I have a serious question that comes from my observations of life (mine and current events): why do evil and harm seem to have unlimited, even supernatural reach/effect while good and blessings appear to be limited by the time, resources, and energy of fallible humans?
I can’t attribute this observation to being atheist, because even when I used to believe in a sentient, all powerful god, that god appeared to do very little to save people from the harm others caused them. Comfort and strength to endure are not the same; the harm would continue unabated. (See racism, sexism, ageism, sexual abuse, financial abuse, and the lasting effects of those things ad nauseam.) The argument that humans have free will seems to back up what I have observed: good and blessings can only happen when fallible humans choose by their free will to do good and bless others while biased and wicked people’s behavior causes harm freely. So why is that, and what can realistically be done to escape that vicious cycle and have a good life NOW (not after death, if an afterlife even exists) when you have chosen to not be one of the evil ones?
5 responses to “Evil Wins?”
One of the things I try to do is something I also heard the Dali Lama say – that being kind to those within one’s personal sphere of influence is where we can begin. And hopefully, those spheres grow and begin to overlap. But I also feel a sense of despair that the evil is so contagious and destructive. I don’t have answers, but I do think about the same kinds of things. I’m also going to eventually watch/listen to what Robert Sapolsky has to say about why he believes we don’t have free will. I’m curious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX6jKdIBNKI is one of the videos.
I agree with the Dali Lama: at the very least, we can make things better one person at a time. I am thinking more broadly about how to break the cycle of having to suffer all of the time due to other people’s indifference (at best) or wickedness (at worst). It seems like building the life I want for myself keeps running into other people’s choices, and I want to find a way out of that cycle so I can thrive in the ways I desire and have worked towards. I don’t want to give up and adopt the mindset nothing I do matters, but I need to know my efforts are actually going to pay off, and sooner, rather than always later.
I struggle even with the good people doing all the good they can, just be virtue of being a good person, and still having what seems to be the worst luck, or who seems to be the ones taking the brunt of abuse, hatred, and pain. And the ones doing the harm seem to have blessings upon blessing rained down on them.
There are those who argue that those doing the harm are miserable themselves. But the innocents getting harmed are clearly hurting and miserable and yet the pain keeps hurting them while the ones doing the harm are happy and joyful.
So, I don’t know the answer. If there even is an answer. Just stuff I think about….
This is what bothers me too. I have a hard time believing the ones doing the harm are more miserable than the ones they harmed. It would only be fair if they were, but I don’t know. I think there is some misery or heaviness in them, because there is no way someone whose heart is full of love and light would do those things to others. Having a wicked heart is heavy, which may be why they keep harming others: harming others brings them joy that temporarily counters the heaviness they carry.
I typed my question into DeepSeek, and it synthesized a philosophical response that it summarized with, “The struggle is not between a supernatural, limitless evil and a weak, human good. It is between two different kinds of force: the spectacular, dissipative force of entropy (evil) and the quiet, persistent, and organizing force of creation (good). The former is easier to see, but the latter may be the more fundamental and enduring power in the universe.” While that doesn’t make me feel better about how evil vs. good works, it makes sense.
[…] In my previous post a little over a week ago I asked why it seems as though evil has a farther reach… I’ve continued to ponder that idea, and I gained some insight last night. Evil people get their way, because they persist and pivot and are relentless until they either get their way or are forced out of the equation. And once they are forced out of that equation, they channel their rage into finding or creating another equation to force themselves into. They are never truly done terrorizing society unless they are dead or decide to change their ways. […]