Overcoming the Evil within Yourself

My debate speech:




Whether you are religious or not, we can all agree that there is evil in the world, and there is evil in human nature. Now, we can discuss the existence of God while on the subject if evil; but that would inconvenient seeing as it is unnecessary. We already know evil exists-and-we cannot eliminate it altogether. So for the sake of ease and efficiency we can discuss reducing it on a smaller scale; most importantly within yourself, but hopefully also in your family and community. The seven deadly sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Sloth. Even if you don't believe sinning will result in your placement in hell, it is agreeable that these qualities corrupt human beings and subtract from their infinite potential. The first step to bettering yourself is to reject those characteristics. After that, the next best thing is to practice the seven virtues which directly counteract the seven deadly sins. Those would be Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility. This would decrease the presence of evil in any situation.
By evil I don't mean Satan or anything particularly spiritual(although it could be). I just mean something along the lines of a spirit of negativity. All sorts of things can bring this into existence, your thoughts, actions, and words are the few you should worry about. Any negativity you create could be avoided by acting more wisely. This is where the lists of seven sins and virtues are relevant. One brings about positivity, the other negativity. Whether you are being selfish, stealing from another person, or insulting someone, negativity would have been created. To give to charity, to be patient or humble, this would cause positivity. The best way to bring good into the world is to love all of mankind and all of life unconditionally. It's pretty clear love is a good counter to evil, and would be much more beneficial to cause. Love can be created in any method hatred or evil could; by outward actions and any inward thoughts or feelings.

On the matter of outward actions, it isn't always easy to love others, particularly when they are getting on your nerves. But you should remember it is entirely likely that you could have been born somewhere else, as another person. So whenever you are hostile toward another person, you should realize that you could have instead been born that person. Walking a mile in their shoes so to speak, you should imagine how they would feel about your hostility. Recall times where you were sad or mistreated. You know it's never desired to be hurting, so why inflict it on anyone? A wise quote from Abraham Lincoln should finish this thought well, “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”

The inward thoughts and feelings are just as critical if not more as anything outward. This is because if you cannot love yourself, you will be unable to love anyone else. The worst feeling is loneliness and being separate from others can be terrible. Even in the midst of people someone could feel isolated and uncomfortable. This is because they don't relate to other people, and they feel the need to protect themselves. This can be fixed. In the words of Shih-fu Sheng-ye, “If you keep yourself enclosed, even if you live among thousands of people you will still feel very lonely. However, if you keep yourself open, then even if you are living alone, you will still have a very full life. So open your mind and treat everyone as your intimate, virtuous friend.”

I'm not trying to sound preachy. But the truth can be found anywhere, no matter which psychology book-you-read,-which religious text, or any Eastern philosophy you study; there is a link to the golden rule. Treat others how you would like to be treated. This would be acting righteously, or virtuously. Other than looking at someone else's perspective, acting righteous would include respecting one another, talking heart to heart, giving to charity, appreciating nature, and even being a happy person. Being immoral would include swearing, arguing, gossiping, jealousy; the list goes on and on.
I believe there is a purpose to this all. Morality achieved through the trials of resisting temptation and sin involves strength and “moral effort.” If in fact you do reap what you sow, then the seeds of overcoming sin and acting morally must grow into some beautiful fruit for you. If not, what is the worse that could happen when acting righteously, you make someone's day or save them the money you would have stolen otherwise? The benefits of acting righteously are not the question anymore seeing as only positivity could come from the morality.

The question is the overcoming of this evil; the main problem with overcoming evil is its enticing and corrupting properties. The first step to overcoming any problem is the recognition of that problem. When you are faced with a moral dilemma you need to recognize what you believe would be good and bad. Once you find what you believe to be the correct choice, the next step is to make that choice despite any convictions you might have. You need to ask yourself what kind of person you are, one that acts immorally for personal gain, or one the takes the high road though it may not be as enticing. For instance if you are deciding whether you should steal from a friend, you can attempt to rationalize it and you can debate yourself over whether you should steal. The fact that you are trying to rationalize the action implies you feel there is something wrong with it in the first place, because on the other hand, you feel empathy for your friend. If you still can't determine which action is righteous, stop trying. Listen to your spirit, your intuition. Don't try to rationalize something with your thoughts, instead accept it for what it is, and the feeling about it will be a true one.

In taking the righteous path, it is incredibly helpful to be content. In order to be tempted with sin, you have to think about the sin. So to be content with your life, and your situation, makes ignoring the evil path infinitely easier. Where thoughts of sin become wrong is when you seriously consider them as something you would like to do, but you just haven't had the opportunity. Such thoughts are lusts and there would be no lusting if you were entirely content. In order to overcome sin and lust you have to acknowledge the good path and the evil path, and then consciously take the good path despite any convictions you may have.

If you can recognize the source of the temptation, it will be easier to ignore because you are conscious of the fact it exists, instead of being blindly pulled by your urges. It is crucial for us to consider the treacherous nature of our hearts and our souls and must exercise vigilance against them. Muslim teaching states our thoughts can be divided into three categories: number 1) the constant self-talk in our minds over which we have no control; number 2) thoughts that we dwell on; and 3) intentions that we formulate based on those thoughts. We are not accountable for the first stage, the self-talk. We are accountable for the thoughts if we dwell on them as well as for the deliberate intentions that we formulate based on these thoughts. So we must take care to dismiss and reject bad thoughts that assail our hearts and minds by ever turning to Allah for refuge and protection. We must also recognize that ultimately we have no power to master these evil inclinations and must always be conscious of them. The remedy and cure therefore lies in the consistency of remembrance of Allah, Jesus, Karma, One Love or the Golden Rule. No matter what religious or spiritual point of view you have, you can learn lessons from another perspective and apply them to yourself. This is because all religions came from human beings, and as such, human beings are present in every religion. Recognition of this is also important to overcoming evil, the fact that human beings are all the same, and that the difference between you and another person is only your point of view; We need to work together to bring love into the world and reduce the spirit of negativity.

 

the meek shall inherit the earth right