2 of 28

Write now Article Tools

Evil is a subject that's been discussed and debated from the time man uttered his first words. What is it? Does it exist? If it is real, what constitutes true evil? Are there, have there been evil people, or just evil acts? Over the centuries our ideas and definitions of evil have changed, with modern civilization giving more credence to mental illness and psychology and less to magic, demonology and superstition. Yet even today the label of "evil" is bandied about, used to describe the worst among us, the most heinous acts, the perpetrators of horrible, seemingly inexplicable crimes against humanity. We have other terms for these offenders of course, sociopath, psychopath etc., but these current labels often don't satisfy our need for explanation or categorization, whereas the simple, ancient terminology of "evil" does. It is for this reason I believe that even in our civilized, scientific time a majority of people, well educated and not, religious and not, still hold deeply to the idea that evil exists.

Moving beyond the debate of evils reality for a second and assuming for arguments sake that it does exist brings man to even more fascinating speculation. For instance, what is it and what is at its root cause? The religious person would point to Satan as way of answering these questions and while that explanation may be perfectly valid, certainly no one can prove it's not, it does not delve deeply into the reasons some men choose to do evil, while others do not. So again we come back to what is it? What causes evil acts and/or people? It's been said many times that "money is the root of all evil" and financial greed has certainly been the motive for lots of terrible acts, but then so has envy, jealousy and lust. No, I would submit that while the pursuit of money or anything else can be a sure symptom of evil it is not the root cause. I believe the root of all evil is a simple thing, scary in its very commonness. It is something we all share at times, something we've all been guilty of to one degree or another. It explains every wrong we do, every wrong that has ever been perpetrated by anyone at any time. The root of all evil is selfishness. It is putting one's self interest above the interests of others. Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous or maybe too obvious, but think about it, what have been the motives behind the worst acts in human history, greed for money or power, lust, envy, jealousy. What do all these share in common, if not a disregard for everyone and everything except the self?

I think perhaps most people would agree that selfishness is bad and maybe even the root cause for all terrible behavior, but most of us don't recognize, at least in ourselves, just where it can lead. We think of evil only in huge terms, some grotesque act that some terrible person or people committed, we don't see it as incremental. In other words, I think that true evil is created, built if you will slowly one selfish act upon another. It may start with a few lies, nothing major mind you just some falsehoods designed to get what we want, then maybe a little cheating for personal gain, (what's the difference no one will ever know) and for some it will climb onward into a virtual tower of selfishness, a true structure of evil with a foundation of small, rationalized wrongs. Yes, evil is an interesting subject, one I think we'd all do well to give some serious thought to before we perhaps become more intimately acquainted with it then we would like.

Learn more about this author, J.R. Flowers.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about What is the root of all evil?
We want to hear your view. Write now!