«THE ORIGIN OF EVIL» by Roy Snelling

What is evil? Were did it come from. This is a fundamental negative aspect of the Human condition that has engaged theologians, mystics and philosophers for centuries. And more recently, psychologists. The whole evolutionary process of life entails the use of free will, in an existential sense, making mistakes, correcting such, learning, and then moving on. But evil is like taking hold of a hiking pilgrim who is just about to climb a steep hill, and filling their rucksack with rocks. Many different theories have been put forward as to where evil has come from (the Devil, the Fall, Man disobeying God, brain malfunction) but there is no universal agreement on such. The lack of agreement means that there is no universal concentration of effort to power Mankind forward onto, what should be, a faster evolutionary progression.

The book explores every conceivable source of information that is know to us, with a much wider scope than most books on the subject have done in the past. All the known World religions, present and past (including so-called mythologies). Many Native spiritual belief systems. In total over sixty. The book also explores the teachings of various Western Mystical and Esoteric systems. Somewhat controversionally, it then goes on to explore the possibility of extra-terrestrial visitors to our Planet interfering with Human evolution for their own selfish ends. An examination of the development of Western Psychology over nearly three centuries has provided insights into human behaviour and the physiological workings of the brain. Conventional Society post 19th. Century has tended to develop its own set of norms as to what is evil, which sometimes feed back into a government's legislative program in respect of criminal law. The book looks at corporate evil perpetrated by governments, banks, financial institutions, the Media, religious administrative bodies, and multi-national corporations, as these are just as capable of acts of evil as any individual, although often on a vastly greater scale. Lastly the book explores the issues of morality, acts with unintended consequences, the issue of intent, and personal responsibility.

Curiously, instead of the last chapter being the conclusion of all the preceding chapters, it traces out the whole history of the Cosmos from the first point of creation (spiritual "Big Bang") right through to modern Human society on Earth. Its purpose was to examine if something untoward happened in the process of Cosmic Creation that has set up an imbalance in the functioning of the Universe, the Galaxy, the Solar System, our Planet, that has thrown Human evolution out of kilter.