Evil is not the Opposite of Good, it's the Opposite of Truth

[Maxmars]

I remember Mary Shelly, who began writing once ... "No man chooses evil..."

Meaning that "evil" is a result... not a thing in and of itself... we do what we do... and retrospectively decide whether it was or wasn't evil.

How do you refine from that.... an opposite?

Whatever Evil is worked out to be, it must accommodate our positioning of the notional center of evil.

We proclaim it... we shun it, we vilify it in effigy, we fear it...

but without good... what is evil?  We lean into binary...

Either,, or....

I think good becomes evil... and perhaps maybe even that evil becomes good...
It's a choice... it is a risk of ignorance....
to accidentally create an evil situation...
because purposely doing it, even if only to revel in the idea of evil,
seems by definition, to be evil itself.

What would be the opposite of that? "Being" someone else?

Perhaps evil is the lack of options to do what we find good.
But what would be the "opposite" of that.... many choices?

Not a mountain of wisdom here, just spit balling as we go....

I want to thank all of you (all of  you) for your participation in this discussion...

(and my pride in us all tells me... None of us could EVER had this discussion, this level of engagement, this environment of "true" dialogue... ANYWHERE ELSE...

A tale for a distraction:

My then 4-year old son toddles into the room... "Hi dad, hi Mom...." he said.... jumping on the ocean of a bed he liked to play on.

A few moments (seconds) later... A blood curdling scream emerges from somewhere else in the house... the scurrying of his three older sisters was heard, the screams continued...

The boy looks up.... and quietly, but not ashamedly says... "I did that..." with a controlled grin.

(((They thought he was "Evil" for planting their pet hamster under the sheets before bedtime...)))

But was he?  And why did my wife and I almost pee ourselves laughing? Are we evil too?

[SurferSoul]

but if you parallel the logic its like no actions are themselves good only the influence of good and material world and humans and human actions are conduit for good maybe but not good in and of themselves that is just god who is good pure good

I would say and act of selfless kindness, selfless love is the closest we can get to being truly good. Because the material world by it’s very nature is a balance of opposites. In the material world we can’t know one thing without the contrast of the other, in the material world everything is temporary and it’s all based on perspective, a point of view. From another perspective the point of view changes as does opinion. 
I suppose why I love nature so much is because everything has its place and purpose, not one dot goes to waste, each creature however great or small has its role in maintaining the balance, a perfect living symbiosis, yet it is all an ongoing eternal battle of survival against adversity, against hunger, against upheaval and yet in all this, there is time, occasionally for play. 

What we consider good may be flawed, but we are more than mere conduits, unlike the animal kingdom we are creative manifesting beings ourselves. That is what is meant by we were made in gods image. Our world has shut out and battled against the natural one, we have used and abused it, yet we have also preserved it when we could have done otherwise. 
We are in between the stages of growth and our own evolution, like teenagers whose parents are out of town. Good and evil being very much our current preference in the Noospere as opposed to what is truly evil or good as understood by more advanced beings, I assume.

[visitedbythem]

Darkness is an absence of light.

[Moon68]

Just because somebody can't handle the truth doesn't make said truth evil.

An uncomfortable truth is better than a beautiful lie any day.

[Maxmars]

Darkness is an absence of light.

I think you are nearing an important shift in approach.

One is meaningless without the other... which means both are present always.
The spectrum is born.
For one to exist the other must define itself relative to the first.

It may be a foible of human language, a simple inability to bring enough resolution to the question itself.

Evil is often, almost reflexively associated with darkness...

I however perceive darkness as sometimes welcomed, comforting... necessary.

So the equivalences brought to the analogy are all metered on something else... a manifestation perhaps?

[RichardHurt]

I think you are nearing an important shift in approach.

One is meaningless without the other... which means both are present always.
The spectrum is born.
For one to exist the other must define itself relative to the first.

It may be a foible of human language, a simple inability to bring enough resolution to the question itself.

Evil is often, almost reflexively associated with darkness...

I however perceive darkness as sometimes welcomed, comforting... necessary.

So the equivalences brought to the analogy are all metered on something else... a manifestation perhaps?

I find the darkness to be fulfilling.
I have only found fear to be present when light is abundant. Not sure if that's normal or not but it is what it is.

[IgnorantGod]

[...]

It may be a foible of human language, a simple inability to bring enough resolution to the question itself.

[...]

Is there any answer where no question dwells?

Is there any solution where no problem gets defined?

[chr0naut]

All of this is is nice and all, but completely irrelevant. Evil is definitely the opposite of truth.

Like I said the first time.

Is evil only the opposite of the truth? Probably not.  

Oh and by the way, if anyone is redefining language, it's the woke. Gender one of the words which has been redefined, and is being used to teach sex to children as young as 3-4. Which seems pretty damn evil to me.

So you may be on to something there with that redefinition of language.

Talking of the redefinition of language:

Woke

LOL.

[chr0naut]

A few dictionary definitions:

evil - Merriam-Webster

evil - Cambridge dictionary

Evil - Wikipedia

evil - Dictionary.com

evil - Collins dictionary

Evil - Websters 1828

I could go on, but the thing in common with all these definitions, is that none of them (except Wikipedia) make any specific reference to 'truth', or its absence.

[UltraBudgie]