Is Evil universal? Does the Devil exist? Answers here.
An original point of view on the problem of Evil, challenging the position of the dominant culture (for excellent reasons...)
In my previous article, an exposé of the occult roots of postmodern radical left ideology (as to say the dominant culture in the English-speaking West, by imposition), I claimed and I think proved that the single most important influence on that ideology is Crowley, a man who liked to go by the name of the devil and is still broadly considered as such, and that postmodern radical left ideology, based on its effects on individuals and society, is the vehicle of an evil that is infinitely greater than anything Crowley ever did.
I will claim here that postmodern radical left ideology is evil by the standards of any human society that ever existed, anywhere, anytime. Which is a difficult claim to make since “evil” is a Western construct which varies in form, meaning, and connotations even between Western countries.
For the proponents of that ideology this claim makes no sense at all, as they see everything as subjective, what is good and bad is down to the individual, whom they consider as the definer of reality and moral action. For them the will of the individual is sacred, always, except when you don’t conform to their lunatic theories in which case they feel entitled to bully, demonize, or persecute you (which betrays their sharing an idea of good and evil, which tends to be the reverse of what pretty much anyone who existed before them had…).
While I can’t convince those who are blinded by ideology and tribal and power dynamics, since I am trying to push a new philosophy for this digital age, and it begins with something that reminds of the philosophy of someone who went around bragging to be the devil, I feel it’s necessary from me to address the problem of evil exhaustively, as I started to do with my previous article.
All cultures know what’s evil
As far as I am aware, every culture has developed ideas on what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong, which tend to have recognizable patterns. Among the “bad”, there is bad that is considered very bad, and that absolute bad tends to have a name that is stronger than the “bad” of accidentally breaking an egg. In Western culture that name is “evil”, but all cultures have a name for that extreme bad, tend to have visual representations of it (demon-like figures recur also outside Western culture), and rituals to ward it off.
Even if cultures have different names to call “evil” and its meaning varies, we can recognize patterns that are cross-cultural. Good is what produces harmony, progress, justice, and order. Evil is what produces disharmony, decadence, chaos, and destruction. Those who came before us all had an idea of which attitudes and behaviors brought good fruits and which ones bitter fruits. Based not just on superstitions or arbitrary constructs, but also and mostly on generations of experience.
Now, I confess I haven’t studied in depth all the cultures that ever existed, so if you are aware of any culture that didn’t develop concepts or good/bad, right/wrong, and wrongs that are so wrong to deserve a word that has cursing power comparable to our “evil”, feel welcome to prove me wrong. Happy to learn new things. Please keep savages out of the equation, although what I am saying is probably valid also for them. I want Culture, complex civilizations that left behind themselves something more than dust. I accept to reason on primitive tribes as a model we should learn from only if they had nukes and they showed to be wise about them (in the interest of the conservation of our species).
Evil is not a construct
The word “evil” itself is indeed a cultural construct, which doesn’t mean there is no reality to it, that it is entirely an illusion. Sure, it doesn’t materially exist in the world of the senses, the plane we share which I call objective reality. But it can influence it. It can have consequences. The worse possible consequences….
The universality of good and evil is due to their existence on a psychic plane, which is indeed subjective but tends to find shared cultural forms and ultimately be shaped by them.
This dualism probably originated with language, it’s been there since the dawn of civilization. It is software that fits well our hardware. The question should be not whether there is an objective reality to good and evil, but whether there is a plane of our psyche in which those opposites exist and operate, if there are cross-cultural patterns in the forms and meanings they take, how their consequences manifest in the world, and with which results.
While there have been a great variety of ideas of good and evil, and of ways to define them, I think all cultures that ever existed would agree on one thing: the dominant culture in today’s West is firmly on the evil side, as it promotes as virtues what they would consider flaws (such as pride, selfishness, lust, weakness of character, hypocrisy, and victimhood) while not promoting any of what they would have considered virtues. If you think I am exaggerating, please make an example of a culture, from any time and place, that wouldn’t condemn the philosophical core of the postmodern radical left, which I exposed here.
In case some radical leftist ideologue has trouble following me, let me make a practical example. In any culture that has ever existed until yesterday, if a dad or a mum caught you drugging, mutilating, or abusing in other ways their child, they would consider it not just bad but “evil”. The word they may use for “evil” can vary, and mean different things, but you can rest assured that it will be cursing enough to trigger an action from them which may vary between cultures but can be summarized as “kicking your 4$$ badly”. That’s a universal consequence for a universal evil. It’s evil also by the standards of the animal kingdom, for sure at least for mammals, who while not possibly understand the concept of evil would also tend to rip you apart if you touch their cubs. Because protecting our children, our love for them, is a universal, and the fact that there are degenerate parents doesn’t change this truth, the same way that while there are several people born without an arm or losing an arm we can still safely affirm that humans have two arms.
Please note that not believing in good and evil doesn’t make you immune to them. The psychic plane where they exist is not something you can get rid of by denying its existence (like you cannot get rid of your being male or female no matter how hard you try, as it’s written in your genes). While denying their existence, the postmodern radical left seems to have a clear idea of good and evil. If I said that gender theory is a bad trip or even worse if I “misgendered” someone, I’d get a reaction from them like if I went around in the Middle Ages questioning the virginity of Mary.
I don’t deny there is some truth in considering good and evil an illusion, but I argue they are a sticky illusion that is hardwired in our brains whatever our culture. Most importantly, they can operate on the plane that I call objective reality, the one we are sharing, and therefore have a profound impact on our human experience and our destiny.
Does the devil exist?
The devil, as to say evil taking the form of a supernatural entity, is also quite universal although I am less sure it is as universal as the concept of evil itself, no matter its variations. Indeed demons can be found in a lot of cultures from any time and place.
In my searches and adventures, I had encounters with spirits of darkness and also with a couple of ghosts (all good, I am cool like Goofy with this stuff). Something that impressed me, in particular, was witnessing and practicing as a student a technique called “spirit release”, which is basically a gentle exorcism performed through hypnosis. It was common for people to have spirits attached, mostly from dead people, and not too hard to release. But there were also dark spirits, some very mighty. This is based on what people under hypnosis were communicating. Believe it or not, it had real consequences. I remember a guy who had more than 10,000 spirits attached. After my teacher released most of them he couldn’t stand on his feet, and couldn’t remember a thing either.
So yeah, there is a psychic truth to the devil, demons, and dark spirits, which appears to be cross-cultural. No matter where they come from and where they hide, they do have agency and power, which is always dependent on us though. As to say, having a dark spirit attached cannot justify your evil actions, because they are done with your collaboration. You chose to do them, out of weakness, but still, you did them. You are responsible, also for the attachments you have. No excuses.
We can see things through a different pair of glasses that don’t involve the devil. But which glasses are more distorted? The new ones that see virtue in narcissism, hypocrisy, and debauchery, or the traditional ones that see evil and demons in them? Which ones are more accurate in foreseeing the consequences? Time will tell, but anyone that has a grain of wisdom should know the answer already…
In any case, I invite you to never demonize people individually. The devil can’t be a human (as much as Crowley would have liked to pass for it). It is in each one of us, along with its opposite, no matter whether we believe it or not or how we call it. We choose who to empower.
In other people, we should try to stimulate the good part. If we demonize them, or treat them unfairly, they may end up acting like demons. But evil is the act, not the person. There may be cases of possession in which the person is entirely evil, I never witnessed one but I think it’s possible (although not for prolonged periods).
How to survive Evil in the 21th century
To avoid decadence and ruin, any society needs to have a clear and sound idea of what is good and what is evil. In 2022 this idea should be founded on the lessons that come from history, the knowledge that comes from reason and science, and the wisdom of traditions that proved to serve many well. As to say, on all that the postmodern radical left is always ready to burn on the altar of malicious and pathetic 15-years-old-like egos.
If you want something simple to keep as a handy moral compass for this 21th century, feel welcome to adopt the 2kTenCom.
Keep in mind that a culture that denies the existence of good and evil will tend to choose and do evil (almost always the easiest, laziest, instantly gratifying choice), consider itself as good, and treat its opponents as evil. In theory, its insanity shouldn’t survive long, as it would naturally lead to decadence and self-destruction, but with the means of today there is a chance for it to become the foundation of a horrendous dystopia.
No moral authority at all should be assigned to the subjective feelings of a bunch of made-to-be narcissists indoctrinated with an ideology that is irrational, incoherent, poisonous, divisive, and alien to anything virtuous, graceful, and worth living for.
It is vital that we keep speaking up against what we intimately perceive as evil and insane, no matter how futile and inconvenient our small actions may seem. It is important that we keep breaking the illusion of those who manipulate and intimidate us, to keep them shy and afraid. Stop bowing! Stop being their accomplice!
History has taught us that when people stop speaking up, atrocities begin. And those, I hope we all agree, are evil.
Blessings,
Barabeke
Counterculture
👽 Gospel Of Demian, chapter 1: “A New Deal between Men and Women”.
🌈 2kTenCom: the Ten Commandments for the Digital Millennium.
🤖 Neo Genesis. The cosmological foundation of the 2kTenCom.
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