Are Humans Good or Evil?

Are Humans Good or Evil?

Man is a complex and complicated being. God has created man in His image. He has given His creation the gift of freedom to choose, and yet He is in absolute control. This paradoxical nature of His creation has puzzled many since the beginning of time.

There are those who believe that man is created in God's image to serve Him; if that is truly the case, man is inherently good. However, on the other hand, there are those who believe that man is inherently bad because of the sin of Adam.

So, the burning question is: Is the nature of man inherently good or bad?

According to many Western philosophers, man from the outset is originally evil. Sigmund Freud, the famous Austrian neurologist and founding father of psychoanalysis, was of the opinion that man is innately evil and aggressive because we are violent on criminals; but that in a civilized society, the law is unable to prosecute the more subtle and smaller aggression of man, which can sometimes be just as evil.

The truth of the matter is that good and evil are only moral concepts that have coexisted since the beginning of time; humans have been categorizing different actions and feelings based on their own philosophical concepts. Good and evil are closely linked together, just like the concept of yin and yang; one cannot exist without the other, and they balance and complement each other. In other words, we are both good and bad.

Essentially, we all have the bright as well as the dark side of life. The Bible calls the dark side of human nature “sin.” None of us is exempt from sin. Life is always an inner struggle between what is perceived in an individual’s moral system as “right” and the dark opposing force inside to do just the opposite as “wrong.” The human concept of good and evil is based on the perception of the mind, which is derived from one’s unique experiences that formed the ego-self of that individual.

The bottom line: to be a “better: individual, that is, to have more good and less evil, one must let go of the ego-self and focus more on others. Admittedly, this is not easy, and that’s why you need wisdom—the wisdom to know what is real and what is unreal, to know the real self, and not the ego-self.

“As If Everything Is A Miracle”: find out the wisdom in living a better, happier, and healthier life.  

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau