As I have tried to explain to you, the rigorous concepts of good and evil are themselves highly distorted, and when you find such a dilemma where goodness is one thing and evil another, and both contrary and separate, then you automatically separate them in your minds and in your feelings and in your fantasies. You do not seem at this point able to realize that what you call evil works for what you call good, or that both are a part of energy, and that you are using energy to form your reality, both now and after this life. This is because you deal with effects physically, as you see them. And until you divest yourself of such psychological behavior, it will always seem to you that good and evil are opposites, and you will treat them as such in your feelings and in your concepts and in your myths.

No! There are no forces outside of yourselves that in your terms cause you to do evil. Unfortunately, what you think of as good and evil reside within yourselves, and you cannot blame an evil force for the destruction that runs rampant across the earth. Again, in your terms, these are your problems, and no god or devil put them upon you, and there is no one to blame but yourselves. On the other hand, for the seasons and the idiot flower (looks at Joel H.), you have yourselves to thank. You are learning how to use the creative energy of which you are a part, and you are indeed quite isolated, so you cannot do much harm, in your terms. And so that the evil that you think you do is an illusion. And so that for the millions that you think you slay, you slay not one. And so that despite you and your concepts of value, creativity always emerges triumphant, and those that are killed in one war come back to fight against war the next time, and hopefully, you teach yourselves some lessons. And if you destroy your planet, you will have others to work with, and those that were destroyed are not destroyed. You are in a training system. The mistakes in the long run, and in your terms, will not count, but they are very real to you at this time.

However, there is something that you should know. Because you are physically oriented, you early got it into your heads that goodness must have a place in the physical universe and evil must have a place within it. And so you set up for yourselves the division of Heaven and Hell. In one story or another, it has existed far back into the annals of your time. Now give us a moment.

[...] Your idea of the devil represents the same kind of process, except that it stands for your idea of evil or darkness, or abilities that you are afraid of. [...] I am not speaking of evil possibilities, but that man must realize that he is responsible for his acts, whether they are called good or evil.

Jehovah and the Christian version of God brought about a direct conflict between the so-called forces of good and the so-called forces of evil by largely cutting out all of the intermediary gods, and therefore destroying the subtle psychological give-and-take that occurred between them—among them—and polarizing man’s own view of his inner psychological reality.

You make your own reality, Man’s “evil” exists because of his misunderstanding of his own ideals, because of the gap that seems to exist between the ideal and its actualization. Evil actions, in other words, are the result of ignorance and misunderstanding. Evil is not a force in itself.

[...] Basically there is no evil action. [...] Within your field, within your moral field, you must indeed strike out against that which appears evil to you.

[...] Nothing here must ever be taken as a justification for evil, in humanity’s terms. For many practical reasons at this point, and please underline at this point, it is necessary that man fight against what he considers evil, for he strengthens himself immeasurably by so doing.

It is also true however, in a completely different framework, that evil is of his own creation, at least evil as he thinks of it. [...]

You will often condone quite reprehensible acts if you think they were committed for the sake of a greater good. You have a tendency to look for outright evil, to think in terms of “the powers of good and evil,” and I am quite sure that many of my readers are convinced of evil’s force. Evil does not exist in those terms, and that is why so many seemingly idealistic people can be partners in quite reprehensible actions, while telling themselves that such acts are justified, since they are methods toward a good end.

THE GOOD, THE BETTER, AND THE BEST.

[...]

Good evening.

GOOD AND EVIL, PERSONAL AND MASS BELIEFS, AND THEIR EFFECT UPON YOUR PRIVATE AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCE

Heading for the chapter: “Good and Evil, Personal and Mass Beliefs, and Their Effect Upon Your Private and Social Experience.” [...]

Now: I outlined some opposing ideas held by many people — all involving concepts of good or evil being applied in areas in which they do not belong.

(9:30.) On the one hand, quite simply and in a way that you cannot presently understand, evil does not exist. However, you are obviously confronted with what seem to be quite evil effects. Now it has been said often that there is a god, so there must be a devil — or if there is good, there must be evil. [...]

PROBABILITIES, THE NATURE OF GOOD AND
EVIL, AND RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM

The chapter heading: “Probabilities, the Nature of Good and Evil, and Religious Symbolism.”

[...] The intellect says, “If there is good, there must be evil,” for it wants things explained in neat parcels. [...] The inner self, however, realizes that in much larger terms, evil is simply ignorance, that “up” and “down” are neat terms applied to space which knows no such directions.

[...] If you believe, for example, that all good must be balanced by evil, then you bind yourself into a system of reality that is highly limiting, and that contains within it the seeds of great torment.

In such a system, even good becomes suspect, because an equal evil is seen to follow it. [...]

[...] Father Doren was seen as a spontaneous but evil man. Father Ryan was seen as rigid and uncompromising, but good. [...]

[...] He was uncontrolled— uncontrollable, lax, slow, and yet evil. The father had money and was evil. [...]

[...] She was evil. [...] Therefore evil also, and so he shall not run; running being symbolic of spontaneity. [...]

[...] Limited, dogmatic, or rigid concepts of good and evil can hold you back. [...]

[...] In such cases, through perhaps a group of existences, you will find yourself battling against ideas of good and evil, running about in a circle of confusion, doubt, and anxiety.

[...] I am telling you again, therefore, that many of your ideas of good and evil are highly distortive, and shadow all understanding you have of the nature of reality.

[...] You deny yourself many of these advantages however through the artificial alienation that you have set up by your present wake-sleep patterns, to which, again, your ideas of good and evil are intimately connected.

[...] Your beliefs of good and evil will become much more clear to you, and you will no longer need to project repressed tendencies out upon others in exaggerated fashion.

[...] They will ascribe it to primitive or evil or unconscious sources, and even attempt to censor their dreams in that regard. [...] If sex is equated with evil, the other group will of course be considered evil.

[...] With all of this discussion of negative beliefs, therefore, it is a good idea not to call any beliefs bad or evil in themselves. They are no more bad or evil in their own way, say, than viruses are in theirs. [...]

I bid you another most fond good afternoon.

(“Good afternoon, Seth.”)

Now, in politics and religion, (Prime Minister) Begin believes it much more practical to deal with the Sinful Self and its “evil prerogatives” than he does with the better self that may indeed represent “the Son of God in man.” He is not waiting around, therefore, by relying upon or overrelying upon, in his view, man’s good intent. The Sinful Self is convinced of its own evil, and the evil intent of others, and so it is driven to protect itself ahead of time. [...]

(9:13.) Kubler-Ross does not believe as deeply in the existence of evil forces, but is convinced of the importance and necessity of suffering in one way or another as an important means of achieving a good end. [...]

The Castaneda system accepts the power of evil, for example (long pause), presenting a framework in which those people who do accept such power can confront it, along with a system of exercises and beliefs meant to minimize evil’s effects. [...]

[...] You will then consider goodness and powerlessness to be somewhat synonymous, and equate power with evil. Not wanting to face such “evil” in yourself, you may then direct it outward and transfer it to another area.

(Pause.) Love is propelled by all of the elements of natural aggression, and it is powerful; yet because you have made such divisions between good and evil, love appears to be weak and violence strong. [...] The “devil” becomes a powerful evil figure, for example. [...]

[...] (Pause.) If you accept the basic idea that evil is more powerful than good, then your beneficial acts will bear little fruit because of your own framework; you assign such small power of action to them.

[...] Again, good and evil and the freedom of choice came to the species’ aid. The evil animal was the natural predator, for example. [...]

Good and evil then simply represented the birth of choices, initially in terms of survival, where earlier instinct alone had provided all that was needed. [...]

[...] Good and evil, the desirable and the less so, were invaluable aids then in helping form the basis for such separations.

If you see evil all about you in physical life, and if it seems to outweigh the good, then you are not ready. [...]

If your ideas of good and evil are rigorous, unbending, then you do not have the understanding that is necessary for any conscious manipulation in this other dimension. [...]

If you believe all men are evil, you simply will not experience the goodness in men. [...]

Evil, so termed, is a lack of knowledge, a lack of fulfillment, a lack of growth, measured against that which has felt inward enough to understand more of its nature. Evil is therefore less desirable. The whole process however is toward understanding in which the evil is doubled and erased, but the growth must come from something that is not yet grown, and you cannot call a seed evil because it is not yet the flower.

Good evening.

(“Good evening, Seth.”)

Now in the first place the symptoms are not evil nor his enemies, but methods of instruction that he has himself chosen; and if ever he imagines them isolated in such a fashion, they should be imagined instead as being projected out from him into the whole of the universe where they are absorbed harmlessly, and their energy used to the greater good.

He attempted to destroy the animal of evil, and it bit him back. Now evil does not exist in those terms, and even illness or fear is not necessarily an enemy, as much as an aid to understanding and the means to a greater end.

Now the evil which Ruburt imagined he was projecting outward does not exist, but because he believed it did, he formed his materialization from his fears. [...] Now in larger terms, and in the deepest sense, there is no evil, only your lack of perception, but I know this is difficult for you to accept. [...]

[...] With the eraser the “evil hand” would try to rub out all of the good, and at the same time the “good hand” would be trying to erase all of the evil. [...] You will have a tendency to consider the body with its natural appetites wrong, and deny them, while at the same time the physical part of you will look upon your “good intents” as wrong, and infringements upon its own existence.

[...] A rigid, dogmatic concept of good and evil will force you to perceive physical existence as a battleground of opposing forces, with the poor unwary soul almost as a buffer. Or you will think of the poor soul as a blackboard eraser, slapped between two hands — one good and one evil.

In such a case, you will have already been convinced of the power of evil. [...] You may be filled with the feeling that you are in the midst of a great cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil — and indeed, this often represents a valid picture of your own view of the world.

[...] They were intense encounters with good and evil as you understood them at the time and when you acted, you acted according to your terms of good and evil. Therefore, be careful of those ideas now that you entertain of good and evil. [...]

[...] Now, I tell you, and I have told you many times, and regardless of how intellectually confusing it may sound to you in greater terms, there simply is no evil. And as long as you are aware of what seems to be evil effects then you are still in ignorance. [...] Whatever violence you did you did because you thought it was good and met a worthy end then; therefore, be careful of those ideas that you entertain now and what you will do to defend them. [...]

[...]  There is good without evil and this is simply the state of your understanding at this time. [...]

[...] Now you have some idea in your head that good is gentle and bad is violent and that no violence can be good and this is because in your mind, violence and destruction are the same thing. Now by this analogy, you see, the soft voice is the holy voice and the loud voice is the wicked voice and the firm step is the bad voice and the soft step is the good voice and a strong desire is the bad desire and a weak one the good one so that you become afraid of projecting ideas outward or desires outward, for in the back of your mind you think that what is powerful is evil and what is weak is good and must be protected and coddled and prayed for and begged for. [...]

[...] You were terrified of it because you are terrified of the idea that evil is more powerful than good, and that one stray violent thought of yours was more important and more powerful than the vitality of good. [...]

[...] The holy soul turned inside out is some fleshpot, let’s put it that way, but you have always been involved with questions concerning good and evil and you had two existences in two civilizations in Egypt. [...]