An occult investigation of the problem of Good and Evil
Guest article by John Temple
In the fourth of his articles on the Search for Truth, occult writer and theologian, John Temple investigates the problem of Good and Evil from the perspective of Occult Science.
Although it is many long years since I stood before a congregation I can still vividly remember the first time a parishioner asked me the awkward question most theologians dread to hear: "if God is good why does he allow evil?"
It was that question which provided the catalyst that launched my own personal search for Truth. My reply, so far as I can recall after all these years, was that "people do evil, not God." Whilst this is true to a large extent, it is not the whole truth, for it still begs the question of why God allows so-called 'natural' disasters to devastate the lives of millions. Even if one concedes, as I think one must, that many disasters are the results of man's foolishness, ignorance and greed, such as building on flood plains, living near volcanoes, mining, deforestation, the testing of atomic bombs, and lack of sanitation and cleanliness which breed both physical and moral disease, there remain some 'evils' which man does not seem to be responsible for. But does this mean that God is responsible for them, and if so, why does he allow them?
What do we mean by 'god'?
Before one can hope to answer this question one needs to ask oneself what one means by 'god'. I am sad to say that all too many of the Clergy I once belonged to have the vaguest notions of God, which may mean anything or nothing. For some Christians he is the jealous, vengeful 'god' of the Old Testament and of Moses, who punishes the 'sins' of his children, much like a strict Victorian father! For others he is the merciful and loving Father revealed to us in the Gospels and in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Then there are those Christians, such as the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Justin Welby, who is reported to have said in a recent interview that: "There are moments, sure, where you think 'Is there a God? Where is God?"
No wonder theologians pray that no one will ever ask them the difficult question which forms the title of this article! When they do attempt to answer it, they often say, as the Archbishop did in his interview: "We can't explain all the questions in the world, we can't explain about suffering, we can't explain loads of things." Dr Welby went on to say, speaking parenthetically to God: "Look, this is all very well but isn't it about time you did something—if you're there." These words are an appalling indictment of the hollowness of the modern Christian Church and the abject failure of its teachings to satisfy the spiritual hunger of its adherents. I am tempted to ask the good Archbishop why he doesn't 'do something' given the vast resources of the Church over which he presides, rather than expecting God to intervene to 'save' mankind from the results of its own foolishness, selfishness and greed.
Unlike the Archbishop, Occult Science has no doubts about the existence of God. But it does deny that this is the personal god of the Christians, Jews, Muslims, or any other religion, who favours one special faith whilst damning and cursing the adherents of every other! All the Gods of these religions, as well as many others, past and present; cruel, tribal and jealous, are the empty phantoms of man's disordered imagination. Born in the mind of the zealot, the fanatic and the idle dreamer, they have taken form and overshadowing human ideals, brought darkness, strife and hatred instead of light, peace and love. Only when these false idols are cast down in the hearts and minds of mankind will the higher realisation of their oneness as the children of the God of Life, Light and Love become the heritage of all. This is the only God in which the writer of this article believes and worships.
Why does he allow evil?
Having clarified what I mean by God, I will now try to answer the question of 'why does he allow evil'. Before I do so it may be instructive to consider the answers the Church gives, in order to discover whether it has already done my work for me, so letting me off the hook! I would begin by saying that in the past the Christian Church neatly sidestepped the question by laying the blame firmly upon the devil. It can easily be demonstrated that in doing so it was slavishly copying the tenets of primitive Judaism, which had borrowed them in turn from the demonolatry of the Babylonians and Assyrians. It is these distorted theological concepts which have given rise to the dogma of vicarious atonement and laying the blame on supernatural agencies.
But the Church has now kicked out the devil, or at least relegated him to the margins of its theology, from whence he can no longer offer a convenient pair of horns upon which to hang the dilemma of good and evil. Indeed, as recently as 2014, the General Synod quietly voted Satan out of its baptism ceremony on the grounds that "it was too complex and confusing to people who don't regularly attend church." Having axed the devil, modern Christians try get over his absence by quoting Bible verses that seem to suggest that God has reasons for allowing evil to exist that we simply cannot understand. Or they make an appeal to faith and so sidestep the question in that way. But I should say that faith which is based on something we can never know is not faith but blind optimism. Whereas the former excuse reminds me of the parent who answers their child's question with "because I say so!" These reasons are not good enough for children and certainly not good enough for the genuine seeker after Truth. Let us see if Occult Science can do better.
You may search the Bible from cover to cover and not find a single statement that supports the contention that God wants to keep us in ignorance. On the contrary, there are many verses that exhort us to acquire both knowledge and wisdom. Jesus says: "Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened" (Matthew 7:9-10; Luke 11:10). He further tells us that "...there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known" (Luke 12:2). What else can this mean but that God desires that we should learn his purposes? We find the same injunction in the Old Testament, where we may read "Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge" (Proverbs 22:17). So what has brought about this ignorance?
The reason for this ignorance is that the Church has long since lost the keys to the Mysteries of God which Jesus taught to his chosen disciples, if it ever possessed them at all, which I personally doubt. There is evidence that St Paul did know these Mysteries, and possibly a few of the early Fathers of the Church knew them too, such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen. But their knowledge died with them, or was suppressed, it does not matter which, for the end result was the same; from that day to this the Church could not, and cannot, explain 'many things' as Dr Welby had the honesty to admit.
As long ago as the 3rd century B.C., the Greek philosopher Epicurus asked: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?" Epicurus' proposition seems quite reasonable at first sight, and it has been echoed in various ways in support of the arguments of believers and non-believers alike. But is it as reasonable as it appears? I would submit that Epicurus sidesteps the question just as adroitly as the Church by answering his third proposition with the same question he started with, leaving us none the wiser as to the reasons why God may allow evil even though he is 'both able and willing' to 'prevent' it.
Good and Evil
The 17th Century French mathematician and philosopher, Pascal, provided an answer to this dilemma when he said: "Nature has perfections, in order to show that she is the image of God: and defects, in order to show that she is only his image." This is pure Occult Science. The first century Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus ascribed the origin of evil to the admixture of inferior potencies in the arrangement of matter—and even in the formation of Man—a task entrusted to the lower creative hierarchies under God, as we may read in The Secret Doctrine. Occult Science affirms that evil is but an antagonizing blind force in nature; it is reaction, opposition, and contrast; evil for some, good for others. If evil disappeared from the world, good would disappear along with it, for there would be nothing to compare it to. Every gardener knows that plants will die in eternal sunlight, and so would man, who would become an automaton without the exercise of his free will and aspiration toward the Light, which would lose its being and value for him were there no darkness to offset it.
Some people believe that evil must be a very great force if it can retard the progress of human beings towards the Light for so many incarnations. But this is a misconception; evil is not a force in that sense. Good and evil are the two aspects which dominate the whole manifested Cosmos of all thinking entities on earth under such appellations as Light and Darkness, White and Black, Love and Hatred. Occult science affirms that these are all realizations of the Mind and have no actual existence. There are, however, such things as positive and negative states of matter and mind; and we may divide them into positive forces and negative conditions. In this way we consider as positive forces such concepts as love, goodness, light, generosity, and forgiveness, for instance; and classify hatred, evil, darkness, selfishness and revenge under negative conditions. It follows from this that the human mind cannot properly appreciate all the positive forces unless it has suffered from at least some of the negative conditions. This is reasonable, is it not? This is one of the important lessons we all have to learn on earth, and when we have done so we will know that positive forces of good always overcome negative conditions of evil, under whatever form they manifest. Those who learn this lesson will also know then that hatred cannot overcome hatred, for example; as a negative condition cannot master, rectify, modify, or change another negative condition; whereas the positive force of Love, added to Love, will double its potency.
In The Golden Star, by J Michaud PhD, which book is filled to overflowing with the greatest wisdom and true elucidations of the hidden laws of God, we may read that great disasters are sent to teach mankind certain lessons, "hard to learn, but if grasped with due humility and wisdom they will raise the aspirant to the highest pinnacle of bliss." In The Quest of Ruru by the same author, it is said that: "grief is the Key of the Gods with which they unlock the portals of our Minds, so that we may behold the higher things of the Spirit, which is true Bliss; while in earthly things lies hidden the evil worm of unhappiness." Some readers will find these truths hard to accept; others may indignantly reject them out of hand. I am thinking especially of those who have often asked me "why do 'good' people die?" By this they generally mean why are their loved ones taken from them early when so many 'bad' people live long and seemingly happy lives. These same people see no good reason for the slaughter of thousands of seemingly innocent lives in wars and epidemics. I examine the question of good and evil from the perspective of an ancient Frisian text, translated into English in 1876 in my afterword. That text explains clearly and simply how evil arose among men, how it spread and why it persists within all organized religions.
God goes to school
The Church cannot answer these questions. Nor can material science, much less 'humanism' and the other pseudo-sciences which have replaced true religion in the hearts and minds of mankind. But Occult Science can because it reveals who and what man really is, where he has come from, where he is headed, and the true laws of evolution and reincarnation which neither science nor Church knows. If we will only accept the truth that life on earth is a school in which we learn certain hard lessons that prepare us for the greater life in the higher, non-physical dimensions or planes, the seeming inequalities and injustices of earthly life begin to reveal something of the true purposes of God. Each one of us, whether we know it or not, is a spiritual being incarnated in a physical body to gain experience of the material world. We are—as the authors of this website explain in many of their excellent articles—gods in the making. Earthly life is the school of hard knocks in which we learn the lessons and gain the experience to return to the Divine Source from which we first emerged, enriched with the wisdom of our many incarnations. In short: God goes to school!
Once we grasp these truths, death loses much if not all of its terrors, and grief is seen as the means to unlock the riches of the higher, spiritual life that awaits us all. I could give you many examples from my own personal experience of men and women who have immeasurably enriched the lives of others after having endured great suffering and loss. One lady of my acquaintance lost her son at the young age of 14 from a wasting disease. I knew this lad quite well, and his gentle, kind and loving nature was an inspiration to all who met him. His mother might have sunk into an abyss of grief and blamed her son's disability and early death on God. But she did not. Her faith in the goodness of God never wavered and although she is not an occultist and knows nothing of the laws of reincarnation, she used the experience gained in caring for her son to help parents with similarly afflicted children. In time she built up a huge support network which spread all over the world, bringing comfort and practical assistance to thousands.
You may know of similar cases yourself, but even if you do not, I hope you will now have a very much deeper and higher understanding of how and why good and evil work in the ways they do. You will also realise that there is always a good reason why the 'good' die young, or the evil live long, and this reason is to be found in the laws of evolution and reincarnation I mentioned earlier. This will give you hints as to why disasters of all kinds occur on earth as well as why some thoroughly 'evil' people live long and apparently carefree lives, whilst the innocent suffer the most appalling deprivation and misery. But whatever conditions we experience here on earth, which is a paradise for some and worse than a veil of tears for others, is there not both comfort and hope in the knowledge that it is only a very brief interlude in our long journey from ignorance to wisdom? The important message I would like to leave you with is the truth that there is no 'death' anywhere in God's Universe. There is only CHANGE from one state of consciousness to another. For many people, especially the innocent and good, death is the great liberator that will restore them to the bliss of the Higher Realms of Light, where such things as wars, disasters, epidemics and tyrants do not exist, but where all is beauty, laughter, peace and joy.
If this investigation has encouraged you to seek answers to the deeper questions of Life, you will find much useful information in this websites occult studies course as well as in their articles entitled 'why study Occult Science?' and 'How peace leads to war', an investigation of the paradox of how the desire for peace leads to conflict and war.
The Search for Truth
In this unique series of twelve articles, the author explores and investigates the many links between Religion and the Occult, focusing especially on the hidden meaning concealed within the Bible and its many correspondences with the Wisdom Teachings of ancient Egypt. Along the way he explores the nature of true spirituality, the illuminati who are supposed to 'rule our lives', the problem of good and evil, prayer and talent. While each article can be read on its own, they form an ascending scale of revelation, the full import of which will only become clear when they are studied in their proper sequence, in the order of publication listed below.
Searching for Truth. The moving and true story of one seeker's troubled and eventful journey of spiritual discovery as related to the author.
Who are the REAL illuminati? The author dispels the many misconceptions surrounding the mysterious 'illuminati' and attempts to discover who the occult masters who are said to 'rule our lives' really are and what they do.
Esotericism in the Nativity. An investigation of the Bible story of the birth of Jesus, revealing the many layers of hidden meaning it contains, and the historical parallels between Jesus and the many saviours of other religions.
If God is good why does he allow evil? (this article). An investigation of the problem of Good and Evil from the perspective of Occult Science and some important extracts from the Oera Linda Book which shed light on this age-old question.
Hidden Wisdom in the Bible. Why and how it was concealed, and the tools the sincere seeker needs to dig it out. In his afterword the author examines the hidden meanings within the Biblical parable of the prodigal son
Esoteric meaning of Easter. An investigation of the true significance and esoteric meaning of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, and the parallels between the Christian and ancient Egyptian religions.
Hidden meaning in the Book of Proverbs. An investigation of the origins of the Biblical Book of Proverbs and the hidden meaning in it, and their close similarity to the maxims found in the ancient Egyptian Teaching of Ptah-Hetep
The sayings of the Saviour analysed. An occult investigation and analysis of some parables from the NT gospels, the real origins of Christianity and its close connection with the wisdom teachings of ancient Egypt.
The metaphysics of Talent. An analysis of the hidden meaning in the parable of the talents in the New Testament, what talent is; whence it comes, where it leads, and its right and wrong use.
The power of Prayer. An investigation of the nature, purpose and power of prayer, the many misconceptions surrounding it, and an analysis of the occult truths contained in the Lord's Prayer.
Facts and fictions of the Church. An investigation of the origins of the Christian Church, some of its doctrines and dogmas, and the so-called 'heresies' which threatened its survival in the early centuries of our era.
The Mystery of Jesus. An investigation of the evidence for the existence of the historical figure of Jesus and the occult truths concealed in the Sermon on the Mount.
'John' (no relation)
About the author
John Temple is the pen-name of a writer who has studied and practised the occult sciences for more than 60 years. He graduated from Cambridge University with a first in Theology and Religious Studies and was ordained as a Minister in the Anglican Church in 1957. He left the Church in 1972 and has since lectured to students around the world on a wide variety of occult, religious and mystical subjects.
John retired in 2002 and now lives quietly in London with his wife, two Yorkshire terriers and a talkative African Grey Parrot called John, shown in typically meditative mood at left.
In this afterword to John Temple's article, we examine the question of good and evil from the perspective of an ancient Frisian text, translated into English in 1876 and published under the title of The Oera Linda Book.
The book relates the history and religion of the ancient Frisian people who migrated to northern Europe from the remaining part of Atlantis some 4,000 years ago. In this book we find a fragment of the teachings of one of the great Sages of the Frisians—Nyhellenia—which provides one of the best and clearest answers to the problem of good and evil that we have ever read.
We take up the account at the point when Nyhellenia had established a colony of Frisians in ancient Greece around 1600 B.C., and the native Greek priests come to her for counsel.
"When Nyhellenia, whose real name was Min-erva, was well established, and the Krekalanders (Greeks) loved her as well as our own people did, there came some princes and priests to her citadel and asked Min-erva where her inheritance lay. Nyhellenia answered, I carry my inheritance in my own bosom. What I have inherited is the love of wisdom, justice, and freedom. If I lose these I shall become as the least of your slaves; now I give advice for nothing, but then I should sell it. The gentlemen went away laughing and saying, Your humble servants, wise Hellenia. But they missed their object, for the people took up this name as a name of honour.
"When they saw that their shot had missed they began to calumniate her, and to say that she had bewitched the people; but our people (Frisians) and the good Krekalanders understood at once that it was calumny. She was once asked, if you are not a witch, what is the use of the eggs that you always carry with you? Min-erva answered, these eggs are the symbols of Frya's counsels (*see note at end), in which our future and that of the whole human race lies concealed. Time will hatch them, and we must watch that no harm happens to them.
"The priests said, well answered; but what is the use of the dog on your right hand? Hellenia replied, does not the shepherd have a sheep-dog to keep his flock together? What the dog is to the shepherd I am in Frya's service. I must watch over Frya's flocks. We understand that very well, said the priests; but tell us what means the owl that always sits upon your head, is that light-shunning animal a sign of your clear vision? No, answered Hellenia; he reminds me that there are people on earth who, like him, have their homes in churches and holes, who go about in the twilight, not, like him, to deliver us from mice and other plagues, but to invent tricks to steal away the knowledge of other people, in order to take advantage of them, to make slaves of them, and to suck their blood like vampires.
"Another time they came with a whole troop of people, when the plague was in the country, and said: we are all making offerings to the gods that they may take away the plague. Will you not help to turn away their anger, or have you yourself brought the plague into the land with all your arts? No, said Min-erva; I know no gods that do evil; therefore I cannot ask them to do better. I only know one good spirit, that is Wr-alda's; and as he is good he never does evil.
"Where, then, does evil come from? asked the priests. All the evil comes from you, and from the stupidity of the people who let themselves be deceived by you. If, then, your god is so exceedingly good, why does he not turn away the bad? asked the priests. Hellenia answered: Frya has placed us here, and the carrier, that is, Time, must do the rest. For all calamities there is counsel and remedy to be found, but Wr-alda wills that we should search it out ourselves, in order that we may become strong and wise. If we will not do that, he leaves us to our own devices, in order that we may experience the results of wise or foolish conduct.
"Then a prince said, I should think it best to submit. Very possibly, answered Hellenia; for then men would be like sheep, and you and the priests would take care of them, shearing them and leading them to the shambles. This is what our god does not desire, he desires that we should help one another, but that all should be free and wise. That is also our desire, and therefore our people choose their princes, counts, councillors, chiefs, and masters among the wisest of the good men, in order that every man shall do his best to be wise and good. Thus doing, we learn ourselves and teach the people that being wise and acting wisely can alone lead to holiness.
"That seems very good judgment, said the priests; but if you mean that the plague is caused by our stupidity, then Nyhellenia will perhaps be so good as to bestow upon us a little of that new light of which she is so proud. Yes, said Hellenia, but ravens and other birds of prey feed only on dead carrion, whereas the plague feeds not only on carrion but on bad laws and customs and evil passions. If you wish the plague to depart from you and not return, you must put away your evil passions and become pure within and without.
"We admit that the advice is good, said the priests, but how shall we induce all the people under our rule to agree to it?
"Then Hellenia stood up and said: The sparrows follow the sower, and the people their good princes, therefore it behoves you to begin by rendering yourselves pure, so that you may look within and without, and not be ashamed of your own conduct. Now, instead of purifying the people, you have invented foul festivals, in which they have so long revelled that they wallow like swine in the mire to atone for your evil passions.
"The people began to mock and to jeer, so that she did not dare to pursue the subject; and one would have thought that they would have called all the people together to drive us out of the land; but no, in place of abusing her they went all about from the heathenish Krekaland to the Alps, proclaiming that it had pleased the Almighty God to send his clever daughter Min-erva, surnamed Nyhellenia, over the sea in a cloud to give people good counsel, and that all who listened to her should become rich and happy, and in the end governors of all the kingdoms of the earth.
"They erected statues to her on all their altars, they announced and sold to the simple people advice that she had never given, and related miracles that she had never performed. They cunningly made themselves masters of our laws and customs, and by craft and subtlety were able to explain and spread them around. They appointed priestesses under their own care, and instead of imbuing them with wisdom, and then sending them to watch the sick and educate the young, they made them stupid and ignorant, and never allowed them to come out. They were employed as advisers, but the advice which seemed to come from them was but the repetition of the behests of the priests."
Here ends this teaching on the nature of good and evil and their origin. First, the true teachings from the mouth of the True Teacher which few listen to and even fewer follow. Then the distortion of those teachings by the wily priests, and finally, the triumph of superstition and ignorance utterly putting out the light of Truth. How familiar this all sounds today!
*NOTE: Frya was the mother-Goddess of the Frisians, just as Wr-alda (meaning 'the very ancient One') was their father-God. In these twin-deities we may recognise many parallels with Osiris and Isis of the ancient Egyptians, who also had a balanced religion in which both male and female principles were equally important and revered.
We discuss The Oera Linda Book further in Facts and Fancies of Atlantis and in the afterword to our investigation of the migrations of the Atlanteans and the colonies they founded around the world, entitled The Legacy of Atlantis.
Further contributions by John Temple
John Temple has written several further articles and afterwords for us. These are listed in order of publication below, oldest first. All these contributions are well worth reading in their own right as well as extensions to this series of articles on The Search for Truth.
A Modern Easter. In his afterword to this satirical story by Gabrielle Annunziato, John Temple unveils the hidden meaning of the Last Supper.
The Mystery of Love. In his afterword John Temple examines the many references to Love in the Bible.
The Importance of Being Humble. In his afterword to this article by Seán Mac Gréine John Temple examines some known and unknown quotations about humility.
Folly and Wisdom. The wisdom of Folly and the foolishness of Wisdom. Afterword: an analysis of the book of Ecclesiasticus in the Old Testament Apocrypha.
Star Children. An occult analysis and appreciation of a short story by Charles Dickens.
Mr Tilly's Séance. An appreciation and occult analysis of a ghost story by the novelist E. F. Benson.
The anatomy of Sin. An occult investigation of the theological concept of Sin and its origins, and the macabre custom of sin-eating.
