Good and Evil

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Most cultures have stories about the battle between ‘good’ and ‘evil’. They are often long and drawn out tales of epic struggles.
Ever since I was a kid I have liked those stories. At the time the significance was pretty much lost to me ~ that understanding came quite a few years later. But the really cool thing about those stories is that in the end ‘good’ always wins. ‘Good’ is always stronger, smarter, and more ingenious than ‘evil’.
And who doesn’t want to be smart and strong, and yes, good?

The most significant trait of the ‘good side’ may well be innocence. An innocence that is kept by “seeing no evil, hearing no evil, and speaking no evil”.

In the world of today this may seem naive. There are so many things going on in so many places all over the globe that ~ even when we might not call them outright ‘evil’, certainly are not ‘good’. And not seeing that, hearing that, or speaking up about that may seem like a person refuses to face reality.

On the other hand, if you have deep inside the Self the believe that a person ~ any person ~ is ‘good’. Even if that ‘goodness’ is buried underneath so many attitudes and mindsets that it hardly shows anymore ~ if you believe that the innermost core of that person is still ‘good’, it is very hard to see or hear the ‘evil’ (granted, the speaking ‘evil’ is a bit harder to escape ~ after all ‘innocent gossip’ is a form of ‘evil’ all in itself...)

One might think that this innocence ~ this naive perspective, this refusal to face the realities of life ~ would make a person weaker. It definitely seems to be viewed as a weakness in our world...
And yet, it is this innocence that makes the ‘good’ even better in the long-told tales of ‘good’ and ‘evil’.

Now, many years later I have a far better comprehension of the underlying story lines. It makes the age-old stories more interesting ~ it also makes it a bit more confusing as to how they could play out in our world today... ‘Good’ and ‘evil’ sounded so delightfully simple. And once you knew who the ‘good guys’ were, and who were the ‘bad guys’ ~ it was an easy choice who to side with...

But unfortunately, even ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are not as one-dimensional as that ~ as there is this inner layer to ‘good’ and ‘evil’ that brings the battle between them right into ourselves. And suddenly it is not only about the virtues that make one ‘good’ ~ it is also about how willing we are to stand up for that inner core of our Selves that is innately ‘good’.
Even if that means the sacrifice of worldly goods...
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