Vault313
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Mmm. I can only respond with my own sense of reason, so, in the same spirit as your post, take this for what it's worth...
I don't see any reason why free will would require evil. The only candidate reason I can think of is that for our wills to be free, they cannot be restricted in any way, but if this were true, then we would definitely not have free will right now. We are restricted already in so many ways: by gravity and other physical laws, by our survival needs, by our biology - just by being stuck in a material body in this material world. If free will is impossible without restriction, and if we have free will, then why can't you and I lift off the ground and fly?
But if, on the other hand, we have free will and our wills are, as seems to be obviously the case, already restricted in certain ways, then restriction of itself cannot disqualify our wills from being free. And if, too, evil and its consequences are - as so many of us can testify that they are - in many cases utterly horrific, then what possible reason could an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God have for allowing it? That is, if, having free will, we are already restricted for what, let it be said, seem to be entirely unnecessary reasons - e.g. there is no obviously "necessary" reason why we should be subjected by gravity to be Earth-bound - then why should we not be restricted too from doing (or being subject to) evil when that restriction would have an entirely obvious and reasonable justification?
But OK, maybe there's another reason. Maybe, to be "genuinely" free, our wills need to be unrestricted not in a general sense, but only with respect to moral choices. Well, sure, you could assert that, but why would it be true? In what sense is it helpful to anybody, let alone to God's ultimate aim, for us to have this freedom? Isn't the ultimate aim for us to all end up in unconditional perfection, being unconditionally loving to one another? If we would have free will in that state, then doesn't that contradict the idea that free will requires the ability to choose evil (since we would certainly not have it in that state)? And if we wouldn't have free will in that state, then what makes free will so important anyway?
I mean, there must be something about God and Creation that I'm missing if anybody is to convince me that ditheistic moral dualism is not the correct metaphysical view. If God wants this state of perfection, then why in the world didn't He just set up the whole of Creation to be like that from the beginning, without even the possibility of evil? Seriously, these might seem like naive questions, but I think they deserve a good answer, and as yet I haven't encountered one.
On the other hand, the answer that I've come to, that of ditheistic moral dualism, comes up against the problem of evidence of the sort you've presented - people experiencing NDEs who don't say anything about the independent existence of evil, and who come up with some sort of theodicy, or, who, when negative NDEs are experienced, report that God in some sense "allows that" or "has set it up such that" a person might end up in hell, in some sort of "cosmically just" outcome.
So, I really don't know what to believe, but for the moment I'm sticking with the dualistic conclusion that I've come to.
Thanks, Morning Fog, for the thought-provoking post.
I don't know if I have an answer that will satisfy you, but I will share what satifies me....for the most part, anyway.
I think you, and many others are truly on to something when you say this life is a game. I call it ultra high definition virtual reality. I think the holographic universe theory is pointing us in the right direction. (A thought just occurred to me that perhaps the puzzle of "solving" reality or the mysteries of the universe are also part of the game. In some weird way, rediscovering truths we already knew may be immensely exciting.)
Try a thought experiment:
You are an eternal being. You are constantly immersed in the love, benevolence and understanding of the All-That-Is constantly. So much so there is literally zero distinction between you (in an ego sense, which I do not believe exists like it does here) and the All-That-Is.
Put yourself there, to the best of your ability. This world and all of its obligations, responsibilities and physical demands are gone. You are at utter peace. There is no danger. You will not die, starve, feel pain or even worry. All that is in all of creation is available to you at any and all times.
So, what growth takes place here? What do we learn? Are we or the All-That-Is evolving? Or is it a stasis?
What do you do with eternity? What do you do with all of creation at your finger tips? How do you expand and evolve? You create whatever it is you want to create. And you co-create. You share the experience of creation and evolution with all that exists within the All-That-Is. Perhaps you create....a game.
There are rules to this game. It'll be challenging, yet we set the difficulty level. Some may go all in. Some may only want a superficial experience of what the physical side of existence has to offer. I think there would be many worlds, with different rules and different challenges. And we delight in this. Just as there are those who delight in video games or skydiving or traveling to far off countries and immersing themselves in different cultures. We have absolute freedom because we have the ability to create whatever it is we choose to create. We even create the rules and limitations that we will *temporarily* live by. And the stricter the rules, the greater the limitations, the more challenging it is. It gives us a chance to flex our spiritual muscle, so to speak.
This includes the notion of evil. BUT, what is evil? Ask 100 different people and you'll get 100 different answers. If you cannot die, what is the meaning of murder? If physical existence was only meant to be temporary, what does it mean for physical existence to end? Nothing. They mean nothing, other than the experience gained by being murdered, or mudering another. Or being the parent of a murdered child. And experiencing life in the physical. Hunger, pain, sex, gluttony, greed. Or even exhilaration. Experiencing what it would even be like to die. Since we cannot die, we have no other way to experience the fear of impending death, or the exhilaration of dodging it.
Think about haunted houses, horror movies, roller coasters, again skydiving, bungee jumping,etc. these are all situations we deliberately put ourselves in for the sheer thrill of it. We love scaring ourselves with the fear of death, only when we know it is impossible (or at the very least incredibly unlikely).
Our true reality is no different. We know we cannot die. We know this physical experience is temporary and in the end ALL IS WELL. Something NDEers say all the time.
We, from our purely human perspective say "how can this be so?" How can everyone be ok, when I can look around me and see that it is not.
Surely, if you were able to enter into the universe of the Halloween movies, none of the characters would tell you everything is all right. People are being killed by a crazy man in a mask!! But you would laugh and say, none of this is real! None of you are really going to die. It's just a movie.
So it could be the same from the perspective of the other side.
So, other than sheer entertainment (which I have a strong intuition that it is), why else would we do this?
To learn and grow through these experiences. To practice love and most importantly, forgiveness. It's like tying our spiritual arms behind our backs, and going into the boxing ring. We deliberately challenge ourselves to become more.
Now, to what end? I don't know. Maybe there isn't one and never will be. Who says there has to be some sort of limit on evolution? In any sense? I think it's an incredibly human way to think, when we believe that evolution has some sort of end point. Like there could ever be some point in the future some species could stop and say "we made it!".
So, evil, from this point of view, serves the purpose in challenging us. Learning to love and forgive in spite of the pain and suffering we must endure.
And what of the "supernatural" evils? I posit that they could be a few things. One) a creation in their own right. Lesser evolved beings who are only beginning their evolutionary journey. Perhaps their journey is one so vastly different from our own, we could never understand it. Two) it is another illusion, created by ones specific creation choices in the development of their own "game". Perhaps when people experience these entities, it is all part of their challenge. Will they give in and follow? Will they resist and overcome? Three) they are a misunderstanding of reality on the part of our ever so limited physical brains. They are something being interpreted incorrectly by a brain that has no point of reference for such a thing. Truly, when we understand something more fully, we can literally witness it change before our very eyes. We see things in a new light, and cannot understand how we saw what we initially did. It could be a combination of all three, plus who knows what else exists in the fullness of reality?
So, evil acts by humans exist to benefit us. What?!? Sounds insane, right? But step outside of an earth centric view, into the eternal nature of all creation, and the concept of evil suddenly changes. Moreover, with the expanded view of time and reality, we can see that while evil seems to triumph in the temporary, love ALWAYS wins. It always does. Hitler met his end. His ideas have all but died, and we are a better species for the understanding and growth in compassion the holocaust gave us. Stalin is gone and his brutal regime has ended. Same can be said for any and all men (or women) like him. And we, as a human species have grown and evolved. We too have become more than we were. There will always be a Hitler, a Pol Pot, a Dick Cheney. But in the end, they NEVER win. Love rules the day, and we are better for our experiences. And in my mind, this transforms their victims. They were not helpless beings being sent to the slaughter meaninglessly. Their purpose was far higher than ever given credit for. Their sacrifice, their suffering, their courage to face this challenge leaves me in utter awe. How incredible these beings are, to have endured such suffering for the good of all creation. And such beauty these beings radiate. These horrifying events transform from being senseless suffering and murder, into an act of immense love. A gift from these souls who endured so much, so that we could all become more. Nothing humbles me more than this.
I'll end this here, even though This is all more complex than I've provided for here. But I've said a mouthful already.