From the work in progress Life: A Book About Learning to Live
By Jim Rosemergy
There is a place where there is no evil.
Evil fascinates us, or perhaps it is the perceived battle between good and evil that commands our attention. In literature, theater, song, and sacred writ, the battle of good and evil rages, and humanity is its battleground and instrument. We are assured that good will eventually triumph, but we wonder if the promise is true.
We are told it must get worse before its gets better but do everything in our power to stop the march of evil deeds. If we truly believed the prophecy of good’s triumph over evil, why do we resist the worsening times? Is it human nature to fight evil wherever we perceive it? Some argue that our nature is evil and that this is the root of the problem.
Could it be that a new story needs to be told and new songs sung, lyrics that tell of the demise of evil and a verse in a song that says evil does not exist? This is perhaps the most absurd thought that a human being can think. Only a person deluded by evil could propose such an idea. As soon as the idea—there is no evil—is introduced, feelings erupt from within us, and we begin to list historical atrocities and the evil deeds of our time. Some may doubt the existence of God, but they are sure of the existence of evil.
As the arguments that support the reality of evil grow in number, perhaps it is best to alter the statement, there is no evil, and instead to declare, there is a place where there is no evil. Now rather than arguing, the mind opens, our curiosity is peeked, and we ask in reply, “Where is this place?”
There are those who have found it. Most of them made the discovery while in the midst of horrific conditions, those that anyone would label evil, and yet they found a state of mind and heart where there was no malevolence. They touched a consciousness that altered their view of the world.
A leap of faith is called for—in an awareness of God, there is no evil. Can you grasp the idea that when you experience God’s presence, there is no evil? This is the great affirmation of our age—in God there is no evil. We can experience the presence of God. In fact, we are engineered so we can become conscious of our Creator, and when we awaken in God, there is no evil.
This, I believe, is the key to living in a world without evil. First, we must find and experience the place where there is no evil. We are to experience the Presence. Having witnessed this new world, we return to our daily life less resistant to evil and more willing to champion a new way of dealing with our world’s challenges.
It is foolish to say that there is no evil on earth. Actually, evil runs deeper than the earth. Evil exists in human consciousness. It is rooted in our attitudes and beliefs. Perhaps the foremost belief is that in some way God has ordained a battle of good and evil.
I think that it is strange that God who is supposed to be so powerful is locked in a battle of good and evil and over the last 5000 years has not been able to triumph over evil. Perhaps it is that God is not at war. This is what prayerful people have discovered. Whenever they touch the Presence or are touched by God, they find no evil, no battle, and no resistance. They find love and goodness.
People who make this discovery will no longer fight. Instead, their desire is to live from their newly experienced consciousness of goodness and love. Because they will not fight, they do not evoke fear in others. They do not threaten the well-being of others. Their countenance and way of life serves as an example to others who are tired of endless conflict.
Humanity has turned every war it has fought into a battle of good and evil. One side is good and the other side is evil. The enemy is demonized when the fact is that the opposing soldier is just as much a parent to his/her children as the other side. The person who has found the place where there is no evil sees the world this way.
This new vision awaits us. When we visit the place where there is no evil, we see the angry person as one who is afraid or who wants to be loved. Appearances no longer deceive us. There is no battle of good and evil. There are fearful people who have not yet found the place where there is no evil. It is for those of us who have seen this land to gently take the fearful one by the hand and lead him to a land of love and goodness.
This vision is not blind to what is happening in the world. There are deeds done that are best described as evil. Evil is as good as any word to describe the Holocaust, the mass graves of Iraq, or the genocide of the Sudan. Those who live from God’s presence are not blind to earthly conditions, but there is also the clear knowing that evil exists in human consciousness, not in God.
This discovery asks an obvious question. Why live in and from human consciousness where evil deeds are done and battles rage? Why don’t we make the choice to live in and from an awareness of the Presence where there is no evil and where battles cannot be born?