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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Experiencing Evil

Do you think people can be evil to the core?

I always try to think about people's motives for doing some of the things they do.

Do they do awful things due to mental illness or because they were treated horribly as a child?
Or is it in their DNA?

Because two people can go through the same experience and come out of it completely different.

I really looked for a clip from the movie "Constantine" where the woman tells the man that it isn't the demons that make people do evil things, that people are evil.

Couldn't find it though.

It just makes me wonder.

I remember reading about Ted Bundy and how when he was little he laid knives along side one of his relatives in bed.
And you know what became of Ted Bundy.

I had a friend with a son that put glass in his stepfather's bath water.
The kid was 2.
I haven't seen her in over 15 years.
I wonder what became of the boy.
What was going on and what made him do something like that?

Buddha said that we all have good seeds and bad seeds in us and it is up to each one of us which ones to water.
I believe that.

All of us have the capacity to do evil things.

Everyone one of us has likely loved someone they would kill for or hurt severely.
We may say it is justified.
Others would call it evil.

Everyone just a different idea of what evil is.
It can be an action.
Hateful words.
Maybe it is a lifestyle.

I don't know if some people are truly evil or not.
Many people do really, really bad things.
Many people are incredibly selfish.

Some people just want what they want when they want it
and to hell with anyone else.

Some people are mean because it makes them feel good to have power over someone else.
I don't know if it's evil.
It seems kind of evil.

Maybe it's the primitive parts of man coming out.
OR
Maybe it's the demons.
OR
Maybe those people just didn't water the right seeds.

I am not sure I will ever really have the answer to that question.
I do know that I am not evil so that's gonna have to be good enough for me.

8 comments:

  1. Everyone has the capacity for great evil. There have been studies where perfectly nice people can be coerced into doing terrible things because of the influence of others around them. We all fight the urges to take advantage and make the quick and easy path. It's all about the influences around you and how strong your inner conscience is to keep you on the straight and narrow. It's not easy. Often all it takes is one good person who believes in another's goodness to turn the tide. I think of the Ben Afflack movie 'The Town' were Ben's character was able to change the man his environment created because one person loved him enough to see more in him than a murdering bank robber.

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  2. I never did see that movie. I wondered about whether it was good or not.
    So many people think they would never do something really horrible or someone they know wouldn't.
    Thanks for stopping by and the follow.

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  3. I think we all have good seeds and bad seeds, and it is solely our decision which ones we water. Personality may come into play, but we can change that also. We are always capable of change if we want it; so yes, I really do think that there are people in this world who choose to water the bad seeds, no matter what their age; and that is a frightful thought if you happen to be unlucky enough to meet one of them in your lifetime.

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  4. I agree with Kal that we are all capable of great evil. When I found out my first husband was sleeping with the girl below us in an apartment bldg I was severely tempted to stab both of them to death. The thought of losing my children stopped me. I did not realize until then I was capable of murder.

    I read a study of serial killers and they found out all of them had brain damage. I guess they just have no control over themselves.

    Watering the good seeds is an apt description of what we should do.

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  5. Yvonne, We could be Buddha buddies. :)

    Belle, I did not know that about serial murderers and brain damage. Interesting.
    I have pictured myself hurting people before and knowing the thought is even in there is scary.

    Martha, thanks for stopping by.

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  6. none of us really know what we are capable of until a situation - good or bad - presents itself. we are all selfish in our own way and that can bring out some pretty ugly things if we let it. we all have demons that we need to fight; some just don't.

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Thanks for commenting.