Is evil natural?

Question

Does evil come naturally to children, or is it learned with age.

Answer 1

Must you teach a child to be selfish, or greedy, or do they seem to know it already. Its our nature.

Answer 2

It is a problematic question: (my logic)
a. Evil exists.
b. If evil is natural, then it can occur without involvement from external factors (learning, revelation, etc).
c. If evil is unnatural, then it occurs through learning.
d. All learning comes from an external source (one cannot teach oneself evil).
e. At some time, evil must have been introduced/created or learned, since it exists, and both natural and unnatural inception require that evil has been introduced from an external source (un human.
f. Therefore, evil is natural to human nature with an unnatural or supernatural inception.

Answer 3

Evil is not natural to children. Good & evil exists in the world and children are as susceptible to it as anyone else. Maybe more so. Things like hate, racism, etc are learned from your parents & other authority figures.

Answer 4

Yes, it is perfect! And why not?

The duality in the cosmic system exists as much as there is day and also a night. The power of Satan is considered equivalent to the power of God but in negative terms. If the power of God is considered plus hundred then the power of Satan is minus hundred! The sum total of the cosmic energy at any given point of time always remains zero. The prime reason why Satan sometimes becomes more active than God and it is this time when the Humanity awaits an Avatar (God manifest in human form).

If we have a tumbler half full then a philosopher would feel satisfied owning at least 50% of the assets. But one with materialistic tendencies would perceive the tumbler as half empty. The situation remaining the same... there is a vast difference in the thinking of the two.

If we have goodness created by God we also have evil to counter it. In the absence of evil the presence of goodness would be absolutely negated. If salt never existed in the world we would never have known the real taste of food. Talk to one with BP (blood pressure)... for whom salt spells poison... salt carries no meaning.

Offer a pizza to one with full stomach... he might refrain from eating it. But offer it to one hungry for days... it spells the existence of life.

Goodness and evil are both contemporaries. One cannot exist without the other. As we have the day... we also have nights. We have water... we also have fire.

Life is always to be lived maintaining a balance between both. The one who tends to be evil is never in the wrong always... neither is one who conducts himself gentlemanly. The society cannot sustain without the two.

When times are good... the percentage of goodness is in the ratio of 80~90%%. When times are bad this same ratio reverses and it is this time we are passing through... the Kali Yuga (the metal age) phase of life. A period when adharma, the forces of evil are at their peak!

The calamities like the episode of WTC would become a routine affair in the days to come.

In case of children... evil tendencies grow with passage of time as one becomes more and more attracted to materialistic tendencies. Lesser the wanton desires... less would be the child inclined towards evil tendencies.

As parents one needs to take care that the evil tendencies of the child are never suppressed. It is proper spiritual counseling and nourishing of positive thoughts that propels a child towards sustained positive countenance. More on evil and Kali Yuga here- http://www.vijaykumar.org/advaita_vedanta.html and http://www.godrealized.com/kaliyuga.html

Answer 5

what you call evil is a learning process in children..all but the really disturbed and abused grow out of it.
the only evil on this planet is human created.
its up to you whether you think humans have lost touch with the "natural", and whether that is anything to do with why adults are evil.

Answer 6

in nature there is no evil. only survival.

the fox eating the rabbit is not evil. though the rabbit may disagree. this is the simple balance of nature. if the rabbit was not eaten then there would quickly be too many rabbits and they would starve to death for lack of food.

humans are cursed with the ability to enjoy Killing and the pain of others. evil is not natural. but humand seem to create it an awful lot.

Answer 7

since the fall of adam, man has shown a remarkable propensity to do evil than good. it has always been easier to evil , so much so we have to always remind ourselves to correct our behaviour..

there is an evil seed in all children. as parents we can help the child by teaching them on the correct values , where such values will help to become moral and upright adults. Of, course we can also teach them to become evil ( eg. racist , bigotry ..etc)

Answer 8

Damn good question!! i was a terrible child EVIL beyond belief!! i found the awfull things i did were natural(instinctive) to me??
I now have nightmares of the things i did as a child? i despise cruelty now and can't bare to see it!! i didn't seem to have any control what so ever when i was young at the things i have done??
i questioned a young boy a few years ago who was collecting snails then stamping on them," why are you doing that?" he answered i dont know? what a confusing distorted cruel soup of life we live in?

Answer 9

Sorry, but I have never met an evil two year-old. Evil is learned.

Answer 10

i have often wondered myself,i"e at what point did hitler become evil or was he always evil?.to answer your question i like to think that all children are born innocent and that evil is learned with age +knowledge rather than naturally.it is an interesting question~i hope you get the answer you are looking for..............

Answer 11

Evil is the absence of God and not an entity of itself.

When people do not know God they act without God. They can do things which seem good in the world but they live without the knowing the love and power of God for good things to happen in their lives. And that is real privation and loss to them as they wander through life. (they feel how "evil" life can be).