Good vs Evil
So what is good and what is evil in our concepts of this existence we call life? I'm glad you asked! I wonder how far into religion and spirituality I can take this? Actually, perhaps I'll try to make this as religious and spirit free as possible, and delve into those sides of myself later.
For my interpretation of what makes good or evil, I'm going to blatantly plagiarize from the good book. Dragonlance.
"WHAT?!?!" Some of you may say. Others will just go, hmmmm, because as far as I know only 1 person who knows about these musings of mine has actually READ Dragonlance.
But that was where I solidified my concepts of good and evil. I was a 12 year old boy, and not a very NICE boy. I had been raised in a very Christian household complete with Sunday schools and home bible studies. All of this meant very little when I went to school and got ridiculed for my looks and got into fights. My initiation to the 7th grade was a 'Bull in the ring'. This is when 5 8th graders surround you and just start swinging till you fall down. The longer you can stand and take it, the more respect you've earned. I managed to earn a lot of respect, but I also turned into a very selfish bastard who cared little or nothing for others feelings. Survival is often an extremely selfish emotion, and I was very full of it until later in life.
I also didn't tend to read very often. I found it boring and cumbersome and less than thrilling. I enjoyed Narnia stories, and that was about it, until Dragonlance. DnD was met with some skepticism in my household. It wasn't banned or forbidden, but it certainly was not welcome. How ironic that through reading these stories I was able to wrap my mind around the concept of serving myself vs. serving others.
In the Dragonlance saga, there were 2 characters that made a difference to me. One was named Raistlin. He was a frail and strange looking person who was ridiculed and beat up in his younger years (sound like anyone you know?). He detested this weakness within him and resolved to become the most powerful being around. Throughout the process of 6 books, that is precisely what he did, at the expense of everyone around him. His lust for power eventually consumes anyone who's ever cared for him, and ultimately himself. Evil. At this point I decided that perhaps in serving others, I would ultimately be serving myself. Hey, this sounded suspiciously like some of the stuff I was hearing every week at Sunday school and what my mother was teaching at home. Maybe I should have paid more attention.
And that's all good and evil are. Service to others, or serving yourself. That's it. It's that simple. Do you go through life to make the biggest difference for yourself that you can? Or do you try to make life a bit more tolerable for everyone you meet? Everyday I make it my mission to try and brighten one person's day. Just one. If I can successfully do that, each day I live is another success, and I feel fulfilled and happy and can sleep at night with pleasant dreams.
Hmmm, dreams. That would be another good topic to muse upon someday.
-H-
For my interpretation of what makes good or evil, I'm going to blatantly plagiarize from the good book. Dragonlance.
"WHAT?!?!" Some of you may say. Others will just go, hmmmm, because as far as I know only 1 person who knows about these musings of mine has actually READ Dragonlance.
But that was where I solidified my concepts of good and evil. I was a 12 year old boy, and not a very NICE boy. I had been raised in a very Christian household complete with Sunday schools and home bible studies. All of this meant very little when I went to school and got ridiculed for my looks and got into fights. My initiation to the 7th grade was a 'Bull in the ring'. This is when 5 8th graders surround you and just start swinging till you fall down. The longer you can stand and take it, the more respect you've earned. I managed to earn a lot of respect, but I also turned into a very selfish bastard who cared little or nothing for others feelings. Survival is often an extremely selfish emotion, and I was very full of it until later in life.
I also didn't tend to read very often. I found it boring and cumbersome and less than thrilling. I enjoyed Narnia stories, and that was about it, until Dragonlance. DnD was met with some skepticism in my household. It wasn't banned or forbidden, but it certainly was not welcome. How ironic that through reading these stories I was able to wrap my mind around the concept of serving myself vs. serving others.
In the Dragonlance saga, there were 2 characters that made a difference to me. One was named Raistlin. He was a frail and strange looking person who was ridiculed and beat up in his younger years (sound like anyone you know?). He detested this weakness within him and resolved to become the most powerful being around. Throughout the process of 6 books, that is precisely what he did, at the expense of everyone around him. His lust for power eventually consumes anyone who's ever cared for him, and ultimately himself. Evil. At this point I decided that perhaps in serving others, I would ultimately be serving myself. Hey, this sounded suspiciously like some of the stuff I was hearing every week at Sunday school and what my mother was teaching at home. Maybe I should have paid more attention.
And that's all good and evil are. Service to others, or serving yourself. That's it. It's that simple. Do you go through life to make the biggest difference for yourself that you can? Or do you try to make life a bit more tolerable for everyone you meet? Everyday I make it my mission to try and brighten one person's day. Just one. If I can successfully do that, each day I live is another success, and I feel fulfilled and happy and can sleep at night with pleasant dreams.
Hmmm, dreams. That would be another good topic to muse upon someday.
-H-
Comments