Can't help it but thinking about evil brings me back to that "retribution" thing I brought up several posts back. Maybe it is that to me forgiveness is so often such a brave and good thing, and retribution is so much the opposite of forgiveness. And cowardly. And comes from fear.
Another thing I have about evil, is that because I was brought up as a Christian Scientist, they don't use the word, or concept of evil. The word they use is "error." Because the both start with "e" I would get them confused sometimes.
Finally, I can't help but notice that you have used William Blake's art in your posts. Just an interesting note, when I first met you and Albert like 50 years ago on winter break from UMass, I was deep into Blake for a class I took that semester. Funny, huh?
Thanks for writing, Keith. You are right that the ability to forgive is powerful and benefits the forgiver more than the forgivee... The desire for 'revenge' is not centering, even if it's all consuming. Forgiveness or a desire for revenge are responses to personal injury.
I am judging certain actions that happen far from me as wrong or bad, or evil!, and I am thinking about how to express why I believe that these actions are wrong. It's a relevant topic because my god is bigger than your god doesn't cut it any more, as criteria, if it ever did.
One way to think about the dif between error and evil is: error is the act, evil is the result.
William Blake is a man after my own heart... Thanks again, J
Can't help it but thinking about evil brings me back to that "retribution" thing I brought up several posts back. Maybe it is that to me forgiveness is so often such a brave and good thing, and retribution is so much the opposite of forgiveness. And cowardly. And comes from fear.
Another thing I have about evil, is that because I was brought up as a Christian Scientist, they don't use the word, or concept of evil. The word they use is "error." Because the both start with "e" I would get them confused sometimes.
Finally, I can't help but notice that you have used William Blake's art in your posts. Just an interesting note, when I first met you and Albert like 50 years ago on winter break from UMass, I was deep into Blake for a class I took that semester. Funny, huh?
Thanks for writing, Keith. You are right that the ability to forgive is powerful and benefits the forgiver more than the forgivee... The desire for 'revenge' is not centering, even if it's all consuming. Forgiveness or a desire for revenge are responses to personal injury.
I am judging certain actions that happen far from me as wrong or bad, or evil!, and I am thinking about how to express why I believe that these actions are wrong. It's a relevant topic because my god is bigger than your god doesn't cut it any more, as criteria, if it ever did.
One way to think about the dif between error and evil is: error is the act, evil is the result.
William Blake is a man after my own heart... Thanks again, J