The Problem of Evil
The problem of evil is actually far simpler than most people realize.
Humanity only has two choices in how to deal with evil. There is no third option.
We can prevent evil, or we can suffer the consequences of allowing evil to exist.
That is it. Those are the only two paths.
This is also the difference between wisdom and justice. Both are immensely important. We need as much wisdom and justice in our society as we can get. Justice is for today. The humans suffering right now from the evils of different types and intensities of violence, greed, and hatred need justice TODAY. Wisdom, however, allows us to prevent evil by understanding evil and then acting to change our systems that produce belief systems and thoughts, emotions, and actions of evil. Wisdom is the only way to create greater justice for TOMORROW.
Every individual and every society faces these same two choices. We can wisely work to prevent evil from taking root within ourselves, or we are forced to deal with the consequences of the evil that grows within us. We can work to prevent the evils that take root in neighborhoods, communities, cities, states, and nations—or we will be forced to experience the suffering that those evils inevitably create.
And this applies to every type of evil that harms human beings.
Humanity has the potential to thrive, or to suffer, in countless ways:
physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, energetically, morally, temporally, medically, financially, and beyond. But no matter the category, the principle remains the same.
And here is the most important thing about evil:
It is one BILLION times easier—if not a TRILLION—to prevent evil than to deal with the consequences of letting evil exist.
This is humanity’s greatest advantage in the fight against evil. Preventing evil is always—always—less costly, less painful, less destructive than dealing with the suffering evil produces.
Preventing evil is not only the morally correct choice. It is also the emotionally efficient, spiritually wise, and financially conservative choice.
It costs infinitely less energy—of every kind—to stop evil before it grows than to try to repair the devastation that evil leaves behind.
Consider:
It takes a billion times more courage to deal with the suffering caused by evil than it takes to prevent it.
It takes a billion times less emotional energy to commit to belief systems that prevent rage, fear, and sadness than it does to deal with the consequences of letting those emotional evils take root.
It takes a billion times less financial energy to prevent the evil of poverty than to deal with the enormous economic destruction, crime, violence, and suffering created by allowing poverty to exist.
This is a universal framework. Preventing evil is always easier, always cheaper, and always requires fewer resources—of every kind—than dealing with the consequences of letting evil exist.
And here is what makes this even clearer:
When we deal with the consequences of evil, all we are doing is trying to get back to neutrality. We are not even getting to a positive state. Neutrality is just the first step.
After that, even more resources are needed to rise from neutral to good. It is unimaginably expensive—in every sense—to choose anything other than preventing evil.
This Why We Must Prevent Evil Proactively
Evil spreads. All evil spreads.
Mild evil tries to become moderate. Moderate evil tries to become severe. Severe evil tries to become extreme. Allowing any evil to exist—even small, even “for now”—immediately invites it to grow roots.
This is why individuals and societies must commit to preventing evil whenever and wherever possible. It is the only sustainable, moral, and cost-effective strategy humanity has.
This is how we can prevent evil as individuals.
As individuals, our first responsibility is to understand what we believe is evil, and what we believe is good. Every human should define their moral code. Every human should know what is harmful, what is helpful, what is destructive, and what is healing.
Once we define our philosophy, we must practice it.
Because giving in to evil—anger, fear, violence, greed, hate—is always the easy option.
What is hard is choosing goodness when confronted by evil. What is hard is choosing compassion when confronted by suffering. What is hard is choosing courage when confronted by fear.
But practice makes progress.
The more we choose love, the easier love becomes.
The more we choose compassion, the more natural compassion becomes.
The more we choose hope, the more instinctive hope becomes.
The more we choose to see beauty in ourselves and others, the more we begin to create beauty in ourselves and others.
Next is how to prevent evil as a society
Step 1: Understand Evil — and Stop It Wherever It Already Exists
All levels of evil must be stopped:
from the mild schoolyard bully to the severe abuser to the extreme genocidal leader. Perpetrators must be stopped and held accountable according to our laws and social contracts.
This is the basic work of justice.
Step 2: Care for the Victims of Evil
Evil creates victims.
And humans are instinctively empathetic. This is why the helping professions have always been essential. We want to help those who suffer, and society must support the victims of every kind of evil.
But between steps two and three is a painful truth:
All perpetrators of evil are also victims of evil.
Nobody who harms others is having a good day.
Nobody who commits evil is doing so from a place of Wholeness.
They are acting from fear, from suffering, from distorted belief systems that have taken root within them. They must be stopped, yes. They must be held accountable, yes. This is justice.
But they are also victims of evil. Wise parents know this truth. Wise societies remember this truth. Foolish societies systemically ignore this truth.
One of the most important things I need people to understand is this: I do not blame any individual human being—any soul—for the belief systems they carry.
I hold them accountable for their actions, absolutely. But I do not condemn them for the beliefs that produced those actions. You cannot do the work of preventing evil in individuals or societies if you believe that belief systems are fixed and cannot change. No. ALL individual and collective belief systems can be evolved.
Because every belief system—good or evil, loving or hateful, courageous or fearful—comes from somewhere. And in many cases, people did not consciously choose the belief that is hurting them or hurting others.
So yes, when someone acts on an evil belief system—whether that evil is mild, moderate, severe, or extreme—of course we must respond. We must stop the action. We must protect the victim. We must apply consequences consistent with our laws and social contracts. This is justice, and justice matters.
But justice is not the same thing as wisdom and deep understanding.
And without wisdom and deep understanding, there is no prevention.
If we want to prevent evil, we cannot only respond to the moment of suffering. We must look beyond it. We must ask the deeper question:
Where did the evil belief come from in the first place?
Because that is the only path to actually removing evil from our world—by removing the conditions- the belief systems- that create evil.
A child’s tantrum is a very accessible, universal example.
Most people understand this intuitively with children.
Imagine a six-year-old—or even more clearly, a toddler—having a total meltdown because they got the wrong color cup.
They scream.
They hit.
They throw something.
They lose control.
We all know what’s happening:
They’re having the wrong thought in their brain.
They’re having a fear-based belief system in that moment.
It’s a mild form of evil—a tiny spark of fear, frustration, confusion, and emotional overload.
But we never say the child is bad.
We say the child is hurting.
We say the child needs help.
We say the child needs guidance, boundaries, compassion, and the chance to learn better.
We don’t condemn the child’s soul.
We recognize the child as a victim of an immature belief system. And once the child is calm, wise parents and educators can work in a variety of ways to help the child understand their thoughts, emotions, and actions. This happens billions of times every day in our world.
We must apply similar wisdom to our social, political, and economic systems.
Just like with a child, when an adult commits an act of evil:
We stop the action.
We protect the victim.
We apply consequences.
Consequences can range from mild to severe—even, in society's most extreme cases, the loss of liberty or the loss of life.
But even then—even if justice requires the harshest possible outcome—we still must not lose sight of the truth:
The perpetrator of evil was the original victim of evil. And to prevent other humans from becoming victims of that same evil, we must work to evolve those societal systems.
Because their belief system was corrupted—
By fear.
By trauma.
By teaching.
By environment.
By political systems.
By economic suffering.
By spiritual emptiness.
By systemic failures.
By the absence of compassion, opportunity, or guidance.
And if all we ever do is punish the action without healing and evolving beyond the cause, then evil will repeat itself, again and again, generation after generation. As individuals and as collectives, human beings are always given the same problem until we learn how to evolve our belief systems in order to fix it.
In other words, justice removes the immediate threat and cares for some of the victims of evil. But wisdom and understanding the origin of evil and working to evolve beyond those origins removes the future threat.
Justice alone can stop the next act. Wisdom can prevent it from happening in the future.
This is the gigantic difference between stopping evil and preventing evil
Preventing evil requires:
Building better social, political, and economic systems
Teaching better individual belief systems, mind control, emotional regulation at an early age
Addressing trauma before it metastasizes into hatred
Replacing fear with courage
Replacing greed with security
Replacing division with community
Replacing ignorance with accessible truth
We treat children this way instinctively.
It is time we treat humanity the same way—
not with naïve softness,
not by ignoring justice,
but by pairing justice with wisdom.
Humanity does not evolve through punishment alone.
Humanity evolves through healing belief systems.
This truth leads to the final step.
Step 3: Evolve Our Systems to Prevent Evil at the Root
Stopping evil and caring for victims only addresses the evil that already exists.
If our systems remain unchanged, the same kinds of evil will reappear—stronger, deeper, more destructive.
To truly win against evil and prevent evil, we must evolve our systems.
We must redesign the structures that perpetuate suffering.
We must build systems based on transparency, accountability, compassion, and Goodness—systems that prevent evil from taking root in the first place.
Therefore, always choose to prevent evil.
It is always the easier path.
It is always the path that requires infinitely fewer resources.
And it is always the path that leads humanity toward Goodness, Wholiness, and collective thriving.
We must evolve our belief systems—and the systems that govern our societies—in order to prevent evil at every level: within individuals, within groups, within communities, within nations.
That is how humanity triumphs over evil. That is how we evolve.
And we can do this via the online political evolution on Voter Directed Network. All voters are always welcome. Come have your voice heard and your vote matter. Come vote on what our social, political, and economic systems should look like in the future.
Thank you for reading,
AVK