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Hi everyone,

I thought I'd talk a little bit about the concept of evil or wickedness as a spiritual stage or a spiritual quality. Most people don't understand this. It's very easy to misinterpret it or to use it in such a way that it excuses bad behaviour. It doesn't. It is a quality or a state of service, if you like, that is recognised in many mystical traditions. It's one of the higher, degree Masonic revelations or extra teachings of one sort or another.

It's also recognised in Islam, Sufi Islam, where the qualities of the deity, the 99 qualities, include things like hate and negative, things that seem to be evil but of course they are qualities or attributes that are utilised as a form of service. So, for example, in Sufism, they say that to do good to evil is the same as doing evil to good, and there is a truth in that, and you have to understand it in that way and on that level, and it does not excuse any form of behaviour, as I say, that most people would understand as, I don't know how to say it, demonic or totally inexcusable or hateful, and there are people who are completely hateful through mental imbalance, through their own pain, through their own suffering, through their own experience or whatever, and they will be in this state because they can't be anywhere else ...

They've got nowhere else to go. It seems quite natural to them. They hate themselves, they hate their situation, and so on and so forth, and this leads to them being very negative, so this is the first thing to understand, the difference between something that is progressive and a natural outcome of a form of behaviour that empowers others.

In Tantric Buddhism, it is seen as an advanced teaching or a teaching of compassion at a very high level, so we use the negative states of mind, the wrathful states of mind in a positive way, in a way to break through people's conditioning.

Again, this has been open to abuse by abusive lamas or idiots or immature people or people who are in themselves not able to understand or make the best use of this. It is a progressive unfoldment, so it is something that comes about quite naturally. Anyway, that's all the warnings in place, let's talk a little bit about it. How does it manifest? Well, an obvious example is where you are trying to improve people's situation by giving them something to oppose and saying, no, no, that's wrong, that's bad, that's terrible, so you introduce this idea for them to fight against because that is the opposition, the contrary position is something that very easily can be exorcised or manifested in others, so they will take a quality that they see in you and say, no, I'm not going to be like that, what that person is doing is wrong.

So it is, again, in Sufism, it is a very old practice known as the blameworthy, people taking on attributes of negativity upon themselves in order to produce a particular effect in others. So you have to be aware of that, you have to understand that, and as I say, it is quite a developed teaching, but it is there, and it is something to be aware of if you have moved into that direction quite naturally through age, maturity or whatever, then you are able to understand what I've been saying to you and make some use of it.

@lobster

Your post reminded me a bit of the Shadow...

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”

~Carl Jung~

"The shadow represents the unconscious and repressed aspects of an individual's personality. It consists of elements that the person finds undesirable, unacceptable, or morally objectionable. These could include qualities, emotions, desires, or traits that society or the individual themselves deem as negative.

According to Jung, acknowledging and integrating the shadow is crucial for personal growth and individuation. By confronting and understanding these hidden aspects, individuals can achieve a more balanced and authentic self. Ignoring the shadow may lead to projection, where these repressed qualities are attributed to others rather than recognized within oneself. Jung believed that embracing the shadow could lead to a more holistic and harmonious life."

When I see what could be perceived as unskilful behaviour in others, I'm also aware that I am not immune from such behaviour...

The key point is having "awareness" that this is the case... Which in turn, allows me to explore what it is in me/them that may lead me/them to behave in such a manner....what past experience shaped the energy into the present form of behaviour pattern ...

"The self is a vibrating bundle of energy flux held together by karmic glue...that interprets Samsaric experience which dictates what this process will do."

I will lift the veil a little on my own experiences. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a kind of auditory hypnagogic experience, voices and presences that sometimes visit me on entering and leaving the realms of sleep. These often appear to be neutral, some have the appearance of self, some are good and some are evil. The experiences are too many to detail, so I will focus on a few that have to do with evil.

Once, I was with a presence which waited expectantly, and so I said to it, “I must be empty”. Over the following weeks and months it would periodically return, and take things away from me, parts of my body energy for instance, until my body energy became more and more quiet. Other presences have tried to stop it and refer to it as ‘the thief’.

Another time, I witnessed a presence coming close to me, so I yelled “damage!” I thought I might force something to damage it before it touched me. And indeed, something did start to damage it. And every once in a while I would hear voices talking about the damage it had done, the ‘millions’ it had cost.

These are just two examples, there were others. Whenever I sought to interfere with the presences, almost always I would make things worse. In the end I learnt to say as little as possible, leaving them to manage things.