Quotes About Evil

"In the world there exist opposing forces. It would be a great mistake to think that these forces do not exist."

"There are Forces of Dissonance in the world. They oppose the unity of life. They oppose the evolution of life. They oppose the work of Knowledge. They oppose the reclamation of Knowledge. These forces are generated from both within the world and beyond the world. These forces are evil in the sense that they oppose the unity and evolution of life. They are disruptive. They seek to separate what must be joined, and they seek to join what must be separated. Therefore, it is accurate to say that there is evil in the world."

"Evil, which is what undermines Knowledge within you and within life, will always appear to offer you things you do not have or things that you want or things that you need. This is why so many people succumb to these attractions."

Directives

"You must accept evil as a condition of physical life. It is something you must contend with. Its many influences and seductions are something you must become aware of and deal with objectively and with sobriety. "

The antidote to evil

“God has created the perfect antidote to evil, and the perfect correction for error… Knowledge is the antidote to evil; it is a correction for sin; and it is entirely natural within you, being the essence of your true Self, the Self that God has created, not the self that is a product of your culture and your worldly environment. ” "Knowledge is not dismayed by the presence of evil, nor is it influenced by evil."

"Knowledge is wise. It is practical. It is the antidote to your foolishness. It is the antidote to your servitude to others and to the notions that are prevalent in your cultures. This is the antidote to evil in the world."

"It is painful to be separated from that which you love beyond all things, and the only way to maintain this separation is to malign that which you love, to give it an evil intent and then to engender guilt within yourself. To feel and accept the power of God, evil and guilt must leave you. You must venture forth to explore that which is most natural. It is like breaking new ground and coming home all at once."

“Any gift, however small, improves the condition of humanity. You cannot see this, of course, but it is true because it is an aggregate. It is like a scale. If evil and oppression are weighing down the scale completely on one side, you don’t have something as great as that to counteract it, to balance the scale, to offset the overwhelming dominance of evil and circumstance, of ignorance, of oppression, of poverty and so forth. When you add to the other part of the scale something small, it seems to have no effect, but when others add something small, sooner or later, in time, the scale is balanced, and beyond this it moves in favor of what is true and natural for human beings—which is to be united with others, which is to be creative, which is to be in service to their families and cultures in the world, to preserve the world, to take care of people, to be inspired and to have the glow of an inner life within themselves. Even when circumstances look bad, even in the face of failure and defeat, the power of Knowledge is within you.”

"All these tendencies are still within you [as a person of the New Message]—the seeds of evil, the seeds of greed, the seeds of deception, the seeds of self-deception are all there. Many of them are quite active at this moment. So you will have to restrain these things and turn to Knowledge and ask the assistance of others when that becomes necessary."

Misunderstandings about Evil

"Some people believe that evil is simply something within themselves that they can correct. This is not true. With Knowledge, you can correct your own predisposition to follow the Forces of Dissonance, but you cannot correct the dissonance itself."

"Evil originates from beyond the world. This is because you live in the Greater Community of worlds. This is so obvious. However, it is difficult for most people to see because they think their world is the only place that exists."

"Some people believe that many of God’s angels have fallen, have been seduced by the pleasure and the seductions of physical life and have fallen and become the demons; that God is opposed by whole leagues of angels or other beings who are opposed to God’s reality.... Really the opposition is part of the reality of living a life of Separation—the desire to be separate, the fear of giving up this Separation, the emphasis on one’s uniqueness and all of the particulars of one’s identity and psychology.... This is the power that opposes the reality of life. Certainly, there are beings that are committed to this; there are even beings beyond your visible range who are committed to this; there are angels who are committed to this. But do not think that there is one fallen angel that is the source of all evil in this world or the whole universe. That is ... incorrect."

"It would not be accurate to say that there is a war between God and the forces against God. This is not the case at all. The physical universe is simply a place where God has been denied. The cumulative effect of this denial is what could be called evil. Evil is not born of one individual who generates all evil. Evil is born of the desire for separation and disassociation based upon fear, hostility and guilt."

Further Study

• Relationships & Higher Purpose, Chapter 8: The Problem of Evil & the Forces of Dissonance