The Problem of Evil

Evil is a concept that was not introduced to humanity for most of our development, but came out in response to the dark ages in c. 1300-1200 BCE, when many of the world cultures had to start from scratch due widespread destruction. There are scholars who attribute this destruction to the “sea peoples”, though no one really knows what that means. Whatever the causes, Israel, India, China, the Middle East, and Greece had to fight tooth and nail to survive the pressures and come out the other side.

Having done so, they all developed some sort of moral direction in spite of the immoral or amoral gods of their pasts. Danger and pain became something that all of them incorporated into their world views. In Greece, the Myceneans had enjoyed what appears to have been a peaceful and joyous existence (though some have posited a dreadful element of human sacrifice behind the smiling goddesses displayed in the frescos), and were brought down by the forces of evil, leaving the tribes to loosely assemble into the poleis of the 5^th century. In response to this, the culture of the emerging Greeks was tempered by expectations of evil.

Instead of falling into the trap of the Myceneans, and finding that their peaceful existence can be wiped out by surprise at any moment, the tragedies and myths of the Greek peoples tended toward the macabre and intensely emotional. As I have mentioned before, this tendency worked to tie the people together in catharsis, sharing the experiences of fear and pain that would make them into a tighter unit and explain the need for community and government. The other side of it is the basic problem of evil that plagues the religious communities all over the world to this day. The Greeks came to the conclusion that there could be no peace or prosperity, no happiness without the converse agony.

As Americans, we seem to have forgotten this, whether it be truth or not. Whether we like it or not, we were founded on the ideals of the Greek city-state, but did not import the communion aspects of tragedy. We see evil on television- watching the crime dramas and housewives of some state or another, but without the connection to the drama, we are still spoiled. With all the money and time we have, most of us have no experience of personal tragedy at all. How far are we from a world where every evil and pain has been erased by the technologies of the future? And, once it happens, will any of us have a clue what happiness really is?

Perhaps we will squabble over the little things in life rather than appreciating the broader scheme. Perhaps we will find that there is less connection between us than there has ever been before, as our experiences of pain tie us into a cohesive whole.

I certainly don’t know, and the problem of evil continues…