"I myself have witnessed evil in action, viciously attacking and
effectively destroying the spirits and minds of dozens of children. But
evil backfires in the big picture of human evolution. For every soul it
destroys-and there are many-it is instrumental in the salvation of
others. Unwittingly, evil serves as a beacon to warn others away from
its own shoals. Because most of us have been graced by an almost
instinctive sense of horror at the outrageousness of evil, when we
recognize its presence, our own personalities are honed by the awareness
of its existence. Our consciousness of it is a signal to purify
ourselves. It was evil, for instance, that raised Christ to the cross,
thereby enabling us to see him from afar. Our personal involvement in
the fight against evil in the world is one of the ways we grow." M. Scott Peck, "The Road Less Traveled" |