by Gary C. Gibson

Created on: February 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

Martin Buber wrote in the dark and developmental period of post-Hapsburg Deutchland about the origin of the knowledge of opposites and the associated idea of good and evil. These ideas occur in many ancient mythic sources and are quite important in subsequent human history. The ideas seem to have a familar elements transcending creation myths that made its way into several traditions including the Bible, Avestian Zarathustran concepts, Manicheanism etc. Avestian language had cognates in Sanskrit, and Hebrew has cognates in North Syrian languages. The flood myths made their way downhill to Mesopotamia as well, or vice versa in the context of the flood story.

Buber's brilliance lay in the grasp of the transcendent within the dark, troubled social currents of his time as a writer bettween 1895 unto the 1950's or 60's.His works are a kind of contemporary mystical 'Cloud of Unknowing' writing not from the via negativa about God but from positive analysis of the revealed word of God in the Pentateuch.

Good and evil are important historical ideas that can be traced to their mythical source documents that Buber thought was based in some places upon pre-existing ideas with sources now lost. Good and evil are opposites yet of one spectrum as are light and dark and so many others. Human intelligence as it advanced became aware of the relationship of so many opposites that in time can be thought of as dialecticals. Good and evil are a power of the imagination and of self will. The imagination of Eve was able to conceive that the apple would be good to taste and eat. Right and wrong became associated with the assertion of all acts of creative imagination in to reality. Good acts were done to serve God and evil acts were done to satisfy just one's own will. The will and creativity generate in the imagination a limitless series of temptations to act for good or evil. Imagination fills the mind with slightly fictitious or hugely fictitious scenarios of how things could or should be. The human mind's imagination is it's own carrot and stick leading it through the day and in to the night. Bereft of the will to be of service to God the imagination may work solely for evil. The Biblical Garden of Eden and fall story with the origin of good and evil are two or three of the greatest ideas. A human being must reconcile unto God as the most important idea or follow the way of evil until existence is over, and just an empty soul aware that it is nothing for every persists for eternity

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