Location of «Evil» in the Taxonomy

Evil as an Ultimate Value

The issue of evil emerged during the investigation of the 7-level purpose hierarchy (PH6/RHL6). The upper 5 Levels turned out to be validly labeled as «values». In regard to value, i.e. the importance of something to someone, it is evident that the object valued is invariably deemed «good». However, each level of value handles this «good» quality differently.

Values are also characterized by polarity: i.e. if something is good, then there exists an opposite that is bad.

Ultimate Value-PH6L7, the highest Level, refers to an experience that is eternally and universally desired: like Love, Peace, Justice, Freedom. At the extreme, these all fuse into one value: Absolute Goodness. So it follows that there must exist an opposite: Absolute Badness, which would be eternally and universally repudiated. The absolute nature here suggests that the reference must be to evil. Read more about the distinction between evil and bad.
See how polarity shows in the lower 4 levels of value:►

• At L3, Internal Priority = Preferred quantifiable tangible good like an amount of money, or space, or time; and so there are also quantifiable bads like a waste of money, or loss of time, or amount of illness.
• At L4, Principal Object = Achievable good like a desired beneficial project; and so there are also achievable bads like illegal or inappropriate projects that will cause harm.
• At L5, Social Value = Potential good like communication, education, safety; and so there are also potential bads like isolation, ignorance, danger.
• At L6, Value System = Theoretical good or rationale for goodness like capitalism, which finds its counterpart theoretical bad (rationale for badness) in socialism or communism. However, if you view socialism as your theoretical good, then you may regard capitalism as your theoretical bad.

This early investigation of purpose identified evil without attempting to determine its nature in detail. It drew attention to a particular expression of evil: perversion, in which what is good is deemed bad, and what is bad is deemed good. Read more in Working with Values: Ch.4 & 5.

Evil in the Cosmic Struggle

Primal Quests were discovered nested within Purpose-RL6. They generate «Model Beings» i.e. imaginary conceptions which serve as models for how to be human. These Model Beings in turn define «Planes of Existence» to support their functioning; and it emerged that we also use these Planes to sustain psychosocial reality. The Planes are divided into Human and Divine realms. Each of the 7 Planes supports a different approach to ethics and creativity, and so approaches the good v evil issue in a different way.

I speculated that energies related to goodness, expressed in ethical and creative terms, were essential to sustaining the Planes, and hence humanity. The force-field replenished by good and depleted by evil is termed «the pleroma».

The dynamic influences of good and evil states generated a Tree framework: popup the image (G = good; E = evil).

The most significant finding of this framework is our Achilles heel—in the human realm, evil is ever liable to prevail over good, at least temporarily; whereas in the divine realm, good unequivocally prevails. So spiritual thinkers emphasize the importance of divine downward influences for good, the «cosmic flow of plenty».

The cosmic struggle between good and evil does not take place in the divine realm, but rather within the human heart on the Psychological Plane.

The Source of Evil

The picture that has emerged with Primal Injunctions does not conflict with the earlier formulations. It specifies that evil is associated very specifically with one feature of human nature: our irremovable and necessary egocentric tendencies.

Because the Primal Injunctions point to 7 main ways that egotism manifests, they catalogue the main forms of evil and the methods for keeping evil at bay.

See again egotistic manifestations in brief:

• R"L7: Refusal to see unity. Paranoid splitting and projection of hated or feared aspects of the self on to another individual or group. There is then the release of hatred, often leading to violence or violation geared to annihilating and eradicating the other. This evil is foolishly viewed as a way to destroy evil.
• R"L6: Surrender to events. Loss of a human identity with rejection of any constraints, either based on a power-centred philosophy of "everybody for themselves", or the conventionalist ethical justification of "everybody does it".
• R"L5: Dehumanization of work. Activity that is mechanical and routine and fails to engage the human imagination. It is associated with a rejection of challenge and a tolerance of mediocrity as a substitute for quality and creative efforts.
• R"L4: Disconnection from others. Narcissistic assaults or self-absorption, often with a sense of entitlement or superiority, will damage intimate and social relationships. If associated with splitting-R"L7, extreme violence against others is permitted and fostered.
• R"L3: Rejection of knowledge. Efforts to protect the ego from bruising and wounding generate a refusal to know or see something. The resulting arrogance, gullibility, superficiality or thoughtlessness is often the basis for negligent or reckless choices.
• R"L2: Disparagement of goodness. At a minimum this leads to low standards and a failure to bring out the best in people who look up to you. More seriously, it may facilitate coercive, callous or antisocial choices.
• R"L1: Nursing misery/joylessness. This flows from perverted masochistic egotism or escapist indulgence. The effect is to spoil life, generate pessimism, and demotivate.

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• Now : make a clear distinction between evil and bad.

Originally posted: 7-Dec-2012