evil under the sun

Though acutely aware of the prevalence of evil in the world, the wisest among us have always stressed the possibilities of individual liberation. Jesus's teachings emphasize our ability to take responsibility for what we do, say, and think. The Buddha taught that through acts of will and discipline, whoever wished for it sufficiently could make a life of wisdom and compassion, rather than surrendering to fear, greed, and selfishness.

Each of us holds the power to learn to avoid acting in ways that hurt both others and ourselves, but doing so requires casting off the illusions that we're all conditioned from childhood to believe in. Jesus told a parable about a man who thought he had found happiness and security after he spent much time and effort storing up considerable wealth in barns and storehouses. "But God said to him, 'Foolish man! This very night you will have to give back your soul, and the things you produced, whose will they be?' "*

The Buddha teachings stress eliminating delusion and purifying the mind, so as to eliminate the restlessness and hollowness which cause our minds to suffer anxiety, insecurity, and self-doubt. The messages of both these wise men are tools we can use to get better, not dogmas or orders that we need to follow to avoid being punished, although suffering certainly does result from illusory thinking. That's not the same thing as God punishing us for being bad, however. Practical wisdom, not faith, is the primary virtue.

Make no mistake: satisfaction as well as peace and clarity of mind are nearly always possible for each of us, even in a world dominated by violence, greed, and the anger born of the will dominate others, if we are willing to face and eliminate our own misperceptions of reality. Achieving this calm clarity of mind requires work and effort. The sage Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, taught that this effort should be directed to systematically "direct(ing) and focus(ing) mental activity," and that "with the attainment of a focused mind, the inner being establishes itself in all its reality."**

*Quoted from the Gospel "Q" in Burton Mack's "The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins" (Harper San Francisco, 1993), pps. 77-78.

**Yoga Sutras 1.2 and 1.3, from Bernard Bouanchaud's "The Essence of Yoga" (Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1997) p. XIX.

Illustration: screenshot of Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari, from the film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" by Robert Wiene (Berlin, 1920).