Demons_And_Evil

Demons And Evil Throughout the ages, humankind has been deeply troubled by the existence of evil. We have often wondered: what is evil' Simply stated, evil is the infliction of pain upon sentient beings. Evil, however, is much more complicated than that definition suggests. It is a complex synthesis of moral, natural, and metaphysical evils (Russell 1986, 18) that varies in its interpretation across time and cultures. The countless atrocities of the twentieth century have stirred a renewed interest in the concept of evil along with a belief that evil is an inherent part of human nature and even the cosmos -- we all realize that evil things do not only happen to us but are universally present. Before evil can be understood on a cosmic level, it must first be understood on the level of an individual. A poignant description of evil against an individual is found in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov: Imagine a trembling mother with her baby in her arms, a circle of invading Turks around her. They've planned a diversion; they pet the baby, laugh to make it laugh. They succeed, the baby laughs. At that moment a Turk points a pistol four inches from the baby's face. The demons, evil, devil, daimon, daimones, gods, god, spirits, greek, good, plutarch, order, brenk, between, ancient, 1986, words, concept, russell, roman, being, new, daemonology, both, became, word, one, must, first, daimonion, about, time, thamous, power, out