Evil
The word Evil is a syncretic and often misunderstood term for "Disjuncture."
Related Terms
Syncretic Terms
Disjuncture > Adultry, Anrta, Death, Drug, Druh, Hell, Infidelity, Sin, The Hellish Marriage
Notes
In the popular mind, evil is often associated with a cosmic level, existential force or personified bad dude. These beliefs emerged relatively recently, specifically in the teachings of Zoroaster who is the first person to postulate a cosmic level evil force.[1] Prior to this, notions of cosmic evil did not exist. Those that did were typically personifications of chaotic and hard to control natural forces, or projections of hostile social situations.
“."the pagan Iranians, like the Indians of old, felt their world to be inhabited by innumerable lesser spirits, some kindly but many malignant. Some of these evil powers sought to enter a man's body and harm him directly. Others lurked about his homestead and fields, ready to make him stumble and fall, or to harm his cattle or blight his crops; and beyond, the untamed forest and plain were full of menace. 1 Evil threatened everywhere, but could be warded off by proper precautions, such as banning formulas or propitiatory gifts; and some men were held to have acquired power over these dark forces, to compel them to serve their own ends” [2]
Footnotes
- ↑ Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism: Volume One The Early Period. New York: E. J. Brill, 1996. Also, ———. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge, 2001. Messadie, Gerald. A History of the Devil. New York: Kodansha, 1996.Wach, Joachim. Sociology of Religion. Routledge Library Editions, Volume 16. New York: Routledge, 2019.
- ↑ Boyce, Mary. A History of Zoroastrianism: Volume One The Early Period. New York: E. J. Brill, 1996. p. 85.
