057 - Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People, & Vice-Versa? - Hegel's Theodicy

"Good and evil" is a core philosophic and religious issue.  Perhaps the most important issue.  Where did this concept originate?  Why do we often see God, or Karma, as seeking  retribution and causing our misfortunes?

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is one of the oldest, if not the oldest myth out there to explain what is going on.  And there are two different takes on this.  Traditional religion says, in the Old Testament, that our eating of the forbidden fruit is the cause of our separation from God; and if one believes in the New Testament, Jesus was the reconciliation and now we were forgiven. 

But Hegel has a different interpretation.  This episode explores.  

Transcript

Gregory Novak 0:00

Hello, this is Gregory Nowak. This was the cunning of Geist episode 57. Welcome back. The purpose of this podcast is to explore philosophy, psychology and science with an emphasis on the great 19th century philosopher. George Wilhem Friedrich Hagle. What's my podcasts paradigm. It's simple. That there's more going on in the world and blind naturalistic materialism. In this episode, I will be addressing an age old problem. Why isn't life fair. You often hear people say why the bad things happen to good people. And I'm sure all of, you know, someone, a decent person. Great family where some misfortune or tragedy. Has struck. And the suffering is far worse than anything they may have done in their own lives. To cause it. There was even a very popular bestseller entitled when bad things happen. It could people back in 1981. So why isn't life fair? Well, we're going to be discussing this in this episode, but just briefly. There's a concept of. Reincarnation that offers an explanation. And we talked about reincarnation in the last episode and. Many around the globe, believe that karma provides an answer to this question, why life is unfair and my bad things happen to good people. And as I said, in the previous episode, though, I do not hold to that belief. That we suffer due to past life transgressions. As I said, then I believe we can call on memories of those who have lived before us, but I do not believe distinct soul personalities, reincarnate. for the purposes of, punishment or retribution or, anything like that. Now Western religions posit the notion that a good life will end this up in heaven. We're an evil life will put us straight in hell. And I did not believe that that's how things work either. So why is there evil in the first place? Well in the west, it begins with the biblical story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden of Eden. And we'll be spending some time on this in this episode. And I'd like to say though, upfront that in the east, in general. they do not put the same weight on good and evil. As distinct metaphysical concepts as the west does. Confucius and the eating are much more about, better ways for one to exist in society. Yes. There are better ways and worse ways. So there is this duality. However, there is not this hard concept of good and evil as there is in the west. Same goes for Taoism, which emphasizes compassion and moderation. Again, there is the contrary lack of compassion and lack of moderation. But as in Confucianism, the emphasis is not on core. Good and evil. That concept is much more Western again in general. But regardless of one's beliefs, the problem of evil is one of the biggest philosophical and religious questions. There is. Again, why is the world made that way? And even if the world sprung up by accident, why do we perceive good and evil? And hopefully this episode will provide some perspective on this question. Now a theodicy is a philosophical and a religious explanation for why evil exists in the world. Created by a good God. Some are good that God gave us free will. So any evil is our own fault. This is not explained the evil and destruction caused by natural disasters though. Some say like existentialists that it does not matter where the world came from or how it works. The only thing we have is our own freedom to choose how to live, how we want to live and how we give meaning and purpose to our life. Now the interesting thing here is that I believe Hagan's philosophy does indeed provide a theodicy. However his conception of God or the absolute is not the traditional God of the Bible. And this was important for understanding is theodicy. And we will be discussing this in some detail. So, where do I net out in this question? Well, I believe that good and evil are not absolute metaphysical concepts. They can have a degree of relativity to them. They are most usually situationally based on the time, the place in the action of an individual and others. I believe that betterment greater freedom progress much like the way it is viewed generally in the east is a superior way. To proceed. Good and evil. Certainly there are real problems to overcome and people find themselves in situations they do not deserve. But the key to me is how they handle the situation, how to respond to the hand that they've been dealt. Hagle teaches that spirit or mind is othered itself in nature in order to make itself real concrete and nature alone has no good or bad. But it does have randomness. In other words, S H I T happens. And as a result of spirit is evolving toward greater self-awareness and freedom within and through nature. And there's a long historical process that is often bloody and miserable. I believe that's what's going on here. And that is Hagen theodicy. First, I want to cover the prevalent concept in the west, going back to ancient times, and that is this. That is the wrath of God's. That cause misfortune. Due to due to something that humans have done. Yeah. Even today, most people I know that have endured significant hardship, they were being honest would say that they wonder at times if it was something they did in their life that somehow caused their misfortune. It's almost like we have a built-in morality ledger when things go wrong, we might feel that it is somehow a karmic payback. It's almost like this is baked into our psychology, so I'm not maybe it's part of the collective memory, the collective unconscious that we discussed in the very last episode. But in our scientific age, we tend to discount this. Today. There's only the known cause of an event and not some mysterious cosmic judge that shapes our fate. But interestingly, even in the scientific age, we still hold onto our feelings about this. The ancient Jews of Israel blamed the destruction of their temple on them losing their way and going against God's commandments. In fact, this is quite an interesting story, which we'll be getting into. But in today's secular world, this is just viewed as a fairy tale of an old fashioned religion. But let's go back and revisit the story of the temple in Jerusalem. It was originally built by king Solomon, the son of David. It was completed in 9 57 BC E. And interestingly, it was built to house the Ark of the covenant. Now the Ark of the covenant has its own interesting story. It was a wooden box. They've God instructed Moses to build to house the two tablets that contained the 10 commandments that he received on Mount Sinai. And the Erik was kept in different places for awhile. It was even captured once by the Philistines and later returned. the Israelis used to bring it out to battle because they thought it would put God on their side. And when Solomon built the temple. He put the Ark of the covenant in the center most room, and which was called the holy of Holies. And this is all heavily recorded in the Hebrew old Testament Bible. And it's interesting that the arc was seen as a way for God to dwell with the Israelis here on earth. And this provides an early, very early indication of God's presence on earth, which will later be taken up by the figure of Jesus and Christianity. It is interesting that the high priest of the temple. Would only enter the holy of Holies once a year, one day you're on Yom. Kippor. He would bring a blood sacrifice, usually a lamb or goat and ask for forgiveness from the almighty for any wrongdoing of the people during the previous year. And legend has it that a rope was actually tied around the ankle of the high priest before he went in, in case he was struck dead by God. For his bad deeds or the bad deeds of the people. no one else could enter the holy of Holies and be in the presence of God without being struck dead, except for the high priest on this one day, Yom Kippor the day of atonement. So they knew the rope just to pull him out in case he was struck dead. Now for those of you that are Jewish or may have been to a Yom Kippur service or have Jewish friends. A key part of the young Kippor. Holiday is asking God for forgiveness for any transgressions over the last year. It has even customary for Jews today to write to their friends and Yom Kippor and ask for forgiveness. For any wrongdoing, they might've committed toward them in the previous year. Now the temple itself. Was seized and totally destroyed in 5 87 BCE by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the second and the Jews were then deported to Babylon. This is referred to as the Babylonian exile and the Ark of the covenant was taken from the temple during this time and never returned. And it perhaps has never been found even several groups today, claim to have the actual art, but scholars put little or no credence in these various claims. What is important about all this is the notion that God would judge us for our behaviors and punish us if we broke bad. And the destruction of the temple was seen as a great sign to the Jews of Israel. The land they were promised was taken, their sacred temple was now destroyed. And this fulfilled many prophecies. they were contained, prior to this. By the profits. If the people strayed, God would punish them. The Babylonian exile was a watershed moment for the Jews. They lamented what had happened and they recommitted to restore their faith. It was during this period that the old Testament Bible began to be formed as one Corpus of work. You can read Lamentations in the old Testament for more in this recommitment, as well as the book of Isaiah. Which describes this recommitment to reconstruct the faith of the Jewish people. And then something happened. So I'm 70 years later after the destruction of the temple and they were taken to Babylon the Persian king Cyrus, the second conquered Babylon, and free the Jewish people align that to return to Israel and rebuild the temple, which they did. Holy of Holies and all, but now without the Ark of the covenant. The second temple. Was then ultimately destroyed by the Romans in 70 C E. Which led to the so-called rabbinical forum of Judaism. Which is basically what's practiced today. We're emphasis was put on Hebrew writings and interpretations of scripture. This is when the Mishnah and the Tom wood were written down. They were scholarly interpretations of the old Testament. And they stem from the belief that, that originally there was a written Torah and the oral Torah. And, Before the destruction of the second temple, the rabbis thought he was forbidden to write down the oral Torah. But after the description, they felt things had changed enough and they were going to put the oral Torah into writing. And this was the Mishnah and the Talmud. And this process was concluded at around 500 CE. As I mentioned all Jews today, whether worth a nice conservative re or reformed followed this rabbinical tradition. So the Israelis were punished by God for their misdeeds, but what is the basis of this belief in right and wrong? And a punishing God, if his rules and commandments are not a bait. Well, the answer is right at the beginning of the Hebrew old Testament and the story of Adam and Eve. You all know the story. God created Adam and Eve. And actually there are two different origin stories contained in the very Bible in Genesis. First is what's known as the version from the priestly source called P for short, which had Adam and Eve created together on the sixth day of creation. And the second version, the Galloway source J for short, most scholars believe it was written much earlier. It had Adam created first. Now both texts were preserved and incorporated in the final version of the Bible that we have today. And all in all most biblical scholars believe the Bible was put together from four original sources, including P and J, which we just discussed. And there were two others upon their return from the Babylonian exile. Now what happens following the creation of Adam and Eve is what is of interest to us regarding good and evil. Adam and Eve live in the garden of Eden, as you all know. And there were two trees there, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And I'll let Hagle pick up the story from here. Cool. Adam eats of it and attains knowledge of good and evil. The difficult point, however, is that we are told that God for bayed humanity to acquire this knowledge. For this knowledge is precisely what constitutes the character of spirit. Spirit of spirit only through consciousness and the highest consciousness lies precisely in such knowledge. How then can this have been forbidden cognition or knowledge? Is this two-sided dangerous? Gift. Spirit is free and this freedom embraces good and evil. It can also involve acting capriciously, doing evil. This is the negative counterpart with the affirmative side of freedom. Humanity we're told was in the state of innocence. This is as such the state of natural consciousness. And it must be sublimated as soon as the consciousness of spirit enters in any way on the scene. This is the eternal history in nature. If humanity at first, humanity is natural and innocent. And so cannot be held responsible and the child, there is no freedom in quote. So Hazel sees the fall. That was a fall really, but actually a step into a new higher dimension of awareness and consciousness. Animals do not have a sense of good and evil. Yeah of humans now, embodied with spirit are free to choose between right and wrong. Between good and evil. And the biblical texts goes on to say that they will become like gods if they eat the fruit. And this is indeed true. Pure animals no more. They have attained spirit. And there's another aspect. It is a so-called punishment. God also tells them they will know death. Animals do not know they will die. This is uniquely human. So humanity in ancient times evolved to have self-consciousness cognition and awareness of good evil and death. And they also came to learn that they were created through the act of sex. This is shown when Adam and Eve knew they were naked. Only after eating the fruit and this brought a new dimension to procreation and often gets confused with. Conflated with good and evil notions. Now. Once our ancestors found themselves in this situation, it must've been a terrible, terrifying experience for them. So they invented stories and narratives to explain what was going on, including external God or gods that would punish them for them as deeds. And this belief continued for a very long time, even up until today. We saw it in ancient Israel or this narrative was a core part of the Jewish tradition. We see it in the heaven and hell mythos of Christianity. And many of us still have a sense of this in our hearts that the good will be rewarded in the evil punished. So if one does not believe in these narratives, what does this mean? It means. That humanity is now responsible. Itself for administering justice. And this is how most of our modern societies are structured. And we still struggle with this, for sure. Ensuring fair and appropriate justice and for producing systems. That will reward peoples. For efforts. To be productive in society. And I believe this is how Hagle sees it, that reward and punishment must be administered with spirit. Uh, that exists among the people and it's not in some separate realm. It's not a judge sitting up there on top of a mountain, deciding who gets punished and who gets rewarded. It's us. Well, Let me. Cover an interesting theory here about how this evolutionary leap into self-consciousness and cognition occurred. Terence McKenna, who we mentioned in episode 36 in episode 41 claimed in his book, food of the gods. That the key thing that enabled homo erectus to evolve into homosapiens was There ingestion of the second delic. Siliciden. He coined this, this, happening, the stoned ape hypothesis. And other researchers have picked up on this. Let me quote from another source quote. The evolutionary scenario put forward, suggest that integration of psilocybin into ancient diet, communal practice and proto religious activity may have enhanced hominine response to the socio cognitive niche. While also aiding and its creation. In particular, the interpersonal and pro-social effects of psilocybin may have. Mediated the expansion of social bonding mechanisms, such as laughter music, storytelling, and religion imposing a systematic. Bias on the selective environment, that favorite selection for pro sociality in our lineage and quote. Who knows if this is true. But it's interesting that in the Bible story, the knowledge of good and evil came from eating something. Hmm makes you wonder. Now, let me step back and be perfectly clear in this. I, in no way, endorse the use of psychedelics. My message is, do not try this at home folks. And unfortunately, there are still people today that claim that magic mushrooms and other hallucinogenics may create higher states of consciousness. My belief is that wisdom and enlightenment is not found in a pill and it does not grow from the ground. Realizing spirit takes hard work. The best the second DeLeT can do is temporarily shake the cage, so to speak and give one new perspective. But it's still up to the person to act following this. And there's a fine line here also between new insights, new perceptions and delusional escape. However. I'm open to the notion that something like this. I like the stoned ape hypothesis may have occurred in ancient times. But today we have so much information and knowledge at our fingertips. We do not need to get high to absorb it. But back hundreds and thousands of years ago, it may have been a different story. So to conclude. Good and evil is a result of our own evolved consciousness. And it's up to us humans to administer justice fairly. But then as I mentioned in the beginning, there's the 30 issue of natural disasters, hurricanes floods, and these diseases that kill thousands, what's going on with that. Well under Hagle system, the natural world is a perfect othering of abstract, reason and logic. Is there a total of spirit to come to know itself. This is a slow historical process of evolution. But I hope you're coming nature. Our animal instincts and slowly evolving. We become freer and more Rancho. We find herself plopped in a world of nature of random occurrences of natural disasters, but we have a mission and that's to enhance freedom, justice and rationality within this world. And that's a ramp. I want to sincerely thank all of you who have been listening to this podcast over the last few years. And I also want to encourage you to reach out to me on the podcast, Facebook page at cunning of Geist. You can also follow me and comment on Twitter also at, at Cunningham Geist. And I'll be listing all the references cited in this episode, on the Facebook page. And I'll be posting a written transcript of this episode there in a few days. Now note that I often post relevant comments between episodes on this page. Where I try to relate what I've discussed here to other philosophers, other points of view. things in psychology, things in science, et cetera. So please check it out during the week. And also please like rate and review this podcast wherever you listen. Don't forget to tell your like-minded friends about it as well. Feel free to share episodes on social media. Thanks again for listening. Thanks so much. This is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist. I see you next time.