Search No Evil

Ghost Teachers

Cultural Lessons from the Spirit World

When my kids ask me if I think ghosts are real, I always reply with "I hope not." Not because I'm afraid of ghosts, but because I think it would be horrible to be a ghost and I don't want to think that it's a possibility. I am intrigued, though, by the fact that so many cultures believe in ghosts and that those beliefs vary so widely.

There is a strong dichotomy between cultures which welcome ghosts as treasured family members and those that fear them. In China, for example, traditional families welcome ghosts as honored family members. In European cultures, on the other hand, ghosts are more often either feared as evil beings or pitied as people who cannot move on and accept their fates.

I wonder if this doesn't have a deeper significance. Chinese culture traditionally has deep roots in the past. Ancestors are honored and new choices and actions frequently reflect a reverence for the past and traditions. In this context, welcoming ghosts for their protection and wisdom makes sense.

European, and especially American, cultures fear getting stuck. The past is full of seeds destined to grow into a glorious future. Focusing too much on the past prevents us from nurturing those seeds and developing to our full potential. Therefore, European and American ghosts, when they aren't vengeful and angry, are tragic figures immobilized by sadness and regret. In literature, ghosts occasionally pass on wisdom or offer protection like the Asian ghosts, but more frequently they are looking for vengeance or trapped by regrets. They caution us to make peace with those around us so that we are free to grow and develop. Beyond the warnings, do you think they might have some wisdom to offer too?

Can You Recognize a Villain?

Teaching Kids About Evil

Evil witches, dark villains and cruel bullies pervade children's games and stories. They are usually one-dimensional and easily identifiable. Even President Snow in the middle-school targeted Hunger Games series smells like blood. Good always triumphs and the kids are left feeling empowered. Unfortunately, real evil is seldom so simple.

Most toddlers go through a phase where they are frightened of strangers. Our children were so frightened that we were concerned about their social development. Fearing their shyness would be crippling, we emphasized that most people are nice, that making new friends can be fun and that some adult strangers are okay.

In fact, when our daughter was in preschool she was so scared of others that we were afraid she would hide from the police or fire fighters if she were ever in trouble, so we started approaching people in uniform and introducing her in the hope that she would be able to recognize the uniform as a sign of safety. While still shy, both children are now willing to try to reach out and meet new kids.

But evil does exist, and as our children grow we need to teach them to stay safe. The question is, how do we keep them safe without scaring them to death. We've chosen to emphasize critical thinking skills. Not 100% effective, I know, but nothing is. It still makes me sad to tell them that no adult stranger would need their help and that all requests should be met by running away. We teach them to look for motives in behavior and to try to find multiple possibilities before deciding on a course of action. I hope that it makes them into thoughtful, rather than suspicious and mistrusting, adults.

Beware the Evil Eye

or How to Get Along in a Group

Have you ever knocked on wood to prevent misfortune? Or watched your words when talking about something you hope will happen? If so, then you are consciously or unconsciously warding off the evil eye. Alan Dundes, Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at UC Berkeley published a fascinating book about the mythology surrounding the evil eye and exploring the myriad of superstitions that persist. Toasting, spitting, acknowledging sneezes and naming our children all have some distant links to fear of the evil eye.

According to Dundes, multiple cultures believe in some form of the evil eye. Although it isn't universal, he reports that it is globally very wide-spread and that it dates back at least as far as ancient Sumerian times. In the Anthropology of Religion, Dundes is cited as saying that many cultures use the evil eye to prevent jealous arguments between community members. Tipping in restaurants, for example, was thought to prevent the server from resenting the patron and casting an evil eye on him or her.

Worry about calling attention to oneself and therefore drawing the evil eye to look at you, or at your children, caused people to behave in socially acceptable manner. I wonder if that didn't actually benefit them in some ways. Superstitions are currently rejected vehemently by educated people as being contrary to science and therefore foolish. But very little has risen to take their place in society, and I wonder if that loss hasn't resulted in a little more callousness and competition between neighbors.

Evil as an Agent of Change

Consider a witch's brew, for example.

I recently re-read the book Midwives by Chris Bohjalian in which a well-meaning midwife looses at patient during a home-birth and is tried for murder. No one claims that she is evil, but it got me thinking about how frequently people who hold on to old ways of doing things are vilified, and how that often turns into a conversation about evil.

Consider a witch's brew, for example. At best it is now considered an potent alcoholic beverage. Historically it often referred to a poisonous drink meant to harm or even kill.

What if witches were once wise-women who brewed strong teas to treat illnesses in the absence of more formal medicine. Occasionally the brew might have harmed someone, either because the woman didn't mix the ingredients carefully, or because the patient had an allergy. It's easy to see this being blown up into a story of intentional harm. As early Christian's sought to vilify pagans, wise women with seemingly magical knowledge would be easy targets.

Similarly, idols or tokens meant to help a person feel empowered and remind her of her spirituality, are vilified by both Protestant Christians and Jews. Interestingly, Catholics and other Orthodox Christian sects view icons and objects such as rosary beads as holy and those items served as a rallying point for the Christian reformation. Modern Jews often interpret the admonition against idolatry to refer to an over-emphasis on money or secular persuits, but the bible is clear that when Abraham smashed the idols they were physcial objects. Smashing them and calling them "evil" separated him from the others in his community in a dramatic gesture that drew attention to the new style of worship that he was proposing just as focusing on them later divided the Christian community.

C.S. Lewis & G.K. Chesterton on Evil

Two English Writers and Their Historical Response

The problem of evil is perhaps the world's longest and most enduring of questions. Perhaps, it was the evil, the pain, the suffering, and distress of our ancestors that caused them to develop philosophy and religious practices in the first place. That is not to say that religious practices and beliefs or philosophical ideas are simply crutches to deal with the pain and evil that seems to exist in life. Nor is that to deny the possibilities, validity, or realities of revelations that provide the backbone for most religious practices.

To think that the world is full of evil and that evil can take form or shape, that evil itself can draw breath is to place oneself at extreme disadvantage. Even if such things were really the case, the dangers to the psychological well-being of an individual are incredible and lead to a cornucopia of phobias, disorders, and delusions of perception. Here is the true issue: we as humans must still deal with the very real presence of evils and what is viewed as evil.

The world of C.S. Lewis turned on this issue. The stories of one of his favorite contemporary authors, G.K. Chesterton, also focus on evil. They are stories, fictions, essays, philosophical treatises, and even The Chronicles all revolving around the basic issues of evil and good and presenting the historical dichotomy in a variety of approaches towards different settings. Each of these authors ultimately find their satisfactory solution to the problems of evil by Θεός εκ μακαυά (Latin: Deus ex machina), or the use of the Divine solution.

"Three Wise Monkeys"

Why Search Evil?

The three monkeys or the three wise monkeys are widely known as representing the principle of "hearing, speaking, and seeing no evil". The idea itself stems from the Tendai Buddhist sect and is widely known throughout the East as well as Western civilizations. In Japan, it has become a part of folklore religion and a part of custom as well as culture. One of the principles at play, may be said, as the idea to acknowledge, hear, or speak of evil or evil itself is inherently wrong and a dangerous path to take as evil then acts as a contagion infecting all those around.

John Milton's Areopagitica, written while the freedom of the press in the English Commonwealth was at stake, mentions this sort of intellectual and ethical withering. Noting that the mind and its capabilities appear juvenile without examination of evil when he describes, "That virtue therefore which is but a youngling in the contemplation of evil, and knows not the utmost that vice promises to her followers, and rejects it is but a blank virtue." The argument here indicating that to simply walk blind, deaf, and speechless through the world of good and evil or positive and negative is that we are left open to even greater extremes.

In much of Western civilization, this maxim's adoption has grown and shrunk, waxed and waned over the years. It is noted that to adopt such a maxim is not always the wisest course to take. However, Gandhi was quite fond of these symbols and their meanings and perhaps, among many other things, these symbols spurred him to address the evils present around the world and in his own country. The example of Gandhi provides an action plan in addressing evils. Perhaps it is the slow pace of acknowledging evil and evaluating just exactly what that evil is that contributes to an intellectual and ethical lethargy. It is perhaps at that time, when discernment is weakest that the greatest evils are committed.

Traditional Native American Conceptions of Evil

An Analysis

Evil has come to represent many things for many people around the world. Native American folklore and spirituality have a unique view of the nature of reality in regards to good and evil. In the oral traditions of many tribes, evil is most often personified and usually this personification takes the form of an animal. The animal is often known as a "trickster" and plays this role throughout a variety of mythological and legendary adventures.

The Native Americans viewed the good/evil dichotomy in such a way that even if great evil was done, some other good or goal was achieved. The variety of this sort of presentation gives the Native American tradition an even wider spectrum of ways in which to view the world and the places that all things in the world occupy within that worldview. Some of humanity's greatest achievements are viewed in this light including the discovery of fire (in various stories a trickster usually steals the "fire of the gods" and brings it to humans and the world in general).

This unique view and interpretation of evil and the consequences of people's actions creates a wide range of expression open and available to individuals. The scale of good and evil moves somewhat depending on the storyteller and the listener or reader. In the majority of cases, the stories also express an individual's participation in this relationship of good and evil. The characters often find their meaning through their actions, thoughts and dialogue. It is also through numerous comparisons that ultimately the individual finds their own identity and personification, whether as a "trickster" or otherwise.

Economic Evil

Let This Be The First Evil

Evil...the most common definition of "evil" appears to be that it is something that does not actually exist, in other words that it is not by necessity a tangible reality. "Evil," they say, "is situations", or "is an impartial force" or it exists only in the mind, or it is simply a manifestation of some inward thought process, and some say there is even a Satan--the variety of definition indicates not only that it exists in the mind, but that it exists in the minds of many individuals around the world. Sometimes, what exists in the mind merges seamlessly without a sound with the behavior and actions of humans throughout the world. Perhaps, there is a personification of evil...

Take for example, the case of control. How much control is evil? Is it evil to control a situation, a person, or an animal even when a situation demands it? Some would say that different companies (whose names will not be listed here) love to find new ways to increase their control over possible revenue streams and how they are generated. This sort of financial hot stepping generated the major "antimonopoly monocle guy" legislative measures and court proceedings with some very notable companies in the 1990's. It is not to their discredit that they sought to take control of the market. That concept is certainly a part of contemporary American economic policy (supply and demand economics, laissez-faire, etc.) as well as other nations around the world, and that does not seem to be the real issue; the issue seems to rest firmly with the companies who were so successful at achieving their goals.

Other companies and corporations would like to cash in as well. It is simply not fair that one company come to dominate a market so thoroughly that it destroys its competition and people lose their jobs. However, that would seem to lead to remarkably controlled and protected economy and perhaps that is what the situation is demanding. To go down that road of increased control asserts the role of government in economic movements and further limits the freedoms of individuals and corporations not necessarily a part of the corporate and political oligarchic structure that seems to permeate American society at present. So, on the one hand a not so good situation and on the other hand an evil that most find even more dangerous. Search no evil continues...