Do You Believe In Evil?

I have lived most of my life not believing in evil. I knew that people did evil things, but I could not accept the concept of evil as an entity. The idea of Satan as  a fallen angel seemed so allegorical to me that it had no credence. I am beginning to think that I was wrong. I'm still not ready to accept a physical demon, more evil than all others. I am beginning to believe in evil as a force.

As I look at photographs of people like the Kims of North Korea, the two brothers that bombed the Boston marathon, the Fort Hood shooter, Hasan, there is an abnormal coldness in their. A lack of humanity. They seem to not care for anyone or any thing. Even their own lives have no value or joy. Hedonism seems to be their accepted method of justifying their existence.

I am reminded of the Shia concept of the hidden Imam. The world must devolve into chaos before the Imam will show himself to lead the way to truth and Sharia law where no woman will ever be safe again. There is no love or sense of peace there. There is not even a sense of human fulfillment. There is just a hollow feeling of apostasy.

Dante's Inferno and the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch tried to give the world a look at evil. But that was evil as conceived by man. It seems to me that the only way to understand true evil is in the deep dark recesses of the mind. All that can be shown by poet or artist is the physicality of evil. But true evil has no physicality, it has only force. 

I almost used the word power rather than force. But when someone is under the sway of power there has to be a certain acceptance and agreement. When under control of the force of evil, there is no acceptance, only compulsion without thought or remorse. 

It seems that the power of evil has grown in these past years. Is evil getting stronger or is man getting weaker. I know one thing. Man has gotten more careless in thought and deed in recent years. Morals, scruples, and standards are not as important to many as they once were. It just might be time to crawl back from the edge. I don't think we want to fall into that pit.