We all know that we live in a world filled with evil (that which does harm). Yet no one agrees as to the source or the cause of that evil.
God, we are told, is the embodiment of all that is good. Most clergy agree that God created everything that exist in the Universe. Because He is All Good, could He or would He have created evil in any form?
Some say the devil created all the evil in the world. If this is true, who created the devil? Does a being exist that is greater than both God and the devil, who brought these two into being, and, if so, what is this being like and what is his relationship to man?
The more we address this problem the more confusing it becomes. There is an answer, however, that is really not complicated. God is, indeed, the epitome of all that is good and pure. Everything He created follows His Laws to the letter, and thereby the Universe is able to survive. The order created by God is the Adhesive that holds the Universe together.
A Parable
In all God's order there was a certain forced compliance with the Laws of God and Order. Although this did not concern most of God's creation, one group of angels, we are told, developed a desire to be able to experience more than was possible in their limited field of action. The compassionate Deity listened to their plea and consented to permit them to enter the bodies of creatures on a small planet in a small solar system so they might be able to fulfill their desires.
The angels were warned not to let the desires of the physical body lead them into thinking thoughts or forming acts that would cause harm to themselves or others, thereby transgressing the Laws of Order under which the Universe - even God - functions.
As we know from the book of Genesis, they did not obey this admonition and became, to the best of our knowledge, the only beings in the Universe to create a force counter to the order of the Universe. On the surface this seems a serious offense, and from one point of view it certainly is, yet it has its positive side. By his disobedience, man, as this dual being is called, has a potential for advancement and greatness far beyond that of either of his two original components.
With the development of man, the combination of an earthly form and a fallen angel, drama was added to the otherwise orderly Universe. Unlike all other known creatures, man has the ability to advance or regress by his own efforts. He may seek for that which will bring about the consciousness of his angel within (the Christos) or he may commit sufficient evil that he entirely loses his eternal personality and disappears, to be known no more.
With this combination of angel and earth animal (devil, if you will) man also received two other gifts - a reasoning mind and free will. Both of these attributes are double-edged swords in that they are the mechanisms that allow either to develop into a godlike being or to utterly destroy himself.
From this combination of a reasoning and creative mind and free will, evil is brought into the world. Because, as the Universe is organized, God and man are the only beings with the ability to create and to do so governed only by their own Free Will and because God would not, could not, create evil, such evil must come from the efforts of man alone. Man, therefore, has been caught red-handed. He has the opportunity, the ability, and the motive. No jury anywhere would acquit him. So there you have it. As Pogo states so clearly, "We have met the enemy, and it is us."
How Evil is Created
If evil is created by man, how does he do it? By what powers and forces can he create such powerful influences? Again, the answer is not difficult. Man creates evil through the power of his thought and actions. As a co-creator with God, he is able to create by his thoughts and actions, though in a much smaller degree, the same way in which the Deity was, and is, able to create by the power of His thoughts. That is, everything.
In a text, The Higher Knowledge, published by Dr. R. S. Clymer, this ability of man is described in simple and explicit language:
"The elementals are beings created by our thoughts and are even more a reality than our body is, because an elemental once created, cannot die; it either takes hold of the person or thing to whom it is sent and becomes a part of that person or returns to the person who sent it and becomes a part of him.
"Every thought of man passes into the invisible world
and becomes a semi-intelligent being and a powerful force, either
for good or for evil. If a good thought, then a good being; if
a bad thought, then a bad being. Thus, if a man thinks an evil
thought of another, that thought immediately becomes an evil being,
and, as it has not power or will of its own - only that which
was given to it by the one who created it, it will at once make
its way to the person of whom its creator thought; and, if that
person is not fortified against such beings, by having a strong
will and good health, it will attach itself to him, become a part
of him, and help to bring him ill luck(1) or poor health.
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The word luck is used as a colloquialism. There is, under
Divine Law, no such thing as luck or being lucky. Every
reaction is due to a precious action. What the uninitiated call
luck is but the reaping of previous sowing.
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"How much harm it can do to the person against whom the evil thought or elemental was sent depends on how intense and passionate the will of the sender was at the time he brought the being into existence. This is the reason a person is often happy one moment and sad and down-hearted the next. A thought of sorrow had been sent out by someone, and because the recipient was in a passive condition, he received the full force of the thought, or, in other words, the elemental of sorrow or evil found its counterpart, to which it attached itself and became a part of that person.
"But woe onto the person who creates a being of hate, revenge, malice, etc., because if that being does not find a resting place with the person against whom it was sent, it will return to the person who had created it; not only will it return as it was sent, but with threefold more evil power, and it will take hold of the person who had created it and no power in heaven or earth can prevent its attack.
"This we call the reaction of thought. This is the reason that people who always think evil of others never have good fortune. They are constantly sending out these beings of evil and as they do not have the will power to make them powerful enough so that they will attach themselves to the person against whom they are sent, they always return to the creator with threefold more evil power, and therefore the person ruins himself, both body and soul, and then blames God for not letting him have good luck.
"Every thought we think becomes a being. If we think evil, we run the risk that the evil being will return to us, but if we think good thoughts, we create good beings, and while they go on their journey of good, they will again return to us laden with good power and again become part of us and bring us good fortune.
"The man or woman who never thinks or wishes evil to another is not troubled with much bad luck, unless it be the Law of Karma, but those who constantly think evil of others and wish them ill luck are the ones who suffer from their own ill will.
"Thus are the words of Christ true: ‘The hand that smites thee is thine own.'
"We are all the makers of ourselves, as it were, since, as we think, so we are. Is it not far better, then, to think and wish well of our fellowman because by doing so we create loving beings who will stand by us and help and cheer us in our trials and time of need? Is it not far better to fill the space around us with loving beings, instead of beings that are ready to devour us, even though we are the authors of their being?
"All of us can have the air around us filled with loving angels who are ever ready to help us, and all we need to do is to think kind and loving thoughts of our fellowmen, truly an easy and loving and soul-uplifting task, and one every Mystic worthy of the name will rejoice in doing."
The foregoing dissertation, published decades ago, presents the nature of the creation of good and evil by men and women as clearly as any explanation written. Little is left to an individual's imagination.
The Need to Strengthen Efforts for Good
It should be obvious from this statement that we as individuals would be wise to confine our thoughts to those that create good beings around us and that we should take precautions to protect ourselves from any beings that may be sent out towards us by persons of evil intent. Usually, as mentioned in this chapter, most creators of evil beings do not have the will power to make them sufficiently strong to attach to us if we work to keep a relatively positive attitude.
However, as the individual advances in his attainment of spiritual understanding and in his efforts to personify good, he may come to the attention of the forces of evil and more powerful forces may be brought to bear against him to test his strength and fortitude. When and if this occurs, it is well for the individual to take direct efforts to send out thoughts of love and peace to all mankind, so that these thoughts can act as a repelling force for any evil beings. The individual would also be wise to use the will to place an invisible shield around himself to protect himself in unguarded moments and while he sleeps.
Even more specific as to the nature of man's ability to create evil beings is the following extract from a work, Magic, by Dr. A.S. Raleigh, published in 1928 by The Hermetic Publishing Company.
Other Ways of Creating Evil
"Little is known of the Incubi and Succubi at the present time, but they are among the most terrible of all the beings known to the students of magic. Paracelsus deals quite extensively with them in some of his hermetic works.
"Briefly speaking, an Incubus is a male artificial(2)
elemental, generated through lust while a Succubus is the same,
only female.
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(2) The word artificial used here is chosen to differentiate
these beings from the four classical elementals: gnomes, nymphs,
sylphs, and salamanders. Both types are created from a single
element or substance and therefore they actually may be called
elementals, but there the similarity ends.
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"What we mean is that the action of lust in men generates
a number of artificial elementals termed Incubi whose very nature
is lust, and lust on the part of women generates a number of feminine
elementals whose nature is lust pure and simple. As the mind is
dwelling on the sensual, the licentious, it generates a Thought
Form which is in the nature of lust, though this Thought Form
is rather slight, because the mind does not generate so much force
when dwelling upon lust as does the Desire Nature: lust itself
being an Astral activity and setting free a quantity of Astral
force which is lustful and which gathers around the thought and
forms for it an Astral Body, thus enabling this thought of lust
to operate as an elemental on the Astral Plane. When the lust
has descended to the Etheric region, there is set free a quantity
of Spermal, the Etheric counterpart of the sexual fluids, which
forms the Etheric Double. We have here, then, an elemental possessing
a mind,(3) a powerful Astral Body and an Etheric Double, and in
as much as this being is generated through the activity of lust,
his only desire is one of lust; that is to say, the only desire
of which he is capable is one of a sensual character. He is fundamentally
vicious in the sexual sense. His very nature prompts him to search
for everything that will have the effect of gratifying his sensual
appetite; his mind dwells on the sensual and vicious only, being
only sexually active. He is in the very nature of things a sex
pervert, having no other nature, his nature being the crystallization
of sexual desire on the part of man, if he be an Incubus, because
it is man's desire for gratification that generates the Incubus.
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(3) This extract is not entirely in harmony with the teachings
of the Great Work but is presented because it offers some
insight into this fascinating subject. The human mind is created
when the body, the spirit, and the soul converge at birth. Although
these other being may have a certain form of intelligence, they
do not have a true mind.
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"On the other hand, if it be a Succubus, generated from the desire, the lust of the woman, its nature is equally sensual, equally given to lust, but its whole desire runs after men.
"What we must bear in mind is that each one of these beings is an intelligent entity possessed of an overpowering desire - a Lust Elemental; not simply an abstract principle, not simply a force in Nature, but a being who has no character save and except one of lust.
"These beings are generated whenever the carnal desires of men and women are active.(4) Not a moment do we give way to sensual thoughts and desires but what we are generating vast multitudes of these beings and peopling the world about us with them.
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(4) What a chilling thought! Yet how else can we account for the
known results of such desires? With a world full of such beings
it is easy to see why there is so much degeneracy and why the
biblical admonition to "Pray without ceasing"
is given. To avoid the temptation encouraged by these beings it
is important to keep the mind constantly filled with thoughts
of love and creativity for good.
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"Inasmuch as their nature is positively and exclusively given to lust, they naturally undertake to gratify it, and, strange as it may seem, they do not secure this gratification by intercourse with each other, but the Incubus must attach himself to the Aura of some woman and by sapping away her magnetic principle, by exciting in her carnal desire and thus causing the outflow of the sex principle, he may get satisfaction. Likewise, the Succubus must attach herself to the Aura of a man and by exciting sexual impulses and causing the outflow of the sex principle in him, secure satisfaction. It is really a process of seduction that is going on, and whenever a woman gives way to lustful desires, she is generating thousands of seducers of the male sex; likewise, when man gives way to lust he may know that he is generation thousands of seducers of the female sex. This process of seduction must go on ad infinitum as long as the two sexes give way to lust, thus generating sex-seducing elementals. If people would only realize this, they would surely abstain from much of their carnal desire, but, unfortunately, they do not realize the terrible consequences to come from their indulgence of the sexual vice.
How to Protect Yourself
These two authors present a clear and, in the second instance, a specific explanation of how men and women create evil. It is now easy to understand why there is so much nongood in the world and why the Earth is inundated with so many evil beings.
As mentioned earlier, there are two things you can do to help correct this situation and to protect yourself. First, keep all your own thoughts full of love, peace compassion, and other beatitudes so that you people your personal environment with angelic beings.
Second, use your own will to install around you a protective
shield that will repel all beings that may be sent your way by
your fellowman.
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