One positive thing about writing is that it can be a bit of a brain exercise, as opposed to staring at the old boob tube/idiot box or aimlessly surfing the web. So I suppose the hours I've spent typing on this blog aren't a complete waste of time.
On the other hand I wouldn't want to miss life by spending too much time in front of a computer as Tom Barrett talks about in the Interlude: Meditation of the Week at interluderetreat.com
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Speaking of numbers, today is 6/6/6 so I am dedicating this post to the devil.
Take that devil.
There are two ways to think about the devil (lets just say evil instead). The first is that evil is an active force in the world, and we have to fight against that force. The second is that evil is a passive thing, simply the absence of good, we have to fill the world with good - not spend our time fighting the evil one(s).
The second way of looking at things is Gandhi's, Mother Theresa, or Saint Augustine - the first would be a world view shared by Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson or James Dobson.
The Catholic Encyclopedia says Saint Augustine's writings "contain the saint's clear, unquestionable views on the eternal problem of evil, views based on an optimism proclaiming, like the Platonists, that every work of God is good and that the only source of moral evil is the liberty of creatures".
That's a tough idea to accept at face value.
Every work of God is good?
It might be more a question of what is God then what is good. Let's say - God is good. God is love. God is not a father figure watching over and controlling every event happening on earth. God is the source of all things, where we came from where we are going.
I'll leave it as God is love. Love is good. Evil is the absence of love.
It has been said there are countless ways to do evil and relatively few ways to do good. Not sure about that.
If I consider a scale of goodness with 1 being evil and 10 being saintlike behaviour how would I fill in the blanks? I could kill someone that would be a 1...but maybe not. I could steal something, that would be a 3...but maybe not. I could hurt an innocent person, that's a 1. But what if I didn't know I was hurting them?
My head hurts.
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We strive to be good. We miss the mark. We get up and try again.
