The Struggle Between Good and Evil

 Good and Evil are enemies to each other. One is long-lived and glorious, while the other is short-lived and ignoble. Seems like we wouldn’t have a problem in choosing between them, but it turns out that both often cloak each other in the appearance of the other.

Evil presents itself, and wishes to present itself, as if it resembled the pleasure and reward created by goodness. But evil is too good to be true. Offers of expedient means to success and a route to reward without toil are made emptily by the actor of evil, often embodied by Satan, who wishes to trap us, to confine us in the desolate, miserable world of fear, anger, avarice, and misery. The potential for good is as high as the well of evil is deep.

The idea of good and evil is a banal one and is repeated often in the context of religious text. But, there are some interesting paradigms in human mind and behavior that I have trouble getting past. The idea of procrastination: now vs later, a selfish favor for the present does not do the future self a service. The idea of greed: saving money for oneself rather than using it to help others more than it can help oneself. The idea of self-discipline: the maintainance of discipline, or its destruction and unkempt disheveldness. The idea of chaos within one’s mind: whether one takes the initiative to relax and clear one’s mind. The idea of motivation: having the belief that life has meaning, and to take it as one’s burden to fulfill such a purpose by supplying it with well thought-out, meaningful, and faithfully pursued long-term goals.

It takes a recognition of the “beauty of one’s dreams” in order to have the courage and faith to stick to one’s goals, even in the moment’s of desparation. The idea of duty, as outlined in the Bhagavad Gita, is one that should be followed according the dictates of responsibility, not with particular attachment, enjoyment, or repulsion but with indifference. In a world where one can choose their own goals, the goals must be chosen carefully with attention to and understanding of what one values

I think that I value problem solving and intellectual stimulation. I appreciate when I have a plan that I can execute, and a path that I can follow, whether it be formed by others, or laid out on my own. I thrive in settings where I know I can work on tasks that make me stand out from others, not in a directly competitive environment, such as that of a zero-sum game, but one in which resources are abundant, and the differentiating factor between people is their determination, skills (which I feel are mostly developed, not inherited), and ability to overcome obstacles, the hardest of which, I feel, are those which are thrown not by others but by oneself as a consequence of demotivation or an impulsive feeling of bitterness or strife. Such feelings ought to be ridden immediately from one’s mind, and substituted with negotiation and kindness.