My dream felt a little weird last night, because some of the people in it were taken from TV shows and movies, but I know what they were representing so it's okay. It just made it a little awkward to watch, haha.
My dream was about a man, magical and powerful in his own right, but who craved more. His reasons may have been justified, at least in his own mind, but he sought to awaken a great force of Fire energy. He stated that it was to combat a rising evil, but the energy he summoned wasn't pure, it was corrupt and fed off negativity and anger. It took the form of a man in my dream, and he appeared handsome, wise, strategically knowledgeable, and intelligent both in theory and in practice.
Rather than unleashing him upon the world, the man kept him contained in a fiery cave, with tall pillars of earth to hold up the ceiling and scattered pools of magma steaming and heating the area. Flames danced on the surface of these pools, lighting the entire cavern with an orange glow. Needless to say, it was quite hot down there, but the Fire energy was in his element, and enjoyed it.
The man hoped this Fire energy would train others to aid him in his battle against evil, and a sort of training grounds was devised in the cavern with wooden training dummies that didn't burn and obstacle courses to teach their bodies to move swiftly and nimbly in any situation. Unfortunately, the Fire energy had plans of his own, and as he grew stronger he began seeking a way out of his cavern prison. Though his intentions were never stated, I got the feeling he wanted to immerse the world in flames and rise to rule the elements.
In time, the man realized he was wrong and became afraid of the Fire energy because he knew he could not control it and that he could not keep him contained much longer. The Fire energy was no longer training men for the great battle against evil--but was now raising an army of his own, full of willing followers studying and worshiping his power.
As in all epic tales, where there is evil, good will rise up against it. And rise they did... a mix of people began to appear as if by magic, stepping out from behind pillars and falling from the sky to land gracefully in a combat-ready battle pose. Some of these people seemed to represent the other elements, there to bring balance back to nature. Some were there to quench the flames and offer a disadvantage to the Fire energy, and still others were only there because they were fighters and their skills had been called to light. Regardless their reasons, they formed a force greater than Fire alone, and defeated the energy, casting him back to his place in the great balance of nature, and stripping him of his human form (thus removing his human emotion from existence, which may have been the key to his negative and power-hungry tendencies).
This was not done in peace, however. A great battle had taken place, with casualties on both sides. There was no celebration of glory for the combined heroes; instead they simply shared a smile and a few kind words, and held a moment of silence out of respect for the fallen.
With no further reason to be gathered, the forces of good went their separate ways once more. The man was ashamed at having almost destroyed the world where he meant to do good, but learned that power cannot be summoned, contained, and manipulated to do your biding. His heart was in the right place, he had simply gone about it the wrong way.
And that was that. This dream just leaves me thinking... what IS evil? What does it mean to be evil, how is it defined, and who defines it thus? In Taoism I learned that for something to be ugly, something else must first be deemed beautiful, and the same can be said in reverse. Nothing is born or created ugly or beautiful until it is analyzed and labeled. Is something perceived evil simply because something else has been named good? Or are they the lightning and rain of a storm--fire and water working together in an act of Chaos meant to destroy and to nurture simultaneously in the great balance of life?
I love the way you describe your dreams. Your use of detail makes me feel as if I am there, seeing it myself.
ReplyDeleteAs for defining evil. I've thought about this before in great depth. What I've concluded may not be correct, but it satisfies me in wondering about this term. Its also hard to explain via text. The words "good" and "bad" are opposites, "good" and "evil" are also opposites. One conclusion I have come to is "evil" is not synonomous with "bad." I wonder if "good" is interpreted differently when it is compared to "bad" than it is to "evil." I think classifying something as bad or good is based on perspective and morals. What may be good for me may be bad for you. I feel evil is something composed of pure negativity or hatred. When an act is evil, no one or nothing benefits from the evil act. When someone is evil, they do negative things, even though they don't benefit from it.
You described the relationship of ugly & beautiful. I think this relationship is based on perspective, like good and bad. Someone's opinion determines whether something is ugly or beautiful, just like good or bad, and someone else can have a completely opposite opinion. Maybe the term "evil" can be described in the same way, but I think people use the term "evil" too loosely. Something authentically evil will not be ever perceived as good by anyone, as nothing but negativity ever results from something truly evil.
Now I'm rambling because I don't know how to put my thoughts in to words. It is hard to think of a good analagy to describe what I'm thinking.
The concept of good and evil is a human construct. It exists because of the need to label and categorize things. I believe that our minds have a predisposition to understand things in the simplest terms possible and to also relate everything to something else we already know. The simplest way to organize our environment is to recognize the great dualities that do exist. (Light/Dark, Hot/Cold, Woman/Man, Strong/Weak, Good/Evil, etc.)
ReplyDeleteThe basis for what falls in to the category of good and what falls in to the category of evil was likely based on what would help us survive in ancient times. I would imagine that in ancient tribes that if someone went around randomly killing people it would hurt the whole tribe, and was thus seen as evil. At the same time killing your enemies or defending your tribe was beneficial to the tribe and thus seen as good. Examples of this are everywhere.
Take a look at the Crusades. Jesus preached love for his fellow man, to turn the other cheek, but at the command of the Pope Catholics were up in arms to kill as many Muslims as possible. At the time this was viewed as a good thing. However, over the years history has examined these events and relabeled them as evil.
This brings me to another point, what is good and what is evil is fluid and influenced by the masses. What is seen as good today may be seen as evil tomorrow. This lends credence to your assertion that maybe something is evil because something else was named good.
I think what we can learn from Taoism though is the concept of harmony. Take the example of a bamboo reed in the wind. It bends but does not break. If it was more rigid it would break under harsh wind, but because it yields it does not. It is both strong and weak. But through it's weakness it gained strength.
What people should try to avoid, and we see it all over the place, are extremes, going too far to one way or another. We will all experience good and evil in our lives. Growing from both experiences is what will make each of us a complete person.
I agree with you both, that many things labeled as good/bad are perception-based, and that they are all subject to change as history is written.
ReplyDeleteChase, I very much believe good/bad and good/evil are completely different things. And it worries me slightly to think that some of the things I believe strongest in may be consideredbad or even evil at some point in the future. Though I also know I cant let that thought bother me, there's nothing I can do about it if that becomes true one day.
Evil IS used too loosely, and it bothers me. Sometimes, sure, when playing around even I will say something like, "Ugh, laundry is evil." But clearly that's an exaggeration for effect. It's when people say things like "homosexuality is evil" that gets me angry at peoples lack of the english language. Grab a thesaurus and use a different word!
I digress. My point is, I agree. Anonymous, you point out some great things. The balance and harmony of Taoism... which is why I brought it up in this post. Taoism is all about that balance, and about teaching yourself to accept and adapt to change in Life. To BE the reed that bends in the wind. And I felt a lot of that was present in this dream. The other elements fighting to restore balance, and the man who summoned Fire seemed to be doing it for what he thought was a just cause: battling an impending evil--fighting an oncoming Chaos--and what is chaos but change?
I appreciate your thoughts, I know I'll be considering this topic for a while still.
It takes a special person to really lead change. History reflects on these people as explorers, pioneers, visionaries, scientists, artists, inventors, and leaders. They could see past the chaos in to the infinite possibilities and they were brave enough to lead the way.
ReplyDeleteOften times when change is shunned, it is by the people that have the most to lose. They have benefitted so much by the way things are that they cannot fathom what it would be like to lose it, so they will fight any change that may threaten what they have. Some people say to "leave well enough alone" or "if it isn't broken, don't fix it", but lack of change comes at a price, and ultimately that price is progress. Progress toward a better future cannot be made without change.
People are so afraid to lose what they have. They're afraid to go back an inch, even if doing so would pave the way for them to move forward a thousand miles. Thus we stagnate. The circumstances will have changed around us, but how we act or things will have stayed the same. We stay how we are, even when what was good 10 years ago may not be good now. We stay until the very brink, when a great big change absolutely must be made.
If we were to relate it to the reed example before. Time is like the wind and we are like the reed. Time passes by, and if the reed is too rigid, it does not accept the change, it will break. Chaos or change, however you would like to represent it, is needed, because without it there is no adaptation to the things that we cannot control, and no matter how much we try, we cannot control everything.
Change is an aspect of time. Time is a facilitator of change. You cannot have one without the other. It's like another example of duality. Good and Evil. Light and Dark. Time and Change. They go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. We shouldn't fear change, we should accept that it will happen and adapt to it.
Where the hell is the like button when I need it? In my book (which is being written so slowly I wonder if I'll finish it this lifetime), Change creates Time, and Time creates Life, which feeds on Change, which in turn requires Time in order to thrive in itself. The duality of Change and Time that you speak of comes to light in the acceptance of Change himself (who until that point is known as Chaos). You know my mind well. =)
DeleteI believe the phrase that applies here is "Great minds think alike."
Delete:)