Good Triumphs Over Evil? Fairy Tale or Reality?

I am curious where people stand on this topic. It seems to be one of those gems that floats around in various subjects such as religion and spirituality. With the common belief that "don't worry because in the end, good always triumphs over evil."

I am of the belief that it is just a fairy tale. I think that a more accurate statement is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Our world is built on power. The people who run the world have all the power and are rife with corruption. We can see it everywhere we look. The "Western Way of Life" that most of the world is adopting is built on the backs of the poor and impoverished people of the 3rd world. As one example...

I guess we can look at when "good has triumphed over evil". Probably a prime example would be the allies defeating the Nazi's in WWII. Unfortunately though, we are far from some sort of benevolent entity. The history surrounding WWII doesn't show a whole lot of "good" anywhere, just varying degrees of evil. We keep replacing one master with another. The end is still the same. Average people exploited for the benefit of the few.

I would love to believe it, but right now I only think it is something we tell ourselves so we can sleep at night. Something to explain away the atrocities of the world.


Does anyone out there truly believe that good will triumph over evil?

One thing i know from my owm life experience, is that truth is a powerful thing. My life was destroyed and only the truth kept me going, while everyone around me, said i was this and that. The truth was always on my side, though people are right scum. After 16 years since school of people making up rubbish about me, truth is starting to win over, that rubbish.

I accept in the real world, that things that are wrong succeed, and usually win, and its supposed to be a dog eat dog world. But sometimes truth does win, and truth lasts the passege of time better than lies.

Thats what i have found, through my experience. People tend to want to believe in the best of two evils in this world.

[edit on 11/11/2008 by andy1033]

reply to post by andy1033

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I would disagree with that. History is always written by the victors and I find that most of the victors tend to clean it up to make their side appear right and just. I have a hard time truly trusting most of what we find in our history books.

Thank you for the contribution. I appreciate what you have to say. I think it is valid, but probably more so on a personal level than in the big picture.

reply to post by Karlhungis

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I meant real truth, relative to us, and our lifes. Of course over centuries, history is written by the winners.

But look at people like mandela, and gandhi, they won out in the end. Truth was strong for them, relative to there lifes.

But i accept, that we only live 70-80 if we are lucky(or unlucky), so the people ruling us, spend there time planning in long term, so it does not matter what we think today, because the nwo will come eventually.

Certainly both need to exist in order to appreciate either. I tend to think we just hear the "fairy tale" of Good overcoming evil more often because it's celebrated and used as a means to pass hope around.

Its a Fairy Tale, that is why we have the term " No good deed goes unpunished". The people that get ahead are those who manipulate others, albeit scamming from insurance companies to making a profit from a candy bar. The bad people you see walking on top of others to get ahead is just that, and no matter how good you think you are, you will be second rate to the evil people. Thats just the fact of life here on planet earth.

Sorry for the rambling, im not myself today.

People don't get ahead unless they are stabbing the other in the back while giving them a sh1t eating grin and saying everthing is just fine........

[edit on 11-11-2008 by 38181]

I find that it helps me to lower my gaze a bit and forget about the leaders, the war lords, the dictators and tyrants. It helps me to focus on all the ordinary, decent everyday people in this world.

Look at the man in your neighborhood who helps the old, fragile woman next door by getting her mail and going to the groceries store for her. Focus on the teacher at your local school who takes extra good care of that quiet, little boy with alcoholic, abusive parents. Notice the woman who puts out food to that skinny stray cat with the torn ear.

There is actually a great deal of compassion and love in ordinary peoples hearts. And the world is filled with quite ordinary people who makes the world a bit better by their everyday actions.

Remember also that the decent, ordinary people outnumber the psychopaths and the tyrants among us. There is strenght in number. Strenght - and a great deal of hope.

I'm not a nazi nor do I symphatize with that cause, Hitler was an evil man and his views all wrong. But consider that this world's history is mostly about wars and conflicts where genes fight for survival often by getting rid of competition DNA. Even the USA is built upon the deaths of many people that had the right claim to the lands. While everyone reveres the hero's of those days as founding fathers, I can imagine if I were a native american I would see them as butchers who almost completely wiped out my civilization and would be convinced evil triumphed over good (and it can never be "good" again). Or at least cheated out of land and culture due to the invading evil (even if unintentionally bringing disease from Europe and concepts like property).



Good and evil are in a continuous battle with eachother only some times more intense than the other after which the survivors say good triumphed over evil. One will triumph over the other in many different ways for all of eternity.

[edit on 11-11-2008 by Dragonfly79]

We must also remember this "Good and Evil" fair tail has been built up around us by our western culture. Every movie we watch has a good and bad guy. This is where the Western world fails miserably at this concept. We have skewed it so far out of original context that we now have these kinds of conversations about "Good and Evil".

It's all about the Ego and ones perspective of "Good and Evil"

I give you this short story:

An officer of prayer went to the pigpen and asked the pigs "Why should you complain?" "I feed you grain for 3 months, then I will fast for 10 days-while you eat- and keep watch over you for 3 more days after that. Then I will spread fresh mats and place you on the carved sacrifical stand, before dispatching you to the spirit world. Considering all this why should you feel uneasy?"

If the official had truley been interested in the pigs welfare he would have fed the pig some bran and left it be. But he looked at the situation from the point of view of his own prestige.


All about relative viewpoint. It's a fairy tail.

I find this to be true, good and evil are always in a battle. So far are world is ruled by darkness and ignorance, hopefully sooner or later it changes and Good Triumphs over Evil.

reply to post by ziggystar60

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What he said. Look at it locally and do not get emotionally attached by stuff that have nothing to do with you. Sounds harsh in some respects but feeling powerless about it does not do anything but feed the 'powerless-beast' that is, ironically not that powerless. Look at the small good things in you surroundings, things you may take for granted while concentrating what a dismall place this earth is. Even in the worst places of this planet there are good people not being deterred in doing what they feel is right. The real negative 'evil' ones mostly work in bulk, positive 'good' comes in small packages here and there. Even if this whole world is going to hell in a handbasket you will see good people doing what has to be done.

Dunno if it will win out but it cannot be beaten in the sense it will stop existing. The world is based on power and the powerhungry will seek out the places where they can have dominance over others and like excrement they will float to the top of politics and the financial business. It gets all the attention of the media and it affects our lives in profound ways. or to say it another way, negatives like to 'carpetbomb' while the good ones are there to dig you out of the rubble and tend to your wounds.

Good news, people helping eachother and things like that is not newsworthy or could even be dangerous in the eyes of the ones pulling the media strings so our worldview is skewed into believing the whole world is a living hell while it is not on the microlevel.

[edit on 11-11-2008 by Harman]

reply to post by ziggystar60

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Ziggystar60 said it perfectly. Focus on the level where life is lived, not on the abstraction of politics, and you will see good win out over and over. Not always, but more often than not.

Also, I would add that history is not static. While it is true that recent history is written by the victors, history is an ongoing process of telling a story about the past, and about how the present came out of the past. Just in the course of my school years (roughly 1975-1995) we went from learning that Columbus discovered America and was a hero, to the Native Americans were here first and wiped out by the nasty white man and his diseases.

The truth is far more complicated than either story, and you're not going to find it in your high school textbooks. But the textbooks change to reflect the continual redefinition of history as understood through the lens of the present.

Moreover, much of history is not the wars and leaders – it is the life of the people. How they lived, how they thought, how they understood their place in the universe. And on this level, just like in the present, you see over and over the basic decency of humans.

I'm of the opinion that good and evil are subjective concepts. The only beings on earth that worry about it are mankind, we need to rationalize our actions so we make up these concepts of good and evil. A male lion will kill other male lion's offspring so that the females will go into estrus and have his babies...i highly doubt the other lions think of that as evil. Yet if a human being tried that...you get the picture. I'd also put forth that even those we consider evil(i.e. hitler, bin laden etc.) think that they are in the right, that they are the good ones. Further evidence that they are subjective concepts.

great thread

reply to post by andy1033

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There is no such thing as evil, only stupidity.

Edit: sorry for the one-liner.. but I truely feel like that one line sums up everything on the topic. At least from my POV

[edit on 11-11-2008 by bdswetty]

Rather than Good and Evil / White and Black, I'll speak of ''shades of gray''.

Personally I think that many people want to spend time with the ''darker shades of gray'' whilst they want to receive help from the "paler shades of gray".

You can decide on which ''scale'' this applies for yourself.

Scale meaning, on an individual scale, or on a ''warfare'' scale.

No.

But it's the journey that counts. Fighting for what you believe is right and acheiving a little every day is probably a lot more realistic than trying to take the bull by the horns. And each persons opinion of good and evil is different.
Revelations happen to change those opinions and everyday occurances bring new dilemas.

Persistance is the worst enemy evil can have, not allowing evil an easy ride and causing waves that hit as many beaches as possible will always feed the fight.

Humanity is inherantly a little of both anyway. Anyone who says they are only good is a liar!

I feel evil at times and I'm not afraid to admit it. Depends (as usual) on the perspective and the subject. Idealism is no way to lead an honest life and allows no room for admiting ones errors and the opportunity to learn and do things better or different in future.

Even Hitler had his soft spots I'm sure but nobody talks about them.

With 6.5 billion individual lives and only one world, there will never be an equilibrium when it comes to good and evil....it's human nature and the essence of survival instinct buried deep inside us all. It's a constantly shifting notion and the confusion that is thrown at those 6.5 billion souls will never even afford us the starting point to clarify which is which.

Is Obama a good man? Only time will tell and already there are more than the two opposite sides to that unfolding story.

What makes something good or evil and from whos point of view. My accumulated conscience is my guide......what else can I trust if not me?

Good luck to us all as we drift through time and space on this ever-changing ball of dirt.

reply to post by Karlhungis

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I think survival of the fittest applies to mankind as much as it does to anything else on this planet

however many layers down you want to go - I think we each do what we do in order to survive

good and evil - that's a discussion in itself - does good or evil even exist? or is it all relative to our fear and our will to survive?

fear rules in the world of emotions - it colors our perception of reality in a way that happiness can't

our need for the concept of good and evil also explains our need for good to triumph over evil - we value survival above all else

what we fear will always grab our attention and hold it - so maybe it seems that evil wins in the end

but, if we value good over evil - good automatically wins

in the end - it doesn't change the fact that sometimes you eat the bear

sometimes the bear eats you

my question has always been - why do we care?

why are we always asking these questions?

what is it about the humans that constantly forces them to examine their motives, challenge their own beliefs - reinforce or change their behavior?

if it's just about survival - there's nothing more to discuss

if it's about more than that - the discussion is endless - it means there's more to it than just surviving - and then maybe the answer would be - good triumphs over evil

You cannot compare good with evil, they are totally different subjects.

The opposite of good is bad.

The opposite of righteous is evil.

Good and bad things happen to each and every one of us every day.

Righteous and evil things are just a point of view.

So, does righteous win out over evil? Usually but not always. Evil people often get whats coming to them in the end.

Does good win out over bad? sometimes, sometimes not.

Karma is what eventually catches up with us all though.

Bingo

That is exactly what happens

Cosmic justice occurs not in the flesh but in the discarnate dimensions.

Our lives here are but a moment in the tapestry of history. The vast majority of the time we are not physical beings but spirits or discarnates.

Spirits or discarnates who have absolutely no choice but to relate to and face the nonliving and infinite Light on the Other Side.

The Light that enabled the Universe and souls to exist in the first place.

The Light that judges us by our spiritual integrity or lack thereof.

Those who have been cruel to others and who have not tried to live by The Golden Rule have no choice but to reside on the lower levels, in constant self-torment emotionally, and be surrounded by others who are also spiritually retarded. There is absolutely no escape from this but to strive to live a spiritual, accountable, and selfless existence

Evil only appears to often "get away with it" here and now, in physical terms. But as near-death experience research has shown, no one truly ever gets away with anything.

The higher the plane, the greater the expansion of consciousness and the more powerful the dimension of energy in The Light.

It is wise not to limit oneself to scoring the eternal contest of "good versus evil" by only what happens on This Side, as our corporeal lives only embrace a small part of the Greater Reality.


Source: Near Death Research Conclusions

My view:

Good and Evil go hand and hand. I also agree with optimus primal that Good & Evil are subjective. There is no incorrect way of seeing Good/Evil, because each person is entitled their truth. But back to how I said they are hand & hand. It has appeared to me that it is possible for good to always trump evil. Out of everything good, something evil can either caused or present, and out of everything evil, something good can be caused or present, so if all evil is relevant to all good, the only question left would be which came first - good or evil? my answer - good. and that is why it is always 1 step ahead of evil.