What a
dualistic view of the world. White and black hats, good and bad guys. A very Western, very Greek way of looking at things, although the concept of a struggle between the forces of light and darkness goes back to ancient Persia. Obi-Wan and Darth Vader echo the ancient concepts of Zoroastrianism.
Judaism sees things a little differently. Acknowledging the existence of evil in the world as separate from G-d would be to deny G-d's omnipotence. The inexorable conclusion from the premise that G-d is responsible for everything, good and evil, was expressed by the prophet
Isaiah (in chapter 45):
| ז יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֹשֶׁךְ, עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם וּבוֹרֵא רָע; אֲנִי יְהוָה, עֹשֶׂה כָל-אֵלֶּה. {פ} | 7 I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things. {P} |
It is interesting that when these words were put into the prayer book, the rabbis could not bring themselves to declare G-d the creator of evil - so they changed the wording so it says "I make peace and create everything".
To be honest, though, I find the idea that good and evil both come from the same source to be oddly comforting. There isn't some horrible demon out there trying to get us - even Satan, in the Book of Job, is one of G-d's servants, the "adversary" whose job it is to tempt humans to sin. He is the prosecutor before the Heavenly Court. In the vision of the prophet
Zechariah (Chapter 3):
| א וַיַּרְאֵנִי, אֶת-יְהוֹשֻׁעַ הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל, עֹמֵד, לִפְנֵי מַלְאַךְ יְהוָה; וְהַשָּׂטָן עֹמֵד עַל-יְמִינוֹ, לְשִׂטְנוֹ.
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1 And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
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ב וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-הַשָּׂטָן, יִגְעַר יְהוָה בְּךָ
הַשָּׂטָן, וְיִגְעַר יְהוָה בְּךָ, הַבֹּחֵר בִּירוּשָׁלִָם; הֲלוֹא זֶה
אוּד, מֻצָּל מֵאֵשׁ.
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2 And the LORD said unto Satan: 'The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan,
yea, the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee; is not this man a
brand plucked out of the fire?'
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Good and evil are two sides of the same coin. We often ascribe the first to luck, and the latter to something outside of us - there is no way a normal human can understand the mind of a psychopathic killer, and that in itself is a blessing. But in the end, I do not believe in the dualism of these two.
Whether you believe in a personal G-d or some vague "Universe" out there, it forms the light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil. The source of all is the same.
What do you think?
