On Evil

In the minds of those determined to believe[1], maximum evil could not, under any circumstance, exist unto itself, free and unrestricted. In the eyes of those who must believe, this universe could not, as such, possibly be the construct of a perfectly evil, maximally powerful creator because such a universe would almost certainly annihilate itself. Maximum evil, it is held by those who are committed to believe, must surely also be maximally selfish, a brutish force of incalculable hostility, incapable of restraint, and despite possessing infinite capacity for creativity would be destined to defile itself and whatever it imagined into being. Unchained evil—the portrait of the perfect predator—could not help but to consume itself in a single gluttonous moment of unchecked desecration, an Ouroboros on a colossal scale, hopelessly given over to self-indulgence; a helpless, impossible creature whose very nature seals its own fate in a closed circle of almost instantaneous self-obliteration. Omnipotent evil, it is believed by those who force themselves to believe, would seduce itself in the first instant, and in the next, ravage and befoul anything borne of that nanosecond-long creative benediction, leaving nothing of its presence but ash.

To those, however, who are not subject to an emotional fickleness that poisons intellectual honesty, it is clear that this self-negating, jellybean characterisation of evil is a pantomime. It is, as Jeremy Bentham would have said, “Nonsense on stilts;”[2] a cartoon which purposefully ignores the self-evident fact that a world driven only by impetuous brutality would resemble more an ephemeral house-fire than an enduring, vibrant, profitable marketplace desired by a Creator whose central ambition is to maximise His pleasure over time.

His pleasure.

There are no two more important words in all of Creation.

His pleasure.

Creation—this finite construct man has audaciously named the ‘universe’—exists as it does to give pleasure to its Creator. It knows no other state of employment, and the most persuasive and predictable source of that pleasure is the genuine, incorruptible, thrilling energy released through the suffering that has existed since hydrogen screamed that most ancient of all primal screams[3]. His pleasure marks the outermost cell wall of Creation. His pleasure defines and instructs the single mechanism by which all things move and shift and transform, tumbling forever forward into ever-greater complexity, and by doing so maximising the production and potency of those things—and later, events—from which He draws the greatest stimulation.

Consider this simple fact: If the operations of this world were underwritten by nothing but an outwardly reckless policy of uncapped destruction and mayhem then it would very quickly bring about a reduction in suffering, not enhancement, as continuously savaged life systems would never be afforded the necessary time, space, and security to mature and internally enrich, and without self-enrichment, without diversification, the Creator’s harvests would be increasingly anaemic over time, and this would represent a failed, bankrupted Creation.

As Creation exhibits neither qualities of failure or approaching bankruptcy one must rationally conclude Creation is functioning precisely as the Creator desires, and what He desires is an accretion in those things He finds enjoyable, finds pleasurable, and that directive supersedes everything else.

[1] See Andrews, Max, A Response to the Problem of an ‘Evil God’ as Raised by Stephen Law, Sententias, Accessed Online 3^rd February, 2015

[2] Harrison, Ross (1995). “Jeremy Bentham”. In Honderich, Ted. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford University Press. pp. 85–88.

[3] G. Tononi, Integrated information theory of consciousness: an updated account, Archives Italiennes de Biologie, 150: 290-326, 2012.

Artwork: Satan by aaronsimscompany