Humans are difficult to be interpreted in terms of their behavior and attitude since the mysteries of human soul and the maze of human thought have always appealed to people due to their complexity, double-sided nature and mystery of how they are revealed and how they are formed. Ever since the first appearance of earth’s inhabitants there has been a progressive route of human kind which has nevertheless generated lots of heated debate as far as the traits of the human personality are concerned and the factors affecting them positively or negatively. A number of scientific fields like psychology, anthropology, sociology have devoted years of non-stop studies in an effort to decode the mysteries of human soul and mind but there still seems to be lots of heated debate concerning the factors affecting and influencing people. There seems to be this trait of human life itself which has always gone hand in hand with death which troubles people and makes it pretty difficult for them to come in terms with their ambiguity and controversy of character. Where there is joy, then there is grief, where death comes then life is born again and ashes turn into the basis of new foundations. Human life is a double edged knife and it all depends on the way someone decides to look at things or deal with them. There is a poem by Mark Spencer ‘Good and Evil’ which expresses this strong interaction between opposite ideas and concepts of human life. The poet looks deep into what the connection between good and evil is and he says ‘The nature of good and evil / Is more than black and white. / They are the darkness in our souls, / Likewise they are the light. / They dwell at human nature's core, And breed virtue and sin. / They are the fundamental force, / Within the hearts of men.’ So it is obvious that it is the dominance of good or evil in one person’s souls which results in that person behaving morally or immorally. While the poet goes on exploring the nature and power of good and evil and their interactive strong relationship, he writes ‘They also teach us how to love, / And live righteous lives. / This struggle between right and wrong / Determines who survives[ ] Good and evil form our center, / Like the roots of a tree. / They're human nature's architect, / They are humanity.’ The verses of this poem are representative of the struggle that individuals are to give throughout their lives so that they manage to be conquered by good and not evil. If people are conquered by good then they manage to treat others, themselves and every situation in life with morality but if they fail and they get conquered by evil then they definitely do not manage to stand up to the demands of their life staying faithful to their moral values and they enter the endless world of conspiracies, secrets, cunning and evil behavior. The aim of this paper is to present you with the double edged knife of morality. What may seem moral to one may seem injustice and evil to another. Since good and evil are the two sides of the same coin then the question is risen on what is the factor which will lead one to be good or another to be bad. Can moral and evil be chosen upon the people’s freedom of choice? And if this is the case then what is the reason why one decides to be morally good and another decides to be morally bad? The paper will look into revealing the mystery and complexity of factors which have proven to affect the moral and evil traits and attitudes pf people.
Rousseau who has been widely acknowledged within the circles of the educational community for his study of the human soul, has said that people are by virtue good. If this is to be taken into consideration, then it is time people realized that they have been born to be by virtue supporters of morality. Still it is the environment within which they are brought up, the conditions and events taking place within the borders of their socio-cultural environment and the historical context within which they find themselves which may lead them to act in an evil way or to consider something evil although they used to see it as bad or vice versa. Morality is the state according to philosophy which leads people to being elevated to an upper state psychologically speaking. People go after their perfection in terms of becoming better people, of contributing to the general common interest and wealth and of helping towards the social prosperity. Evil on the other hand is just the opposite. Any kind of behavior which seems to lack love, the sense of offer, sharing, cooperation and is only characterized by harming others is what people are used to calling evil. Even religious systems approached the issue of being moral or evil through such a humanized aspect. When people act according to the common interest without intending to harm others and without looking solely into their personal benefit and interest, then this is moral. But when the humanized approach is not obvious and has flown away and the criteria and the motivating powers of people’s behaviors are materialistic goals and personal interest, then this is evil.
The amazing fact in the issue of being moral or evil is the way in which some people turn into becoming evil all of a sudden whereas they always seemed to serve good and morals. This is something which has been always taking place in human societies but has turned out to be more evident even nowadays since our era is characterized by a highly antagonistic atmosphere within which people are taught on every possible way to survive. Since nowadays ethical values project survival as one of the top priorities, most people follow this trend sacrificing their moral and ethical values.
Societies and the educational systems do not approach people in a humanized way anymore. They seem to have put much more emphasis on how people are to become powerful, how they are to get as much knowledge as possible and how they are to be turned into this kind of being specialized so that they can serve the economic worldwide structure. Therefore the immediate result is that people seem to be orientated in becoming successful and achieving their goals no matter the cost, thus losing their moral and ethical values and losing any contact with what is supposed to be the good behavior. So since the world nowadays is characterized by the paradox which seems to have driven people crazy what is about to happen as far as morality and evil are concerned? The world nowadays teaches people in theory to be good and love being moral but in practice it leads people to be highly antagonistic, suspicious of others with no hesitations or moral obstacles when it comes to becoming successful. The world nowadays is a crowded jungle within which the most powerful survives and leaves no room for warmness, human feelings and love.
How can justice be taught in today’s relatively ‘evil’ world? Even though it may seem crazy and paradox, it is a paradox which very much is valid. And the bet for nowadays’ societies is to manage and find a way out of the tunnel of this antagonism and jungle law. In order for people to be able to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel it takes lots of set examples and teaching on why people ought to act in such a way that they help the others and they cooperate and coexist towards the achievement of common prosperity and wealth.
It is time people understood that the real power is not the one which can be measured or obtained through material wealth and goods. It is time people realized that the real power are the inner characteristics and virtues which they carry within their souls. Only love can help people fight against their internal but mainly imposed fears, suspicions, agonies and anxieties. Once one is let to flood their souls them they will realize that no one can live upon money or material wealth. It is love which can bring happiness and joy.
Works cited
Lind, G. (2008). The meaning and measurement of moral judgment competence revisited - A dual-aspect model. In: D. Fasko & W. Willis, eds., Contemporary Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives on Moral Development and Education. Cresskill. NJ: Hampton Press, pp. 185 – 220
Lind, G. (2010). The theory of moral-cognitive judgment: A socio-psychological assessment. In Lind, G., Hartmann, H.A. & Wakenhut, R., eds. (2010). Moral judgments and social education, pp. 21-53. New Brunswik, NJ: Transaction Publisher (second edition)
Schillinger, M. (2013). Verifying the dual-Aspect Theory: A cross-cultural study on learning environment and moral judgment competence. In: E. Nowak, D. Schrader & B. Zizek., eds. (2013), Educating competencies for democracy, pp. 23 - 46.
Spencer Mark, Good and Evil, retrieved from http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/life/poems.php?id=1145738
