes even reasonably compassionate folk can overcome their own better judgment. They know they will feel poorly about it later on, but they commit such acts anyways as to cause themselves pain. What causes this? Lack of foresight? Certainly not - often (or at least sometimes), such compassionate folk know they will regret it later on. Perhaps they feel as if they have no choice, or like many other sins - it just feels too good at the present moment for them to pass up.

And yet there are others whom tell themselves that certain types of human beings are not worthy of compassion. Southern ministers during the 1800's in America routinely preached on the inferiority of African Americans. Many ministers today - not all, not most - but still many - preach on the subservient role of women, and decry feminine leadership in the home, and in churches. That particular lack of compassion is not limited to Christianity, but can be found in Judaism and Buddhism too.

Other forms of this evil are more sinister; the economic or political American leader whom convinces his voters/followers that it is not 'our job' to ensure people have basic health care, that economic policies which increase the economic gap between rich and poor are acceptable - because it is their fault; as if (even were that true) - that would make it better. And then of course, the classic psychopathic insanities of the ethnic cleansing of the Taliban or the Nazis; evils so obvious all can agree on them.

But they are not the worst of evil, for they can be confronted and destroyed.

The most subtle forms of this evil cannot be, unfortunately. Discrimination against women in the church, or against the poor by the majority of America. Even September 11th could have been avoided had we taken care of the Taliban in 1997. We knew how they treated women. They were participating in 'ethnic cleansing' of the Hazara ethnic group, killing them by the thousands, taking their homes, raping their women, or simply beating them to death in the streets. By the /thousands/ - and we knew.

We could have toppled them at any time. But we did not. We cared about our pocketbooks more then we did the welfare of others, and we suffered. Even in Bosnia, when hundreds of thousands (perhaps more) were killed by Milosevic on the visible theater of global politics, congress /bitterly/ complained that it was not their duty to interfere in the governments and actions of other nations.

In the long run, doing an action because it is right - even if it seems against your best 'personal interests' - will always be in your benefit. Hindsight is 20/20 - and we could not have foreseen what the Taliban would be a party to in the future, that they would be a threat to us. But that is the problem. We did not (and even had the president tried then, congress would not have let him) think to do an action because it was morally correct for that sake and that sake alone. But that is the attitude we should have.

Ignorance - by which I mean a lack of curiosity and a certainty in your own moral assumptions and cultural beliefs, a lack of compassion, and a lack of will to do what it is right for its sake alone; this is the central root of evil, and the greatest of its examples.