Where does evil come from? Trinity in the main cathedral of Khabarovsk

And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, cattle, and creeping things, and wild beasts of the earth, after their kinds: and it was so.
And God created the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good.
And God said: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth.
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.
And God saw everything that He had created, and it was very good.
And there was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.

According to the Making a Warrior methodology, Scripture and society are means of control. Considering control as an objective inevitability, the methodology formulates an optimal strategy for controlled behavior. The methodology answers the questions of how the best way behave under conditions of external control, how, being controlled, achieve one’s own goals without coming into conflict with the environment.

The “Becoming a Warrior” methodology has a number of features. In conditions of controllability, provision equal rights and capabilities appears to be a top priority. The methodology does not operate with the concepts of “good” and “evil”, as well as concepts associated with them. In our opinion, the data evaluative concepts cannot serve as reliable criteria in the analysis of social actions, since they allow relativity in judgments, for example: “good for some turns out to be evil for others,” etc. At the same time, the methodology assumes good acquaintance with these concepts and the situation around them, which is why this article was written.

Every person knows about good and evil, and everyone without exception talks about it, and constantly. Conversations about politics, justice, economics, morality, the thieves' common fund are ultimately discussions around these categories. Everyone has their own opinion, an argument to justify their behavior. We all consider ourselves experts in the classification of good and evil. It's about not about the relativity of good and evil. We have the Bible and New Testament, which, in case of emergency, can serve as a standard. By the way, most religions agree on the main thing. The list of basic virtues and sins of one religion differs little from the same list of another religion. This applies both to ancient, so-called “dead” religions, and to more recent “living” religions. In short, without judgments about good and evil we cannot take a single step. Why does this happen? In our opinion, it’s all about the intrigue of creation, which this work is dedicated to.

No one will object that the understanding of good and evil comes to us from religion. It is she who constantly reminds us of the Creator’s instructions, about heaven and hell, and condemns the Fall. The religious worldview is ineradicably embedded in all people without exception. Even a convinced atheist builds his denial of God on it.

Let's say a person doesn't care whether he goes to heaven or hell. You can abandon the traditional paradigm of good and evil and, as it were, stand on a par with the Creator and the Devil, which absolute freedom does not prohibit. Where will they put such a person, take him out of the game? The Creator created man and expects to receive his love in return. The devil accepts into his open arms all those who do not love the Creator. But what if a person does not show servile love to the Creator and at the same time does not want to serve the Devil? Is it possible to live without sin without God: if you show love for your neighbor without taking the next step - turning your love to God?

In all likelihood, a scholar of the Bible and the New Testament will say that without communion with God it is impossible to know the word of God. In other words, only through God can one come to true love.

But the word of God is just a book, and not a magical channel of communication with the Creator. Moreover, as we know, the Creator did not bring to us all of his plans and truths. And yet the word of God follows us relentlessly. No matter what we do, no matter how we think, we cannot escape the omnipresent control over our behavior.

Good and evil are instructions about what can and cannot be done. Everyone knows how to behave, everyone has attitudes in their brains to a certain line behavior. Whether we like it or not, these attitudes will be added to our worldview, because there is no escape from them - the entire society tirelessly reproduces them at all its levels, in all its layers.

Our world is consistent in the sense that it does not fall apart before our eyes, does not turn into chaos. This means that there are laws in it that govern the course of world processes. The laws discovered in physics claim to describe these patterns. And this, in turn, means that physical laws must be consistent with the picture of the world we draw. In other words, the picture of the world must interpret the laws, and vice versa.

It is quite easy to reconcile the religious picture of the world with physical laws.

The material world did not arise by itself, it was created by an immaterial Creator - and this corresponds to the Law of Conservation of Energy (1st Law of Thermodynamics), according to which matter does not arise on its own from nothing. At the same time, the 1st Law records the absence of the emergence of matter (energy) from nothing at the present time, which also corresponds to the biblical statement that “in 6 days God finished his work and rested” - that is, that from then on God no longer creates new matter. The “curse” mentioned in the Bible, imposed by God on the material world, exactly corresponds to the action of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. This law of thermodynamics can be likened to the forces of evil, i.e. To the devil. The Creator and the Devil create balance in the world.

Energy does not come from anywhere, does not go anywhere - it is eternally present and always turns into various shapes. Good is energy in itself. The Creator is the creator of stable perfect forms, the organizer of order. Evil is the destruction of stable forms of energy transformation. The Creator “plays” with energy, creating more and more perfect forms. But the Creator cannot (or does not want) to destroy his creations. To clear the way for new forms, he uses evil, which destroys his previous creations. Therefore, we cannot talk about the absolute destructiveness of evil. It seems to “clean up” after the Creator, clearing his further path.

If we recall the famous formula of A. Einstein E = mc2, where energy is associated with mass, with materiality, with that gross matter that we can feel, then we will understand that the second law of thermodynamics, which states that there is a process of deadening the energy of the world, also says and the disappearance of observable and measurable mass. And the expression “dematerialization of the world” takes on a physical meaning: there is less “living” mass in the world.

Energy (E) is proportional to mass. The more mass, the more energy. And vice versa. Since the background, scattered energy is constantly increasing, the amount of “living” energy capable of doing work, heating bodies or performing some other processes, accordingly, due to the law of conservation of energy, decreases. And if so, then the mass that is associated with this energy becomes smaller. This is truly the result of the catastrophic phenomenon of the curse of the Earth.

Is it possible to reduce entropy? If people give up their evil deeds and begin to go to God, does entropy decrease?

Religious man will answer these questions like this. Even if the consecration of the elements of the earth and the fruits of the earth, which occurs every year, were truly perceived by people with all their hearts, if the grace of baptism were not lost and after communion people would try to preserve it, which means they would abstain from sin, this would already help to reduce chaos . And if you imagine such an ideal situation that all of humanity would suddenly turn to the Creator, who is capable of surpassing everything natural laws, - heaven would come on earth. But this is a utopia. Why utopia? Because the forces of evil are not subject to the Creator, and they do not sleep.

Without the Bible, perhaps man would never have faced the dilemma of good and evil. But the Bible introduces us to the contradiction, and we make attempts to understand it. We have been programmed, as it were, in which direction to think, and we diligently go in this direction, coming up with all sorts of theories that explain why we follow the path shown to us. Thus, the understanding of dialectics came to us from the Creator, which is not surprising, since all the laws of the universe appeared according to the Creator’s plan. Contradiction was considered in Hegel's teaching as the driving principle of all development. We define that dialectical contradiction reflects the dual relationship within the whole: the unity of opposites and their “struggle.” This definition is fully consistent with the Holy Scriptures, and the scientific picture of the world is consistent with the religious picture. It couldn't have been any other way. Control is imposed on us from the moment of birth, we do not think outside of its framework, and therefore we act predictably. This is called a pattern. The pattern provides for the initial control of the object. If this were not so, there would be turmoil in the human camp, which is not observed.

Where did evil come from?

Where did evil come from? How did the omnipotent and good Lord allow evil into our world?

Augustine expresses a heretical thought (though only in an early treatise):

“God not only governs everything in order, but is even himself governed by order” (De ordine I, 10).

The origin of evil is one of the central problems in many religions - Buddhism, Islam, Christianity. For example, according to the Christian religion, God is the creator of the world. If he is good, the question arises - where did Evil come from in this world. This contradiction in the Middle Ages was one of the reasons for the emergence of sects that opposed the official church.

According to some religious concepts, the material world by its nature is a product evil spirit, A human body, as part of it, is also evil and worthy of contempt. The union of body and soul is not a blessing for the latter, but, on the contrary, a punishment, a fetter. And if so, then Christ could not be incarnated as a man. From these principles followed the denial of the need for the church. In contrast to this theory, the following scholastic conclusion was put forward: “Since the reality of evil in the world is incompatible with the existence of God, and God exists, it means that there is “really” no evil, and apparent evil must be “explained” in such a way that it turns out to be true. not by evil, but by a direct revelation of the goodness and wisdom of God.”

Christianity and Judaism say that evil (the devil) arose as a result of the rebellion against God of one of the angels. That is, evil arose after the beginning of the creation of the world, and its carrier, the devil, was initially generated by God as an angel, but then went against God.

True, it is not entirely clear why God did not immediately stop this rebellion, why other angels allowed the devil to gain such strength. It is also unclear whether the appearance of evil was planned at the beginning of Creation, or whether it was an unforeseen situation, a tragic accident.

Let's see what Zoroastrianism, the first religion to speak about the opposition of good and evil, says about the origin of evil.

Modern orthodox Zoroastrianism adheres to the point of view that evil (the devil) existed as an unmanifested, potential possibility of destruction even before the Creation of the world. And as soon as the world began to incarnate, the devil invaded the world and began to destroy it.

But then the question arises whether in this case evil is not a fundamental principle commensurate with God, since its appearance is in no way connected with the beginning of Creation, with the existence of the world. The invasion of evil into the world in this case is declared inevitable, in no way connected with the will of the Creator. It turns out that evil represents some absolutely independent principle, some kind of force independent of anyone.

Zarvanism, an esoteric branch of Zoroastrianism, adheres to a slightly different position.

Even before the creation of the world, God decided to base the world on the principle of freedom for all his creations. He did not at all want to make his creations obedient puppets. Creations, and above all man, have the opportunity to develop, to increasingly approach the Creator. And for such development they need absolute freedom, including freedom of choice against the will of God, towards the destruction of the world, that is, towards evil. Thus, the potential for evil is a consequence of the will of God. The existence of evil is consciously permitted from the very beginning by God, who cares about the freedom of development of creation. And the invasion of evil into the world, that is, the beginning of the destruction of the world, occurs precisely because of the wrong choice of creations.

It is easy to see that this position reconciles the positions of Christianity and orthodox Zoroastrianism. Evil is not a fundamental principle commensurate with the Creator, a force independent of anyone; its emergence is directly related to the will of the Creator. In this sense, we can consider that the primary source of the emergence of evil, the devil, the spirit of destruction is God (as in Christianity). However, evil was not created by the Creator in the form of an angel who then suddenly and inexplicably went against God. The Creator knew from the very beginning about the destructive essence of the devil (as in orthodox Zoroastrianism). However, God did not prevent the existence of evil, since a complete prohibition of evil would deprive a person of freedom of choice, the opportunity full development. And the fact that the devil subsequently gained such power was a consequence of the wrong choice of creatures, primarily people.

As for ideas about what the fate of evil will be in the future, here all light religions are united. At the end of time, evil will be completely defeated, and good will triumph in the world. The devil will be defeated and will never be able to manifest himself in the world. And it's also much more important than the issue about the origin of evil.

According to the Avesta, there are four stages, four eras in the development of our world. The first era is called the Era of Creation. In the course of it, God created the world in an ideal, non-embodied form, determined its laws, and established the interconnections of individual parts. This ideal world was complete, harmonious, perfect, there was and could not be evil in it, since there was nothing yet to destroy, and there were no embodied entities with freedom of choice. In this world, Truth, Beauty, the integrity of the world order, called Arta or Asha, reigned supreme, a preserving and harmonizing force. By the way, this is exactly the beauty that, according to Dostoevsky, will save the world. But this ideal, perfect world was not embodied, it did not live full life, did not develop.

But then the third era will come - the Era of the Separation of Good and Evil. Its essence lies in the final victory of good, in the defeat of evil, in the creation of conditions in which evil can never again manifest itself. At the beginning of the Era of Separation there will be a trial of all beings who have the right to choose, which will determine for all of them the appropriate punishment or deserved reward. By the end of this era, evil will be finally separated from good, all people (and that is all) will be cleansed from evil and saved, and the forces of evil will be destroyed.

Then the fourth era will come, completing the cycle of development - the Era of Merger and the triumph of wisdom, when all parts of the world will merge in a single stream of harmony and love. We don’t know what will happen next, probably the world will switch to some kind of new level development.

The eras of the development of the world have a truly cosmic duration, each of them takes billions of years, so during our earthly life, our current incarnation, we, of course, do not notice their influence. But every person, according to Zoroastrianism, is eternal, his true life never ends, therefore, in reality, we go through all the listed eras, living through all stages of the development of the world. Let us also note that the listed four stages of development, according to the law of similarity, are observed in much more short cycles, although they have their own characteristic features.

The external teaching of Zoroastrianism says nothing about the cycle of reincarnation. But in the esoteric teaching, zervanism, the teaching about the plurality of human lives, about his karma (zarma), about the possibilities of breaking out of the circle is developed in the most detailed way. It is on this teaching that all Avestan astrology, which allows us to trace both the formation of a person’s destiny and the implementation of the accumulated destiny, both the paths of independent development of the individual and the influence on it external forces. Multiple incarnations of a person are more and more new lessons for him. Each earthly life gives us another chance to develop in new circumstances, another opportunity to realize our place in the world and our purpose, another attempt to start all over again and make right choice between good and evil. But all previous incarnations and all the years we have lived are not in vain; information about them accumulates in karma and sometimes has a decisive influence on fate. The time, place and conditions of each of our incarnations are determined by our entire past life. And any choice we make between good and evil brings us closer to God or moves us away from him, increases the power of the devil over us or decreases it. And sooner or later we will have to answer for every choice.

Unlike other religions, Zoroastrianism does not promise eternal torment to anyone. In the end, all people will be saved, regardless of the severity of their sins, since good will triumph everywhere and evil will be finally defeated. But God, the Creator, does not at all need his creatures, moreover, the most perfect creatures, to endure eternal torment. God is love, and love that does not depend on anything, is all-forgiving. However, before salvation, during the period of the Last Judgment, each person will be forced to pay for his sins, to suffer. And the measure of this suffering will correspond to the measure of sin, will be commensurate with the power that each of us has granted over ourselves to the forces of evil. During life, evil can infect a person, it can destroy his body, defile his soul, but in principle it is incapable of completely destroying him or making him like himself. The Divine principle is in us, our spirit is indestructible. This is why in the end all creation will be saved, purified, restored to their final body and will live forever.

An important place in Zoroastrianism is occupied by the doctrine of the trinity of the world and all its parts. There are three forms, three components of the world:

• The world is ideal, non-embodied, spiritual - Menog;
• The world is real, embodied, physical - Goethig;
• The world that connects the ideal and real worlds and maintains balance between them is Ritag.

The actions of evil are always extremely primitive in essence (though they are extremely varied in form). As soon as the Creator creates something new, the devil immediately gives birth to the destroyer, a force of evil that specializes in desecrating and destroying this new creation. Therefore, each part of the world, each of its manifestations corresponds to its own demon, a demon, called deva or daiv in Zoroastrianism. In the same way, the three forms of the world are opposed by the three main faces of evil, the three main destructive forces with which the three primary sins of man are associated:

The ideal world, the world of Menog, is opposed by the devil Angra Mainyu himself, he seeks to desecrate the very idea, replace it with a pseudo-idea, deprive the Creator of his rightful place in the center of the universe, place himself there, or some idol, or person, etc. Of course, the complete victory of the devil in the world of Menog is impossible, but in certain parts of the world he succeeds in a lot.

The real world, the world of Goethig, is opposed by the demoness Aza, who destroys the physical, embodied world.

The connecting world, the world of Ritag, is opposed by the demoness Druj, who by any means seeks to confuse the true connections of the real and ideal worlds, to cause discord between them.

A person, on the one hand, by his wrong actions can help these three main forces of evil, and on the other hand, he himself can become their victim, receiving destruction of his body, his soul, his spirit. To avoid this, you must follow the basic life principle formulated by Zarathushtra: “Good Thought, Good Word, Good Deed.” That is, we should not bring evil into any of the three worlds; on the contrary, our duty is to restore the lost harmony in them, strengthen and develop them. Moreover, it is the trinity of good thoughts, words and deeds that is important, since it is useless to strengthen one part of the world while destroying another.

Complicity with Angra Mainyu is expressed in pride, that is, in the belief in one’s exclusivity, omnipotence, superiority over all people and the unconditional priority of one’s own interests over the interests of the whole world. In essence, pride comes down to the denial of the universal unity of the world, to the denial of God. Moreover, pride can be both personal and collective, and even capture all of humanity. This does not change the essence: I (or we) are the main thing, and the rest can and even should be used to our advantage. Pride usually begins with a feeling of complete loneliness, isolation from everything around you, and melancholy. And it often leads to hatred of everything in the world, the desire to destroy everything in one’s path, contempt for everyone and everything. Pride, as a rule, clears the way for two other primary sins - fear and lies.

Aza's complicity consists in the physical destruction of the material world: people, animals, plants, surrounding nature. At the heart of this destruction is the fear of non-existence, the conviction that there will be nothing after death, the desire to get everything now and immediately, to sweep away all obstacles and destroy all enemies before they destroy you. This fear, which leads to violence, is the second most important sin. Aza is evil in its naked form, evil without a mask, arrogant and shameless. Its action is the most effective, but it is also the most vulnerable, since it is easier to recognize and easier to fight. Therefore, usually the periods of Aza’s triumph do not last long, although they bring a lot of troubles.

Druj's complicity is expressed in lies, deliberate distortion of the truth about the structure of the world, belittling good, exalting evil, confusing the concepts of good and evil. A lie deprives people of guidelines and directs their efforts in the wrong direction, sometimes directly opposite to their desires. Lies allow the forces of evil to exist quietly and increase their influence, affecting more and more parts of the world. Finally, a lie prevents us from fulfilling our purpose - to fight evil; moreover, it can imperceptibly, gradually make a person a servant of evil. Druj is a hidden form of evil that has thousands of different persons, quickly and easily changing their masks, leading the work of destroying the world quietly, secretly, gradually. She may not be as effective as Aza, but she is very difficult to recognize, expose, and limit. If Aza seems attractive to a few, then Druj is able to charm, bewitch, and captivate almost everyone. Druj's path is indirect, tortuous, long, but most often more reliable than Aza's frontal attack. Therefore, the periods of celebration of Druj can last much longer than Az.

Thus, these three sins (pride, lies and fear), associated with the desecration of the three worlds, are considered primary, from which all other sins flow, and without which other sins are impossible. That is, in order for a person to begin to sin, evil must strike either his spirit, or soul, or body (or better yet, all at once), introduce disharmony into the trinity of man, and create a conflict between his main parts. Then everything is simple: they start working various features character, distinctive features the personality of a particular person, and everyone chooses their own special, unlike anyone else’s path of serving evil. And the main thing for us is to realize in time the futility of this path, on which with every step we have less and less freedom, to stop before it is too late. It is important to break through the dark cocoon with which the forces of evil continually entangle us, and restore contact with the forces of good, to choose the light.

Don’t let pride, lies and fear take hold of you.
Then the evil darkness will recede, and the light will be able to break through to you.

In general, the concept of sin is developed very clearly in Zoroastrianism. Sin is not a violation of rules, regulations, instructions established by someone, which can change over time, contradict one another, determine different responsibilities for different people, make no sense at all. In reality, sin is a completely objective concept; it is any act that serves evil, that is, leading to the destruction of the world. Therefore, people can, of course, agree on whether or not to consider this or that action a sin, but this does not change the essence of the matter. The laws of the world apply everywhere and always. And every sin is a violation of these objective laws, for which sooner or later you will have to answer. Sins are not something incomprehensible, extremely complex, inexplicable, as many believe. A person not only can, but is also obliged to understand the essence of each sin, and not just blindly follow memorized rules, regulations and prohibitions, sometimes interpreting them at his own discretion. And the severity of each sin is determined once and for all and cannot be discussed or changed. Another thing is that there are situations when a person’s sins are written off, but this does not happen often.

However, one should not understand that God takes revenge on man for sin, that the evil that happens to us, misfortunes, blows of fate is a consequence of the Creator’s resentment and vindictiveness. No, God is love, this is good. By his very nature he cannot do evil. Neither vindictiveness, nor hatred, nor rage, nor malice have anything to do with God. Our misfortunes are a consequence of the fact that, thanks to our sins, we ourselves have moved away from God, fenced ourselves off from the forces of good, and at the same time automatically become more vulnerable to the forces of evil. And they will not be slow to take advantage of the given opportunity to strike, unless they hope to use it for some time this person as a weapon for the destruction of the world. So it is wrong to hold God responsible for everything that happens in the world, including all abominations, all dirt and all evil. This will be slander against the Creator.

And if a person’s personal misfortunes are a consequence of his own sins, then collective, mass misfortunes, global catastrophes are a consequence of sins, mistakes, delusions, crimes against the world laws of entire peoples, countries, humanity as a whole. Besides the fact that each of us is surrounded by our own dark cocoon of evil, the same cocoons, only bigger size, surrounds all kinds of groups of people, and our entire earthly world is also covered with a rather dense dark shell, preventing our communication with the forces of light. It depends on ourselves whether we can overcome our own evil and restore the unity and bright harmony of our world, breaking through and destroying all these dark partitions, returning the original transparency of the integral Creation.

The forces of evil have only as much power over us as we ourselves give them. And this power is most often expressed in the troubles that befall us. And if each subsequent sin increases this power, then each subsequent misfortune that happens to us, inevitably, at least a little, reduces this power and frees us. That is, with each subsequent misfortune we become purified, the number of troubles over our heads decreases. It is only important when misfortune comes not to be offended, not to become embittered at the whole world, not to hate everything around, not to take the path of revenge against any specific person or everything around you indiscriminately, so as not to start new round development of evil, do not increase the power of evil over yourself again, do not begin to accumulate new misfortunes over your head. Otherwise, of course, there can be no talk of any cleansing. The result will not be cleansing, but new contamination.

And since the total volume of misfortunes hanging over us is determined by our past life (in this and previous incarnations), since this entire volume will almost inevitably fall on us (exceptions happen, but quite rarely), it turns out that we must rejoice in our misfortunes, and especially – minor failures. And vice versa, if no misfortunes happen to a person for a very long time, it is quite possible that at this time an extremely unpleasant process of their accumulation, enlargement, unification and compaction takes place, and a real danger of soon receiving a serious blow increases.

For bad luck in small things, be grateful to fate:
Better dust on your boots than a brick to your head.

It is not difficult to understand that the ideal case for us would be to receive misfortune immediately after the sin that caused it, since this would not only not accumulate great danger over our heads, but would also clearly indicate to us our mistakes. But the accumulation of misfortunes greatly complicates our learning process. After all, it is sometimes difficult for us to understand what caused each of the misfortunes, and when exactly we committed the act that provoked it. Sometimes it even seems that we receive a blow in response to the most harmless action or to an obviously good deed that deserves only encouragement. And in the same way, gifts of fate sometimes follow obvious sins, and blessings remain unrewarded. Moreover, evil strives in every possible way to deliver its blows precisely when, it would seem, it’s time to receive a reward for good deeds. And then, succumbing to the temptation of the simplest explanation of the relationship of events: “after that - therefore as a result of that,” we can conclude that such our deeds are displeasing to God. Or the opposite situation: having intercepted a reward intended for us and coming from the forces of light, evil can hand it over to us precisely when we commit some kind of sin (usually it does not have to wait long). And we can draw from this a simple, but absolutely incorrect, conclusion that our sin is pleasing to God. In addition, the forces of evil are capable of intercepting the gifts of the forces of light and passing them on for purposes other than their intended purpose, thus encouraging their servants. And as a result, you can often hear that everyday experience refutes all religions, because some notorious scoundrels live very well, everything goes into their hands, everything works out for them, they are lucky in everything, and many decent people fight all their lives like fish ice, and all to no avail, but misfortunes rain down on them one after another. Such a reaction, delayed for a time, is a consequence of the desecration of our earthly world, the result of the machinations of the forces of evil, which in every possible way seek to confuse a person. Therefore, we should not make hasty conclusions about causes and consequences, about the connections between our behavior and what is happening to us. Not worth it just based on own experience try to derive some general patterns, predict some events just because they happened before in a similar situation.

Due to the fact that in addition to the personal dark cocoons of each person, there are also cocoons of collective sins, there are times when quite clean people not only do they not receive remuneration, but they are also subjected to unbearable torment, suffering cruel suffering that clearly does not correspond to their personal sins. In this case, it turns out that they take on collective sins, and sometimes the sins of all humanity, and pay for the evil of others. But in doing so, they contribute to collective cleansing, punching holes in the dark shell that envelops groups of people (for example, a country, people), or the shell that covers our entire earthly world. That is, the idea that holy martyrs save other people with their feats is not just a beautiful metaphor. And the point is not at all whether anyone knows about their torment, not only that, having learned about this, we will sympathize with them and, as a result, be purified, not only that their life will become for someone an example and an object of worship. Undeserved own life the torment of the saints directly and quite realistically leads to the restoration (albeit partial) of connections with the forces of light, with God. Evil has to pay for this suffering at a very high price - weakening its strategic positions, leaving some key heights, reducing the severity of the systemic defeats of our world. But, of course, it is better for all of us to try not to bring the triumph of evil to such a level when only the feat of the holy martyrs can help us.

Much more often we come across directly opposite examples, when heavily polluted, sinful people live well, they succeed in everything, they do not suffer, do not pay for their sins, do not receive any misfortunes (except, perhaps, for rare and weak remorse). Such examples seem to many to be a convincing refutation of everything that has been said and proof of the acceptability and safety of such a path. But it's not that simple. Sometimes in such cases there is a process of accumulation of misfortunes, which will lead to a big blow of fate in the future. And sometimes evil protects these deeply sinful people and does not touch them only because it prefers for now to use them for its own purposes, to destroy the world with their hands. But they should not be overly deluded by such “protection” from misfortunes: as soon as they are no longer needed by evil, as soon as their service ceases to fully satisfy evil, they will immediately receive everything accumulated in full. Evil will throw them away like a broken instrument and destroy them (after all, any person, even the lowest sinner, still remains part of the world, and, therefore, is hated by evil). Even if these servants of evil outwardly live out their earthly lives safely, retribution will still overtake them in hell, where they will go after death, or in the next incarnation, if they manage to escape hell. And even the most hardened servants of evil will not escape the suffering they have earned when the Last Judgment comes, when evil will no longer be powerless.

In general, our entire earthly life is considered by the ancient Aryan teachings as an opportunity to cleanse ourselves, correct past mistakes, naturally, without making new ones, and realize our potential, to become more perfect. That is, our earthly world is, one might say, purgatory. True, purgatory is not forced, but voluntary, in which, if desired, one can not only cleanse oneself, but become contaminated. And since we got here, there were certainly reasons for this, we had something to cleanse ourselves from. That is, everyone born on Earth bears sins. past life, past incarnations, we all have evil in us from birth.

The incarnation of initially pure entities (for example, Jesus Christ) is a rare event on a cosmic scale, a violation common law, the result of a special divine act. They necessarily carry out a special mission to restore humanity’s connections with God. And even they, in their earthly incarnation, have to go through temptations by the forces of evil, even they must make the right choice in order to remain ideal conductors of the will of the God who sent them, even they are in danger of contamination and fall.

At the same time, the incarnation on Earth of completely defiled people is practically impossible, since before incarnation they must serve their time in hell, must suffer what they have earned, purify themselves, and earn the right to a new incarnation in human form. So earthly life is not accessible to everyone.

The most important consequence of this is that no person ever represents evil in its pure form, he can only be an instrument in the hands of evil, a servant of evil. Moreover, complete servants of evil forces, thoughtless robots, zombies, mired in evil during a given incarnation, are rare; almost always the good beginning in a person is not only present, but also makes itself felt. Therefore, setting as your goal the destruction of any person means serving evil. At the same time, meeting a completely pure, ideally bright person is akin to a miracle. So you shouldn’t idealize any people, you shouldn’t mindlessly believe and worship someone who declares himself sinless, a saint, who has achieved the highest enlightenment, who has comprehended all the laws of the world, who understands how to remake earthly life.

But let's return to the structure of the world.

The next level of the world order is the Good Creations, that is, those primary world principles that were created at the very beginning of Creation and which lie at the basis of all things. There are seven Good Creations, and each of them has its own guardian, protector from destruction, patron. Their patrons are Ahura Mazda himself and the six immortal holy archangels (Amesha-Spenta), who represent the upper level of the hierarchy of light forces. Good Creations include:

1. Fire (or Light), which gives life and energy to all things. His patron is Asha-Vahishta.
2. Air (or Sky), which organizes connections and interchange of everything in the world. His patron is Kshatra-Varya.
3. Water that maintains the harmony of life and the continuity of its flow. Her patron is Khaurwat.
4. The earth, which gives form, a solid foundation to all creations, preventing their physical destruction. Her patroness is Spenta-Armaiti.
5. Plants. Their patron is Amertat.
6. Animals. Their patron is Vohu-Man.
7. Man (and similar entities). His patron is Ahura Mazda himself.

The first four Good creations (fire, air, water, earth) are called elements. However, we should not identify them with the physical bodies of the same name, with the natural elements familiar to us; this is just the simplest, crudest level of their manifestation. The elements are fundamental principles, elements from the most complex combinations of which all the diversity of the world is created. The elements can give rise to one another, transform into one another, but their distinctive feature is that each of them does not contain the other three elements.

In contrast, each of the following three Good Creations (plants, animals and humans) contains all four elements: the fiery principle, the air principle, the water principle, the earthly principle. In addition, each subsequent of these three Good Creations contains the previous ones, that is, animals contain a plant principle, and the most perfect person contains both plant and animal principles. By the way, it is in this sense that one can really talk about the simplicity and complexity of creations (but in principle, any of the Good Creations is completely incomprehensible, like, indeed, any other part of the world).

One more hallmark The last three Good Creations are their level of freedom: plants have the least freedom of choice, animals have more freedom of choice, and humans are given maximum freedom. Accordingly, plants have the least ability to develop (in this embodiment), animals have it noticeably higher, and the greatest is given to humans. However, it is humans who have the greatest opportunity to become desecrated, to take the path of serving evil, and to achieve success along this path; animals have fewer of them, and plants have even fewer.

The strategy of evil in relation to Good Creations remains just as simple. For each of them, it generates its own special demon-destroyer, defiler. In general, there are as many demons (devas, daivas) as there are all kinds of creations, their various parts and manifestations. But those who desecrate the seven Good Creations are the main, supreme demons (they are called mahadivas). Each of them seeks to destroy the original perfection of the corresponding Good Creation, while using an entire army of smaller demons subordinate to them. Mahadaivas can be compared with those diseases that affect the main systems of the human body: nervous, circulatory, musculoskeletal, etc., and the demons subordinate to them - with disorders of individual organs, cells and intracellular structures of these systems. The task of the Mahadaivas is to introduce an imbalance in the ratio of Good Creations, disrupt the harmony between them and disrupt their relationships in order to make it easier for the demons (daivas) to further destroy.

As for the Good Creations, it is very important to understand that we can desecrate them not only, so to speak, directly, for example, by littering the earth with all sorts of waste, turning it into a desert or poisoning it with pesticides, polluting and drying up water bodies, creating smoke and dust in the air, destroying forests and entire species of animals, killing and maiming people. All these are also crimes, sins, violations of universal laws, but these are destructions of only the most obvious, most gross manifestations of Good Creations. By the way, in Lately the danger of all such obvious sins has probably become clear to everyone, since it is already generally accepted that environmental catastrophe threatens us now no less than nuclear war. In this sense, we were “luckier” than the people of the past, who thought that the world was inexhaustible, invulnerable, eternal, and that our activities did not affect it in any way. The situation is much more complicated with the more subtle, implicit, hidden manifestations of Good Creations, the desecration of which is no less a sin than direct and obvious destruction.

In particular, sins in human relationships seem to have no relation to the world as a whole, to its basic elements, Good Creations. But this is only at first glance. In every person, all the principles of the world, all the Good Creations, are closely intertwined, and any crime against a person necessarily defiles one of them.

Eg:

• selfishness, humiliation of other people is the desecration of the actual human principle in a person;
• the destruction of faith, the desecration of traditions, the fragmentation of the integral world is the desecration of the animal nature;
• theft, appropriation of other people's property, the spread of diseases - this is the desecration of the plant principle;
• lust, sexual perversion, gluttony - this is the desecration of the earthly principle;
• meanness, betrayal, uncleanliness - this is the desecration of the water principle;
• rage, malice, enmity, anger - desecration of the air principle;
• greed, stinginess, materialism - desecration of the fiery principle.

Understand it all to modern man, who has lost a holistic perception of the world, it is quite difficult, just as it is not easy to understand that all the components of our personality, all character traits are manifestations of these same world principles, Good Creations. Thus, will, creative dedication is a manifestation of the fiery principle; emotions, feelings - a manifestation of the water principle; the desire for comfort, the inner core is a manifestation of the earthly principle; intelligence, logic are a manifestation of the air principle.

The most important place in ancient Aryan teaching is occupied by the principle of the middle, or, as it is commonly called now, the principle of the golden mean. This is not at all an invention of ancient Greek philosophers, as is now commonly believed, but a fundamental law of the world. Its essence is extremely simple and consists of the following. Integrity and harmony from the beginning perfect world can be destroyed in a variety of ways, including those that seem to us directly opposite to each other. In particular, it is possible to shake and break harmony, to increase the amount of evil in the world, either by increasing this or that quality beyond measure, or by decreasing it.

Excess, like deficiency, is a distortion of the world order.
Any departure from the middle always leads to destruction.

The principle of the middle calls precisely to adhere to the original ideal, to preserve that primary world order, that beauty of the world that was established by the Creator. He does not seek to narrow the diversity of the world, level out the differences between people, bringing them all to a dull uniformity, or make our lives boring and dreary, as some believe. No, the rejection of extremes, of excesses, of shying from side to side makes us more resistant to the machinations of the forces of evil, narrows the field of their activity, while giving us the opportunity to calmly develop our individuality, our creativity.

You should not assume that the rule of the golden mean is so strict that the slightest deviation from the mean is already an undoubted evil. No, small deviations from the center are not only acceptable, but also mandatory, as they ensure the diversity of the world and its development. Evil is only an excessive departure from the original harmony and, first of all, such a departure that makes it impossible or extremely difficult to return to the middle. This is especially true for a person who is given the freedom to choose his place in the world, his behavior, his path. The main thing is that this freedom does not intoxicate us so much that we do not distinguish between good and evil, do not see the boundaries between them, do not feel those limits where our freedom turns into the destruction of the world. This situation can be compared to a flexible rod, which can be bent in all directions without any damage. harmful consequences, but which still breaks if excessively bent in any direction. That is, the principle of the golden mean does not force us to stand motionless on a pointed rock, where any of our movements threatens to fall and die, but provides us with the opportunity to walk along the top of a certain hemisphere, where only a large distance from the top is dangerous, no matter in which direction.

But complete concept the golden mean is much broader than such a static picture. The balance he proclaims does not at all imply the absence of any movement, development, growth, nor does it imply obligatory constant immobility. If we talk about dynamics, the balance of the golden mean can be compared to the balance of a moving bicycle, for which a vertical position is an indispensable condition for correct movement. In this case, small deviations from the vertical are even necessary (for example, when turning), with medium deviations the bicycle begins to wobble from side to side, greatly slowing down and risking going astray and falling into a ditch, and large deviations inevitably cause a fall or even breakage of the bicycle .

That is, the principle of the golden mean, on the one hand, helps to preserve what is available, not to lose what was accumulated earlier, and on the other hand, warns against what interferes with moving along the chosen path, calls not to stray onto the path of destruction of oneself and the world. For example, unbelief and fanaticism, excessive activity and excessive passivity, thoughtless impulsiveness and sluggish indecision, flashy luxury and enslaving poverty, deadening stagnation and bloody revolutions, ugly exhaustion and no less ugly obesity, isolation in the past and fixation on the future, complacent stupidity are equally unacceptable. and feverish obsession with acquiring knowledge, cold insensibility and fiery recklessness, narcissism and self-abasement, drought and flood. Examples from the most various areas can be multiplied and multiplied.

Where did evil come from? The original sin was committed by Adam and Eve, the tempter was an unclean spirit in the form of a snake, and what came before?
Satan was created as an angel in the rank of cherub; he was “the seal of perfection, the fullness of wisdom and the crown of beauty”, he lived in Eden among the “fiery stones”, but having become proud (Ezek. 28:17) and wanting to be equal to God (Is. 14: 13-14), he was cast down to the earth . He was followed by some of the angels who turned into demons.
Where did the sin of pride come from in the cherub created by the Lord? I would like to understand this...

Evil does not exist on its own. It is the absence of good, just as darkness is the absence of light (photons), and cold is the absence of heat (thermal energy). Since the highest good, or the very essence of good, is God, then evil is the absence of God. And where can the Omnipresent God be absent? Only in the heart of man whom He created free. God respects man so much that he does not force Himself on him, otherwise it would be a violation of our freedom. The same applied to angels. The Cherub, who later became Satan, was truly created as the most beautiful angel. But also free. And he was free to direct his love to God. But he didn’t do this - he admired himself and forgot about God. This is how pride appeared. And pride is always a contrast: I don’t need someone who is better than me, I myself have a mustache. I MYSELF is the center of pride. After all, the Lord would have nothing against the fact that this cherub is beautiful and recognizes it. But his pride made him oppose God. It was not the Lord who opposed himself to him; He is always happy to forgive and accept. Only the proud (both angel and man) do not need forgiveness. I WILL CAN DO PERFECTLY WITHOUT YOU AND MYSELF.

To be honest, this question is not completely clear to me either. That is, I admit that the devil himself is to blame for this. But the Lord created everything beautiful! How could, at what moment, pride appear? We probably won’t fully understand. Maybe because they were created by God with a desire for good, and evil is disgusting for us on an essential level. But the story is what it is. I think if we are with God in His Kingdom, maybe we will understand.

I don’t remember exactly from the text, but this is what has been of interest for a long time: if before God there was nothing and there was only God, then where did evil come from??

Priest Afanasy Gumerov, resident of the Sretensky Monastery, answers:

God did not create evil. The world that came out of the hands of the Creator was perfect. “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). Evil by its nature is nothing more than a violation of Divine order and harmony. It arose from the abuse of freedom that the Creator gave to His creations - angels and man. At first, some of the angels fell away from the will of God out of pride. They turned into demons. Their damaged nature became a constant source of evil. Then man could not resist goodness. By openly violating the commandment given to him, he opposed the will of the Creator. Having lost the blessed connection with the bearer of Life, man has lost his pristine perfection. His nature was damaged. Sin arose and entered the world. Its bitter fruits were illness, suffering and death. Man is no longer completely free (Rom. 7:15-21), but a slave to sin. To save people, the Incarnation took place. “For this purpose the Son of God appeared, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). By His death on the cross and Resurrection, Jesus Christ spiritually and morally defeated evil, which no longer has complete power over man. But in reality, evil remains as long as the current world continues. Everyone is required to fight sin (primarily within themselves). With the help of God's grace, this struggle can bring victory to everyone. Evil will be finally defeated at the end of time by Jesus Christ. " He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:25-26).

And the Lord said: “Let there be light!” And there was light. And God realized that this was good. (c) Where did evil come from then? The 13th archangel became proud and was thrown into hell and so on... But God is omnipotent and he could not help but foresee this! It turns out that either the Almighty did this on purpose, or this whole story is nothing more than fiction! How then can you check this? Why are animals not evil? A predator, eating its prey, will never deliberately mock it! But the dog can be a “biter,” as the song says. Everything is very simple. The fact is that a dog is a humanized creature. Namely, it is in the human world that evil exists. Why? Yes, because people devote their entire lives to intentions. To be clothed and well-fed, desired and respected, the only one and loved. And what happens when an obstacle gets in the way? It gives rise to resentment, irritation, rage, hatred in a person... That is, the roots of evil. Everyone has failures, but nature is so wisely designed that when a wolf runs after a hare, but it eludes him, the wolf looks for new prey. He doesn't tear his claws out of anger. He doesn’t think that he had to catch the hare, he just acts. Why do animals do this? Yes, because none of them considers this world their property. The same cannot be said about a person. People constantly live as if someone owes them. If they set a goal for themselves, then take it out and put it down! Any obstacle immediately causes irritation. And what if tasty went to another - the hackneyed phrase: “How unfair the world is!” The problem is not that we don't get what we want, the problem is how we feel about it. So what should we do? - you ask. - Learn life from animals?
- Not at all. It is important to understand the main wisdom of nature: It is impossible to avoid all failures, it is impossible to subjugate the world to yourself, it is impossible to force everyone to dance to your tune! Just get from life what it gives and don't ask for more. Many religions and spiritual practices teach us this wisdom. We are not the masters of this world, we are its guests and components. We cannot change the Universe around us, but we can change ourselves.
And the more we are in harmony with our inner and surrounding world, the less we will create evil in ourselves and around us.

Reviews

You don’t know nature well. A wolf, breaking into a sheepfold, slaughters ALL the sheep, simply out of courage. Many animals devour their young if they do not have time to escape. Many predators kill and devour their relatives.
But the most bloodthirsty, evil and vile man is undoubtedly. Well, God made him that way. In his own image and likeness.

If God were evil, he would not have sent his son to save us! People have left God, and this is what causes all the troubles! The wolf kills sheep purely instinctively; the feeling of courage is not familiar to the animals. They also eat their young according to nature’s plan: so that there is no overpopulation. Wild animals they destroy their relatives solely at the call of instinct, apparently for the same reason. Nature is harmonious. And evil is generated exclusively by ignorance and selfishness! Only an unreadable gaze sees evil at the root of the world!

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