Evil
Gregg’s Reflection
Somehow, as a child, my wiring got crossed, and I came to believe it was my job to prove myself worthy to God, or risk eternity in hell. The problem, as I began to understand decades later, is that we are flawed humans, bound to fall short of the glory of God. But, for decades, every small failure, every attempt that fell short of perfection reinforced my structure of ‘not good enough’.
Try as I might, I could never escape my shadow, and the existential fear of meeting God. So, the evil one only had to cross one wire in my subconscious and I would spend decades trying to prove what could never be proven.
In my 60’s I began to read the saints and mystics. When I stumbled on this quote from Julian of Norwich, I was stunned by the picture of God and His response to our sin.
“When we are fallen because of frailty or blindness, then our gracious Lord inspires us, stirs us and calls us, and then he wills that we see our wretchedness and humbly let it be acknowledged. But He does not wish us to remain thus. Nor does He will that we busy ourselves greatly about accusing ourselves, nor does He will that we be full of misery about ourselves; for He wills that we quickly attend to Him; for He stands all alone and waits for us constantly, sorrowing and mourning until we come, and hastens to take us to himself, for we are His joy and delight and He is our cure and our life.“
Most of the preaching on evil that I’ve heard focuses on personal sin. Yet, Paul speaks of sin in three levels: the world, the flesh and the devil. So, come along as we explore these three dimensions of evil we encounter on our journey through life. We may not recognize some of them.
Lean in understand our own falling short is only a small part of a big picture.
Blessings, Gregg
Journaling Prompts
How has a focus on individual sin kept you from seeing systemic evil emerging from our broken economic and cultural structures? In what ways can you see the injustice of our enforcement of laws, our system of education, our government’s focus on instruments of war while ignoring hunger and homelessness at home?
Scripture
Even though I walk through valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
Proverbs 3:7
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
John 3:20
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
1 Corinthians 13:6
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22
The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
2 Timothy 4:18
Ancient Writings
Evil only succeeds by disguising itself as good.
Thomas Aquinas, Richard Rohr, Spiral of Violence: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
The greatest evil is not that which is inflicted upon us by others, but that which we inflict upon ourselves by choosing sin.
St John Chrysostom
When we are fallen because of frailty or blindness, then our gracious Lord inspires us, stirs us and calls us, and then he wills that we see our wretchedness and humbly let it be acknowledged. But He does not wish us to remain thus. Nor does He will that we busy ourselves greatly about accusing ourselves, nor does He will that we be full of misery about ourselves; for He wills that we quickly attend to Him; for He stands all alone and waits for us constantly, sorrowing and mourning until we come, and hastens to take us to himself, for we are His joy and delight and He is our cure and our life.
Julian of Norwich, Doyle, Complete Julian, p. 357
God created humanity good, and allowed humanity the freedom to deviate into evil; this was not from a lacking in His goodness, but rather from love for humanity's autonomy.
Origen of Alexandria
Modern Writings
Compassion’s shadow is evil.
Mark Ritchie Spiritual Director
The psychological experience of a separate self sense is the root of all sin…It is the anxiety, the sense of separation, loneliness, or alienation – and all the negative feelings that flow from them – that are really the inspiration of seeking what we imagine as happiness, wherever it can be found, without being concerned about the consequences.
Thomas Keating, Heartfulness: Transformation in Christ
Jesus sees the evil in this world as a lack of trust in God’s love. He makes us see that we persistently fall back on ourselves, rely more on ourselves than on God, and are inclined more to love of self than love of God.
Henri Nouwen, Nouwen Society Daily Devotion, 4/14/2024
I do believe goodness is its own reward, with foundational peace and joy, and evil is its own punishment, with aimless anxiety and restlessness.
Richard Rohr, On the Threshold of Transformation, p. 145
When evil and institutionalized violence (“structural sin”) go unrecognized at the first level, the second and third levels of violence and evil are inevitable. If we don’t nip evil in the bud at the level where it is legitimated and disguised, we will have little power to fight it at the individual level.
By “world” we don’t mean creation or nature, but “the system”: how groups, cultures, institutions, and nations organize to protect themselves and maintain their power. This is the most hidden and denied level of evil and violence. We cannot see it because we’re all inside of it, and it is in our ego’s self-interest to protect this corporate deception.
Historically, organized religion has put most of its concern at the middle level of the spiral of violence, or what we called “the flesh.” Flesh in this context is individual sin, the personal mistakes that we make. Individual evil is certainly real, but the very word “flesh” has made us preoccupied with sexual sins, which Jesus rarely mentioned. When we punish or shame individuals for their sins, we are usually treating symptoms rather than the root problem or cause: the illusion of separation from God and others.
At the top of the spiral of violence sits “the devil.” This personification of evil is hard to describe because it’s so well disguised and even idealized. If “the world” is hidden structural violence, primarily through oppression and injustice, then “the devil” is sanctified, romanticized, and legitimated violence deemed culturally necessary to control the other two levels: the angry flesh and the world run amuck.
Any institution thought of as “too big to fail” or somehow above criticism has a strong possibility of diabolical misuse. Think of the military industrial complex, the penal system, the worldwide banking system, multinational corporations subject to no law, tax codes benefiting the wealthy, the healthcare and pharmaceutical establishments, the worldwide war economy led by my own country, or even organized religion. We need and admire these institutions all too much. Paul called this level of violence “powers, principalities, thrones, and dominions” (Ephesians 6:12).
If we do not recognize the roots of violence at the first structural level (“the world”), we will waste time focusing exclusively on the second and individual level (“the flesh”), and we will seldom see those real evils which disguise themselves as angels of light (“the devil”). Remember, Lucifer means “Light Bearer.”
Richard Rohr, Spiral of Violence: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
If we take evil lightly, we will surely be controlled by it. It always disguises itself as good. It has to look like virtue, or patriotism, security systems.
Richard Rohr, Living School Teaching
Richard Rohr: What Do We Do with Evil. We haven’t known how to recognize evil, so it has controlled history for the most part. St. Paul was a first rate religious genius, but he speaks with pre-modern words that most of us don’t understand.
The Ten Commandments are based on a retributive form of Justice. There we concentrated all our energy. Paul speaks of the World, the Flesh and the Devil as three places where evil hides. Acquinas says “No one intentionally does evil. They are convinced, given their value system, that they are doing good. We all get trapped by the three illusions. The “world” doesn’t mean nature, creation, or planet. We all live inside a glorified culture. It’s near impossible to buck the system in any culture. We are postmodern, nihilistic, individualists. We can’t see it without mystical consciousness.
First you have the matrix, the world. Then comes the flesh. This is individual, personal sin, individual evil which flows out of corporate, systemic evil. We are all stuck in a broken system, living out broken lives. We are not allowed to reveal the corporate sources of evil. We say “In God we Trust” but we put our real trust in the dollar, our military, our guns. We operate over 800 military bases, no other empire comes close. We live with the ambiguity of evil.
Individuals are blinded by their participation in the system. We all profit from the capitalist system. There is no pedestal of purity on which to stand. The sin system is sanctified, and Paul called it the Spirit of the Air, the demonic. Anything above criticism is diabolical. If it is above criticism, give it time and it will become demonic. The gun culture is another example. No culture since civilization began has encouraged every person to have a gun. It is a culture based on fear.
Any place we settled by war, it sanctified violence. The people who did it were the good people, the holy people, which usually amounted to the white people. That’s how we came to have the class system here. White supremacy was the spirit of the air. The law gives a sense that we are right, that we are good. Paul speaks of the ‘discernment of spirits,’ but whoever tries to call this out, is called evil.
Jesus did not believe in retributive justice. He preached a new covenant, a new relationship with Spirit, based upon the law written on your heart. I saw many in the jails who were imprisoned wrongly, because the system failed. When you are raised at the top of the system, we aren’t likely to know this, because the system was tilted in our favor. This is why Jesus said, “The last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The way to broaden your mind is to love, to have compassion. Once you listen to those who are caught up in a broken system, you realize often they were unjustly accused. You come to God better by doing it wrong than by doing it right. Those who do it right, become self-righteous. They are the Pharisees.
What do we do about evil? We discern it, and don’t identify it too quickly with what we call sin. We avert our gaze from real evil to silly things: Don’t eat fish on Friday. You can’t get divorced. You must go to mass on Sunday. None of this is evil. Do your moral judgment tentatively, lovingly, with humility. But, still say something. Find the language to name evil as evil, but let people off the hook for being sinner. Jesus never accused anyone of being sinners, except those who deny being sinners. Never accuse others of being sinners.
A system that has made itself necessary: the world. That it is now too big to fail, and above criticism: that’s the devil, the sin in the air.
Richard Rohr, Living School Teaching
How did the mystics call out evil in their times? How does mysticism confront evil?
God experience is inner experience. You learn to perceive things with much greater subtlety, to sense the inner movements of God. A subtlety of perception which allows you to see evil in unexpected places: the narcissism of a priest, the cruelty of a mother towards her child, the overaggressiveness of a policeman.
The very perception you gain in your God experience in many ways makes your life harder. You begin to see what’s really going on. You pay a price for God experience. You become more perceptive about what good is, and you become more perceptive about what evil is. Pay attention to the intrusions of disorder in your finely ordered life. Don’t dismiss them so easily. You will become very unpopular. Most don’t have an eye for spiritual truth.
Richard Rohr, Living School Teaching
Look at how evil can hide in our own good work. Altruism is a defense mechanism motivated by the need to feel better. There is a healthy narcissism required (bold humility).
Projection is a mechanism for shadow to operate. For the best insight into your shadow: Look at those you despise and look at those you greatly admire. You are projecting your shadow, both it's unacceptable parts, and the virtuous traits we dare not admit onto other people. Whatever is disowned (both unacceptable and noble traits) goes into our shadow, and then is projected onto others.
Key: don't take yourself too seriously. You need to claim it all: mistakes and goodness. Ego always has an agenda: to keep us safe. Every time we meet God it is a crisis event for the ego. Shadow shows up as the need to look like a good person. Projection is a mechanism for shadow to operate. Our own lens has a bias to it. Key: Don’t take yourself too seriously. Need to claim it all, mistakes and all.
Mark Ritchie, Spiritual Director