My apologies. It was a mistake of typing. Actually, it was un-entropy ( harmony, just opposite of entropy).
Felix,
Though, in general, I avoid saying such things even in R&S section but now i cannot answer your questions without that. And perhaps, this would answer even some of those questions, which you did not ask yet. I also think that perhaps V may have some interest in this too.
I would not answer to point to point as to avoid overlapping otherwise i may come up repeating the same thing again and again.
First issue is the definition of Evil/Saitan and its relation with the God.
Saitan is both Will and Time. I would like to call it TSW ( time, saitan and will).
All these three are the same.
Here is from where usually the confusion starts. We tend to see Saitan as an outright evil or bad, which is wrong in my opinion. Saitan represents both time and change. It allows anything to happen further, whether good or bad.
So, just like God, Saitan is also beyond good and evil. Saitan is the will to break the status quo which was there at the stage of it is what it is. Consciousness is just consciousness, not complete God because it does not have any desire, even to exist, know itself or create anything further .
Thus, forget about any further creation, the God cannot even exist without Saitan. Going even further back, Saitan was very much there (though hidden) at the stage of it is what it is as a possibility of exercising the power of omnipotence by consciousness. As soon as consciousness exercises its power to will to will to exist, Saitan comes into existence alongside the God as power to will.
No event can ever happen without time. It is a must ingredient. But, eternity entails that there should no time around. Eternity does not represent very long or even infinite time but beyond time only. Thus, in the case of it is what it is, no TSW is required. This stage may remain pure and forever but cannot not manifest anything either.
To manifest anything, consciousness must have a will to do so. And, as soon as it wills for anything, clock starts ticking and time comes into existence. Now, from here on, consciousness takes the back seat and becomes just the watcher instead of actor and Will takes the baton.
So, at second stage of I am what i am, there are two different entities instead of one. One is pure consciousness while the second is TSW. Former is passive while later is active. So, from here on, anything that happens further, is done by TSW, not consciousness. Consciousness becomes mere a silent witness and watches things to happen around it. Consciousness discards its all omnipotence in the form of TSW and become absolutely pure. Now it cannot do anything but watch only. Both of these active and passive unites combine to form a complete God and are not opposite but complementary. And, both are necessary for the existence of the God and further creation too.
So, whatever we see around us, is nothing but a concentrated form of Will, except a silent watcher in the form of consciousness which is still inside us as a crux of our existence. In other words, we can say that humans are more developed version of the God, but at the same time, more intruded also.
Now comes the issue of evilness in God. As i said earlier, both ingredients of good and evil are necessary for the existence of anything, and that includes the God too.
Let us go back to it is what it is. it was perfect situation as a complete harmony. So, what was the need of disturbing it? It would have remained the same forever but could not do so. Because, being an omnipotent, the possibility of exercising its power to will was always there. And, as soon as it willed so, things started happening.
So, here a question arises whether its willing was good or bad?
I would like to take a analogy to find the answer.
Let us assume that a pair of twins is born. And, just after two years, when they become able to survive independently, one of those is escorted to complete uninhabited island which has enough facilities to survive for a human, while the other was kept within society.
So, what would be their state after 20 years? We can safely assume that the first one must be free from all bad habits which are found generally in the society. He perhaps would have not even know how to speak a lie or become angry. Because, he neither is in any need nor faced any such favorable circumstances, which may have taught him all this. But, we must not forget that he may not have any good qualities like love, compassion, helping others and wisdom either.
Now, think of the second child. He may have become a hardcore criminal. He may have developed all bad habits. But, in the other hand, there is also a possibility of becoming a very wise and noble person also.
The important thing to understand here is that, though there is still a remote possibility of changing a hardcore criminal into a noble and wise one, but, there is absolutely no possibility of becoming wise and noble for that one who is living alone on the island.
The first one living on the island is consciousness and the second is TSW.
So, given the choice, in which situation we want to be in?
My vote goes for the later one.
So, this is the context of the God and Saitan. It is nothing but the journey from being mere an omipotent to omniscient. And, that omniscience entails Saitan. But, journey does not end her but begins only.
Now comes the real battle ground and good and evil come into play. Here the Will have to fight none other than but with itself because there is no one else there to engage with. There is no Saitan present to fight with. But, evil and good in Saitan parts ways and struggle for the dominance over each other. That is human zone, under the strict surveillance of Saitan, who is the dean of this vast university, while some Deities and other higher spiritual entities from different intermediate realms are the professors of different subjects. And, they take care about the education of those who come from those very realms here as humans.
In other words, we can also say that this human realm is merely a training and testing centre for those higher spiritual entities. That is why they are interested in us and use to send prophets time and again as to provide guidance and avoid any derailment of the human race from its very goal.
And, this university of Saitan does not have only one but many different courses and classes too; from KG to PH.D. Every different course and class entails different effort. Sometimes we have to study but would have to pass the exams in the end also. That is what determinism and free will is all about.
When we study, there is not much of free will. But, more leverage is allowed at the time of testing as to see whether the student has been learned enough or not. And, both of these are done by circumstances.
We are far more controlled than we think. And, it is done in two ways. Firstly by circumstances and secondly through our subconscious mind. Our administrators have the capacity to plant required thoughts in our mind that are necessary to keep us on the designed track. We are not competent enough to realize that and tend to confuse those as our own and act accordingly.
if a student passes the test, he can go back to his home, to the higher spiritual realms in the form of soul, from where it came to incarnate as a human. If not, then he would have to incarnate here again as a human and study in the same class. This process would be repeated till he becomes able to pass the test. That is destiny and it is inescapable too.
Here wisdom has to win over ignorance; from omnipotent to omniscient. Humans are also omnipotent and can be omniscient too. We can replicate what the God did and become him too. Because, we have the same ingredients as the God has. That is enlightenment. It is not only about the knowledge of the process as merely that is not enough, though necessary. Enlightenment entails going through the process in person.
Humans have will but do not have complete control on their will.
The God also has the same will but he also has complete control on his will.
Thus, the difference is only quantitative, not qualitative.
This addresses the issue whether self assertion is inherently evil or not.
The answer is no, it is not. But, it lays down the foundation for the evil for sure. That is where the problem lies.
Self realization is not bad on its own, but in the virtue. The problem starts when the will to know itself does not stop there but continues its process. Then many other different wills start coming because that very source of the will, which is TSW, never dries out and keep producing will after will. That is the real issue. As TSW is also eternal like consciousness and God thus there is no way to stop it. And, will fall its own trap as tries to facilitate itself with more things after achieving self realization.
Having said this, it can be controlled too. But, to control will, one must have the will to control it. This is a paradox but can be solved too. The only remedy is that one should use will to eliminate unrequited other wills and keep doing it, till the moment when only one will remains; will to exist. That is enlightenment or the state of the God. This last will, which is to exist, cannot be eliminated, because there is no existence possible without that.
The last issue is about the so called nihilism and pessimism in Buddhism. For that, we have to go through the concept of Karma. When a soul comes here for the first time to incarnate from any spiritual realm, it does not have any credit or debit balances with regard to this human zone. This is to say as it has not done anything right or wrong with any other creature of this zone, thus, it does not have any obligation to repay for its deeds.
But when the soul, in the form of a human, engages here with different acts and persons, it bounds to be earn some credit and debit points for its right and wrong intentions and doings. These acts are written to its accout either in credit or debit side. And, these accounts would have to settle before the soul goes back permanently for its native realm. So, this settlement of accounts also runs parallel with the education of the soul during human life. A soul cannot leave this zone with either credit or debit balance.
The important thing to understand here is that even the credit balance, earned by good intentions and deeds, also a bondage for the soul, in the same way as of the debit balance. This is to say that even if a soul has been passed the test successfully and earned only credit points so far in the process, it cannot go back. It has to go through the reward for its good deeds. It other words, it has to spent his earned credit points here to bring its account balance to zero.
But, here lies the danger too. it is quite possible that during the tenure of settling its credit balance, it may provoke any further deeds, either good or bad, which again would stand unsettled in it account. Thus, it becomes a very long cycle (if not eternal) and the soul finds itself trapped here.
So, this is to say that evil is bad but, in a sense, even good is bad too. This is precisely the reason why Sufism and Hinduism keep stressing on neutralistic notions like being witness, detachment, emptiness, selflessness etc. It is not nihilism but more realistic approach than it looks prima-facie.
Here one can easily ask a counter question that if we are in total control then why these credit and debit points are given?
The answer is that there are two reasons. First is that we are governed only at macro level, not micro level. A general broad outline is decided for every human and he/she is kept within that. Having said that, there is still some room vacant for individual discretion and humans keep doing exercising that. This keeps adding to tally throughout the life and becomes quite considerable in the end and demands a settlement.
The second and bigger reason is the intentions and deeds shown by a particular human during the test, when humans are given relatively much freedom. Humans score a lot of points during this period hence again demand settlement.
That is precisely why we found ourselves in different conditions. Some are born with silver spoons while other in very miserable conditions or even born with disabilities. It is nothing but the settlement of old scores.
So, in general, it is either reward or test in the case of powerful and elite class. And, in the opposite way, it is either punishment or training in the case of strugglers. But, it is thumb rule only and there may be exceptions.
I would like you give you two examples; Saddam Husain and Ghandhi.
Both were powerful people and have a lot of control on their respective countries and citizen. Ghandhi tried to his best with his given power and refused to take any reward for his efforts when India became independent as he could easily be the first prime minister of India.
On the other hand, given the chance, Saddam became an autocrat and did whatever he could have been done for himself and even killed his many countrymen for his own benefit.
Ghandhi passed the test of destiny but Saddam failed, so he would have to incarnate and study again somewhere in this very world and give the test again. That is how it works.
Felix,
Whatever i said above, is the essence of all that i come to know either by personal experiences or by reading others in last 25 years or so. Thus, it is the amalgamation of reality and assumption. I am not an ostentatious type of person who wants to show his knowledge. Even though, i can safely say that the ratio of assumption is far less than the reality. There is some assumption in what i said about The God and TSW. But, whatever i said about humans is nothing but truth. You can take my word for that.
Having said that, still i will neither ask nor expect you to believe me. Just keep it as theory and try to judge whether it answers all metaphysical questions or not.
I will also welcome for any further clarifications or questions, if you or anyone else is interested.
with love,
sanjay
