BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, THE INNER STRUGGLE

Dr. Maryann Miller

Good and evil have become one of the most misunderstood concepts in the history of humanity.  The perception of good and evil produces intolerance, guilt, religious and moral judgment, and an evil force (or devil) to blame for all of humanity’s challenges.  Jefferson Parker (1992:M1), while writing an article for the Los Angeles Times Newspaper, proposed that:

“…the concept of evil is the most terrifying and thrilling concept in our language.  We need terror by which to measure and enjoy our comfort; we need the thrill to ameliorate the tedium.  We need evil to locate our good.  And evil is a concept that has been increasingly undervalued and ignored.  We require a devil with whom our gods can do battle, lest our gods become reduced to mere royalty — splendidly clothed, gossiped about, but superfluous.”

Since childhood, we have been taught that things are either up or down, black or white, high or low, beautiful or ugly, good or evil.  This has been the modus operandi since time immemorial.  But have you ever stopped to examine high and low, black and white, beautiful and ugly, good and evil?  Good and evil are qualities assigned by humanity’s limited understanding of natural laws and as our understanding of natural laws change, so too do our perceptions of good and evil.  The appearance of opposites arise from our personal observation of the unity or totality of an idea, condition or object, our subsequent dissection of that whole into parts, and the ensuing opinions regarding the idea, condition, or object.  And is it not the breakdown of the whole into individual elements or parts that we then categorize and make distinct from the rest, which results in the idea of separateness or opposites?  After all, is it possible to have up without down, night without day, or good without evil?

The German philosopher Nicshe said that only the God to whom we attribute human qualities or morality may be rejected or denied.  By this, he meant that if we attribute to God – wisdom, goodness, kindness, morality, and so forth., we limit God by bringing God down to our own level of understanding.  And since the morality that we attribute to God at any particular time in history, may change according to the progress of humanity; we find ourselves ever pondering good and evil.  God of course is beyond human qualities and therefore, beyond good and evil.  But if we are ever to progress beyond the limitations of good and evil, we must first remove them from our concept of God.

Joel Goldsmith (1961:47) states that:

“I cannot know what God is because It is beyond the utmost comprehension of the human mind.  If I could think of something that I believed to be God, or Truth, I would ultimately find that that is not It.  And so it would go on unto eternity until we come to the realization that if we can think It, It is not That.”

This is a reproduction of the familiar chalice or two profiles. In order to focus upon the profiles, you must make the black area the positive or prominent object in your consciousness while the white area (the chalice) must become the negative, passive factor in consciousness. Before you read on please take a minute to look at this picture and make note of your observations.

While you observed this picture you probably found that your consciousness was first drawn to either the chalice or the profiles. Your consciousness then began to dance back and forth between the two very quickly. Finally, as you gazed upon the picture, you may have found that, with a little effort, you could hold the entire picture in your consciousness — but only if you give up the idea of black or white, chalice or profile. As soon as you began to distinguish or separate the elements of the picture into black profiles or white chalice, the illusion of opposites or separateness once again began its dance of illusion and the whole, or unity, was lost to your objective consciousness. When we choose to align ourselves with a particular vibrational frequency, to the exclusion of another, the illusion of separation arises and a division occurs that appears to set the object, idea, person or condition apart from the unity of wholeness.

The perception of individual elements or parts of a whole is of course necessary in our everyday world. When deciding what to wear, we usually check the temperature. On a warm summer’s day in northern Alaska, the temperature may be 56  Fahrenheit so we may decide to just wear a heavy sweater.  However, if it were 56  Fahrenheit in Florida, we would declare it to be a very cold day and put on our coats. The point is that once we separate something from the whole, it is our individual consciousness that applies distinctions such as hot or cold to the separated element.  Our consciousness subsequently builds a relationship to the position or opinion we have taken.

As we know, heat and cold are identical in nature; it is only the particular degree that denotes a difference.  A thermometer displays many different degrees and the lowest temperature displayed denotes the lower end of the pole and is considered cold and the highest temperature displayed denotes the higher end of the pole and is considered hot.  However, between these two poles, there are several degrees of both hot and cold.  Depending upon any two degrees you might be comparing, one is colder than the other.  There is no temperature that we can always consider cold or hot, each is a matter of comparison.

The metaphysician knows that everything is a matter of degree or frequency of vibration. Good and evil can also be represented by a pole, the right half representing good and the left half representing evil.  If we cut the pole in half, we find that it too has a left and a right end and no matter how many times the pole is cut in half, there will always be a positive and negative end. Polarity is the glue of the universe and our task is to begin to see positive and negative as polarities of one continuous unbroken whole. Polarity is the very basis of existence in the material world.  But in order to experience oneness, we must begin to unite the pairs of opposites^[1] into polar opposites^[2], and then rise above their polarity.

According to Dr. Carl Jung, the more extreme our conscious position toward one end of a polarity, the stronger and more exaggerated will be our unconscious tendency in the opposite direction.  Jung also states that the dream state affords us a great opportunity for working out this play of opposites.  Think about it, haven’t you ever in a dream, found that you were a part of some plot or action that you found totally repugnant to you in your waking state?  By zealously and passionately (and this is the key) separating ourselves or running away from that which we call bad or evil, we give energy and power to evil and make of it a force to be overcome.  And the more we run from evil, the larger it becomes until we create within ourselves, a grand battle to be won.

A good friend of mine and I were attending a class on Life and Perception given by Dr. George Buletza.  During this class Dr. Buletza read a beautiful and insightful poem by Edward Carpenter called The Secret of Time And Satan.  It was very moving and touched us both very deeply. After class we talked about its profound meaning and its significance in our lives. The poem was several pages long and we couldn’t remember all of the words so with the emotional impact of the poem fresh in our consciousness, my friend put to paper the memory of the poem that had changed our lives.  It’s called “Going Home.”

Going Home

I was huddled in my hiding place under an overhanging cliff.

I was tired; I was weak; I was naked.

I felt helpless and I was full of fear, for the Devil stood laughing at me.

He was as tall as a tree, full of strength and energy, with a powerful voice and his great muscles rippled in the sunlight.

He was black and he was beautiful.

In a great voice he said: “Why do you try to hide from me little one?” “I am here to fight you.” “Why don’t you come out and fight?”

But I could not, for I was afraid.

He continued to taunt me saying that I must come out and fight him, and he would not go away.

Finally, I went out and fought him and he smote me a thousand blows and cut me a thousand cuts and I lay dead.

But I arose and fought him a thousand times and each time he smote me a thousand blows and cut me a thousand cuts and I again lay dead.

But each time I arose, I had a new body and each new body was bigger, stronger and more beautiful than the old.

Until at last, I was as big as he, as strong as he, and as beautiful as he.

Then, he took me into his arms and said: “I love you!”

And he bore me into the sky, around the earth, under the moon, and into the sun, and I had come home.

In proportion to our envy, hatred of, impatience with, or even desire for anything or anyone, so too are we drawn into the dance of illusion that separates us from unity with the One-Life.  Dr. H. Spencer Lewis (1936:17) said that “man is either a victim of fate or the master of his destiny.” We are free to choose our every thought, word, deed, action, and reaction.  We are continuously given the opportunity to choose that which we wish to hold in our consciousness.  Thoughts, words, and deeds are simply a collection of vibrational units until interpreted by the person holding them in her/his consciousness.  It is the emotion and power with which they are sent, received, and held in consciousness that gives them life.  We are the sentry to the gates of our consciousness and keeper of the keys to our happiness or sorrow.

The Veda states that “the ultimate…is an indivisible formless oneness of being, without time, space, causation, or any division what-so-ever.” and in Yoga psychology, the law of Karma is based upon the concept that a person is always growing toward awareness and synthesis of the polarities within.  In Yoga philosophy, we are told that our aim should be to seek that awareness where polarities have no hold or influence upon us.  In other words, the polarity still exists, but it has no control over us because we have reconciled their differences and achieved equilibrium.

Balance is sometimes achieved through the subconscious creation of situations that cause the objective consciousness to confront the opposite or ignored pole so that it can be assimilated and integrated into its polar opposite.  The resulting recognition and integration of individual opposites result in the creation of concordance and unity.  This leads to understanding, tolerance, empathy, love and forgiveness.

One of the components of Self Mastery is the ability to attain equilibrium through the use of transmutation techniques.  The following exercise is one that has proven very successful in attuning the subjective mind with the Inner Self, where time, space, and the illusion of opposites does not exist.  If you wish, take a few minutes to perform the following exercise.  It is hoped that you will find it integrating and will sense the heightened vibratory energy that accompanies conscious union with your Inner Self.

EXERCISE

Please read through the following exercise before you begin and become familiar with the instructions so that you may avoid the need to refer back to them during the exercise.  You may wish to play a piece of meditation music or simply sit in your usual meditation posture in silence.  The first part of the exercise is a relaxation technique used by students of various traditions, the second part instructs you to attune with your Inner Self, and the last part contains a seed thought for balancing pairs of opposites.

Part I

1. Take a deep breath. As you release it, relax the physical body.  Pay conscious attention to the feet — legs — arms — the lower abdomen — the stomach and diaphragm.  Let the breath flow easily and naturally.  Then relax the chest — throat — jaws — and the base of the tongue.  Relax the ears — scalp — and muscles behind the eyes.  Allow a feeling of well-being to pervade the entire physical body.
2. Take another deep breath. As you release it, relax the emotions.  Imagine the emotions as a peaceful pool of water.  Still the surface of the water until it is as smooth as glass and can reflect the light of your mind.  Direct your emotions to be calm and at peace.
3. Take another deep breath. As you release it, become mentally awake and alert.  Drop the concerns of the day and become internally self-directed giving your whole attention to this exercise.
4. Focus your attention in the area of the forehead easily and without strain. Know that you are the creator of your body, emotions, and mind.  And as that creator, direct your will to integrate them into one coordinated unit through which your Inner Self can work.  Then silently sound the OM.

Part II

1. Now allow your consciousness to choose a place within your integrated body that seems most appropriate. Choose your heart, forehead, or the center of your head.  Take a few moments to focus your awareness in one of these areas.  The area you choose should be the most potent point of awareness within your body.  Then allow your consciousness to be magnetically drawn to this place.
2. When your consciousness resides within this location, know that from this focus, you are the most receptive to your Inner Self. Then, via your love and aspiration, attune with your Inner Self and know that you are aligned and receptive via the substance of your thought.  Hold gently receptive to your Inner Self.

Part III

1. For the first two to three minutes of this meditation visualize what it would be like, if through the Laws of the Universe, all of the injustices you ever committed as well as their resulting rigorous and exacting karma, were suddenly to be set aside, completely erased.
2. For the next two to three minutes visualize all of what you would term providential karma completely set aside or erased.
3. Then in the final stage of your meditation, take a few minutes to contemplate the union of these seemingly pairs of opposites. Contemplate what it would be like to live in the wholeness and oneness of the Eternal Moment of Now, where past and future do not exist, where happiness and sorrow do not exist, where good and evil do not exist… there is only your consciousness dwelling within the Infinite Consciousness of Oneness of the One Life.
4. When you are ready, express your gratitude for it being done or accomplished and open your eyes.

 

Bibliography

Parker, Jefferson T. 1992 (January 19) “THE OBSESSION WITH EVIL” The Los Angeles Times Section M, Page 1	Lewis, H. Spencer, Ph.D., F.R.C. SELF MASTERY AND FATE WITH THE CYCLES OF LIFE San Jose, CA:  Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC
Goldsmith, Joel 1961 THE THUNDER OF SILENCE New York:  Harper & Row, Publishers	Carpenter, Edward 1922 SECRET OF TIME AND SATAN Alyson Publishing Company

            ^[1] The creation of opposing opposites within Unity that are produced whenever energy is consciously divided into degrees of frequency.

            ^[2] The realization of differing (not opposing) frequencies within Unity.