Wiccan question: How can there be good if there is no evil?

Question

My Priestess is amazing. I adore her. However, I am confused by her teachings that there is no evil because nature must keep a balance. Therefore, death isn’t ever caused by evil. I agree with this in the animal/nature world. However, this doesn’t apply in the human world. If there must be a balance, which is what we are taught and one of the foundations of Wicca, then evil must exist for good to exist. Right?

First detail added: Like I said this a question to Wiccans/Pagans. I am not disrespecting you, as hard as that is sometimes, please don’t disrespect me.

Second detail added: I know what I believe, I’m just would like the view points of other Wiccans on this subject. I’m not confused. I’m asking because I want to know if I’m alone my view point that my priestess is incorrect is shared by other Wiccans.

Answer 1

First I would like to say that being able to question your beliefs and openly seek answers shows a great deal of maturity and intelligence.

Your Priestess may have meant that there is no absolute evil. Likewise there is no absolute good. With every action there are both positive and negative consequences.

For example, murder causes much grief and pain, especially for those who knew the victim. However, anything that once belonged to the person or would have ever belonged to them can go to someone else. One more person can get fed from the food that they would have eaten, their body replenishes the earth, and any negative actions that that person may have eventually done will never happen.

I know this may seem morbid, but it's important for those of us who are part of the Wiccan religion to recognize that polarities are not separate. Each polarity exists inside it's counterpart and if good is part of evil and evil, a part of good, then neither can be absolute. This goes back to one of the first lessons most Wiccans learn; everything is connected.

Answer 2

Not exactly. Evil has to exist in order for someone to *recognize* good. In order to contrast against it. Otherwise everything just seems the same. It would just be... what you do, because there would be no other way to do things but the "good" way. This would probably never happen, though. Evil would just be redefined. Anything that wasn't "good enough" would become the new evil, like taking a penny you find on the street instead of searching far and wide for the person who dropped it.

Answer 3

Good and evil, neither of them really exist.
I mean, define them.
Good is something that helps and evil is something that harms, right?
Now let's say you live in a small village and you have everything you need. And there's another village down the way whose crops have failed. So they send some people to visit you and they say "Listen, we need to buy some corn and potatoes, but we don't have any money or anything to trade, so we can't pay you, but we'll make good on it eventually, we promise."
So you go ahead and make the loan. A few months down the line they come back and they say, "Terrible! We had a plague of rats and they just wiped out all our stores, we need another loan and we'll pay you when we get our next harvest in, we promise."
Well, these folks are starting to look like freeloaders, so you confer with your elders and decide that you need to feed your village first, so you tell them no.

So, to YOU you're GOOD. You made a loan out of the goodness of your heart- not your fault it went bad, you gave them everything you can spare, but alas, it was wasted, and now there's nothing to be done.
To THEM you're EVIL. Who knows, maybe you're even the reason why they're having so much badluck. Maybe you bewitched them. And now you're telling them no.

After all, they've got better weapons than you do. They can just come in and blow you up! But they did the nice GOOD thing and asked nicely instead, but you, you EVIL bastard, refused them. So, they go home and confer and decide that the best GOOD(est) thing they can do, is to invade you and take your food, otherwise their children will die.

Well now they're EVIL because they raided your village and took your food. So you confer and decide that the only way you can be safe is to get rid of these Evil folks. So, you raid their village and "liberate" their women and children, because you're so GOOD, you don't want them to have to live in that rat-infested place full of evil men. Right? Well... do you see where I'm going with this? Neither is really Good nor is either Evil. They are simply looking after their own interests, but throwing a label on there makes it easier to get the other folks in the village on the bandwagon and to justify horrible action.

The only way you can truly acheive balance is to get rid of the concept of good and evil (and other subjective concepts) altogether.
If you must think of Good and Evil, then thing of them as balance and imbalance and order and disorder. Free these concepts of judgement and morality, because all they are are tools for leading the masses.

Blessed be.

Answer 4

There is no absolute evil. But evil exists. Its just that we cannot blame evil actions or intentions on some supernatural source of all evil. Evil and Good are relative terms that are perceived and acted upon by the individual. THe balance between negative and positve energies is part of the balance of nature. So both good and evil lie within all of us.

Answer 5

This is a really good question. Something I struggle with myself. Ofcourse if good exists, evil must. This is the law of duality (which is balance). I don't quite understand the concept but I can offer a helpful tip. Look into the voudon culture of Haiti. They are nondualistic (everything is one - there are no oppostites). Maybe this will help you out. I should look further into it myself. From a western mindset it's difficult for us to see anything other than black and white! Have fun and blessings to you!

Answer 6

That is silly. Of course there is evil. There are ONLY three types of people that claim that there is no such thing as 'evil':

1. People that do not wish to be considered evil for the things they do. Professional bad men that support the 'law of the jungle' philosophy which does not conflict with their desire to rob banks and screw people over.

2. People that hate GOD and the Bible and try to find ways to erase the teachings of Scripture from society with their own self serving, liberal little philosophy.

3. Morons that fell for it and now spread this childish, infantile, girly philosophy as though it were their own.

Answer 7

Good is the lack of evil, so if there is no evil then everything is good, but then what would make good something "special" Good can only exist if there is a standard to base it on, and without evil, where is that standard? Philosophically speaking, Good can only exist if evil does as well.

Answer 8

I have to say in point of your preistess though I agree, she is not teaching it right apparently. Right and wrong-Good and evil....its just perspective...its wrong/evil to steal, but if you have no food is it still evil to steal for food. You may consider something evil, yet others think it is fine (look at the controversy between pro life/choice or the gay right movement) You alone have the ability to dictate your actions and you yourself can decide.

Answer 9

The term "evil" is a problem because it gives rise to thoughts of some satan type being. Perhaps you should not see evil but a "lack of goodness" or perhaps you should think of it as good and bad instead of good and evil.

Answer 10

yes, there is a good and evil, but in human actions. all depends in who you help or prejudice. even when you try to help, later the same person will claim that you make a bad thing to him/her. so, the moral was inside the human brain, good/evil depends on how he/she feels it. in strict sense then evil is the ignorance inside us, wanting more things that actually we need, wanting things that we can't have, wanting conquest things that was not fit in us and so on.