In my book, The Devil & Miss Prym a foreigner arrives in a village to tempt a woman. I wanted to explore the fight of good and evil and would like to ask you:
Do you think man is intrinsically bad ?
Love,
Paulo
Do you think man is intrinsically bad?
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Depende muito do estado de espirito,cada ser humano é único. Existem fases em que; nos sentimos a melhor espécie… E em outros momentos,o que precisamos é de muito auto controle…
When we are born, we are innocent and have done no sin. However, that does not change the fact that we are born with original sin. When Adam & Eve first sinned, the consequences of their actions led us to fall out of grace. We are inherently inclined to sin. If you look at bad and good as definitive natures..I believe it would be ok to say we are bad. If God is good, we are definitely bad, even without having done any wrong. As we grow, we all sin. But the morality in us helps us strive to be good. We are sinners with a moral nature too.
Badness and goodness is in all of us but “Man is Intrinsically bad?”
No, I think not….even though some, are really evil.
There are about 10 dings on the sides of my car. None of the dings had an accompanying note from the person causing the damage. I’d say this leans toward intrinsic badness.
I think when you look at the whole of man, his history and experiences, his dominance and subjugation, his highest expression of art and his lowest slaughter of fellow humans, you must realize that he is just a slightly more advanced animal and behaves just like any other animal.
Instinct, ego, and aggression often rule, but then so does philosophical and creative ambition. We have Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and Hitler. But we also have Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Einstein.
How to reconcile this? Good and bad are subjective in the grand scheme. I think we instinctively do whatever ultimately propagates the species on a massive scale. But our hubris and “intellect” and propensity for self-destruction may ironically be our own undoing. Perhaps we aren’t that evolved after all.
how can we find a correct answer to this question? Can anyone define good and bad. It’s all about our perception,culture,religion and beliefs,no? Sometimes love makes people mad and senseless,but never makes them bad. Love is the ultimate instinct that brings us the feeling of living! More so I don’t think there are bad peoples,sometimes people becomes mad. That’s all!
This question caught my attention while browsing the blog. I have thought about this question many times on different situations while reflecting them on people and myself. I think people are intrinsically happen to be good instead of bad.
Many cases that I observe are humans in general, if they are provided sufficiently and never be deprived of anything like materials, love, food, they have a pretty good nature in them. Humans become bad because of sufferings or something was taken from them which are influenced externally.
It’s always easier to observe it in young children who are still new to the world and if they are nourished with enough love, I do believe they grow up to be good adults.
There is not such a think as a good or bad we all have both. It is only in extreme situations that the real nature of the man can be observed.
When we were born we were born, we are like blank canvasses. We are neither good nor bad. Wehen we grow up, our experiences, our environment, our education shapes who we are – our character, our morals, our beliefs. Humanity in general, is not intrinsically bad. Others become bad because they let themselves be affected negatively by the external forces swaying their persona.
man is kind. men are cruel – rabindranath thakur, (tagore).
so often people by themselves are kind, but societal pressure, conformity issues, ego issues, competition makes them do bad things.
and as long as u are not hurting u are not ‘bad; as far as im cocnerned.
I have home-educated my son up to his 8th year. He was an extremely kind, selfless, open, respectful, caring, helpful, honest, loving and clever boy. Stil is! But EACH ONE of the above characteristics have been pushed’n'shoved by peer-pressure. His opennes and our observation and willingness to address the unwelcome changes; have managed to strike balance (as yet) between what he had to change and what he liked himself to be. He didn’t like himself when peer-pressure was leading him into what he clearly was at unseas with, and yet he has been touched. I hope it’s strenghthening his power of resisting what he doesn’t believe in, or like.
So, yes! Peer-pressure is a force to reccon with and guide at individual level. Some of us had to endure peer-pressure and change into ‘dislikeable us’. We SHOULD teach ourselves and our children to deal with childish’n'naive attitudes: “If I can prove that you are bad (regardless of reality) – then/therefore – I am better!”. This maims the soul, ‘wrongs the right, rights the wrong’ and rewards the bad.
My favourite quotation is: “All that is necessary for the trimph of evil that good man do nothing” Edmund Burke
I don’t think “inherently” man is either. He is man. Leave a man from the time he is born in the woods and he will be like all other creations of God. A bit more crafty, but he would only worry about food, water and procreation. Do we think of lions as inherently good or bad? They are just lions and this is just the world.
hmm no. if you study animals youll see that some of themd o tings that have ntohing tod ow ith resoruce.s teh famous experiment wiht the moneks is an exmapel they took a bunch of baby monkeys and made ‘false monek mothers’ (wire monkeys wiht monkey fur covering). under one wire mother they put resoruces (food) and the other mother they put arms to hold the baby monkey. the baby monkey preferred by far the warmth and love form the wire mother it rarely left her for the other mother who provided food. and man has conscience.
Desde muy niña he creído que si…
desde niña conviví con esa idea por lo que luche cada día en no serlo, aunque sea no tanto.
por ello siempre digo
Yo No Soy Buena…
Pero también digo
Yo No Soy Mala…
siempre trato de evitar las malas acciones pero no puedo decir que soy buena en su totalidad…
Yo si Creo que algunos Nacen Buenos y Otros no… todo siempre en su justa medida…
I think it depends on circumstances. A good person might become bad under certain circumstances. Or the one who everyone considers bad might be good in somebodyelses’ point of view. So, it varies from person to person and from situation to situation.. That’s what I’ve learnt from my experiences.
salam sir,
even 2-year-old children get jealous on finding their love being shared by their new born siblings.
so if it’s about jealousy, sexual desire, getting a little happy on finding your competitor losing(even if it lasts for microseconds) then yes we are intrinsically bad.
there is an ugly, greedy dog residing in all of us, howling every time from inside reminding us of its existence whenever we encounter something where our morality faces big dangers…
Men are more selfish .Men are like children .I dont know if they are intrinsically bad .
Men are more instictual ,agresive ,coward ,insecure,unstable in a relationship,easier to manipulate ,naive, backbiting than women .They need to be educate how to live .That means how to love, to aproach ,to fight for their rights,to understand .Less emotional and more analytic .Men are abjects with women when its about vengeance .
By making it a difference between men and women, you are objectifying sex over who is good and who is bad.
I believe that if men are as carefully and lovingly brought up,(just as women)- helping them to extend their attention to feelings and their senses; men as good or even better than women. Boys are very loving, kind and clever both sentimentally and intelligently. The upbringing is mostly desensitising them detaches them from their self, in order to become “warriors” and to sacrifice themself. That’s why many men don’t look well after themselves, and do not appreciate kindness. But just lately I have found some splendid examples of nice, pleasant, sensitive young men. They are out there, it’s up to parents to light that kind spark in their children.
I think that the world is like a drama and God is the director, Every soul is playing its part. Just like in a theater drama, actors play good and bad roles but are intrinsically innocent. In the similar way we are playing good and bad roles taking male or female body clan and the entire play is recorded in our souls…
With lots of love, respect and greetings from India,
Amit :)
I think that we are all intrinsically good and it is our natural state. When we are truly comfortable in ourselves it is the simplest and most rewarding path, but if we have any insecurities we may sometimes take the wrong path.
man is intrinsically bad..it’s only through God’s grace that we become good.
well i dont think humman biengs are intrinsically bad. i believe that every one doing any bad thing of any kind knows exactly that he is doing bad. which means that deep inside he has a will to do good things. only because the good didnt prevaile doesnt mean that he or she is bad. i believe that had man been intrinsicaly bad there would have been much chaos in the world . it is the little flame of love and care that is keeping us alive .
Intrinsically we are bad i think. Because if a person is hungry at the time when he is too immature to judge between the right and wrong, he would definitely eat anything that would be in front of him without thinking about any of the social norms, values and any other factor fettering him from not doing so.
i would like to share a verse from the holy Quran talking about good and bad
God says
“By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it; and its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right; truly, he succeeds that purifies it, and he fails that corrupts it! (Surat ash-Shams: 7-10)
:)
i think man isnt good alone or bad alone,, man has both inside with a propotion and order given by God and set by God’s ultimate wisdom,, and we are dealing every day , every minute with the choice.
MAy God bless humanity , lead the lost to the light, to the road leading to God , and tose who are on the road may God bless them to stay there.
thanks paulo
love u
This is the ever ongoing nurture vs nature debate.
Our actions are the result of our percieved wants or needs, we must fight for survival at times and we often need to put our needs ahead of other’s.
A person we classify as good is able to concieve the needs of others as well as their own, when making an important decision.
A person that we would classify as bad is unable to resist the temptation of fullfilling every want they have and they ignore the pain they might be causing to other people.
But we can hardly say that we know whether people are born good or bad.
To put it simply we have the instinct for survival that makes us seek out want we want or need, but everything else might just be a matter of upbringing and experience.
In regards to a previous comment (Monique May 6, 2010 at 2:02 pm) that suggests that junior high school students are ‘evil’. I disagree, they are simply ignorant, they do not understand the long term concequences of their actions, and the western school system lacks the ability to teach children to care. A catholic high school may teach children of the bible, but I dont think it is able to convey the message about selflessness that jesus and the virgin can instill in people.
What is good, what is bad? it depends upon one’s perception of things. Also, let’s not forget the law of polarity: for all good there must be bad. If there wasn’t, life would probably be boring and meaningless… There’s nothing new to learn or to experiment out of ‘all things good’, you know? That’s my belief. All is in Divine Order :) je suis en paix.
All people are bad. Even saints do bad things. I strongly believe that it is one of the natures of being a man. And if i deemed that all are bad, does it mean that I am generalizing? Does that imply that i am a bad person?
I was touched by evil and became very ill. It was awful to be full of hate – I was full of darkness.
Now I’m fighting like hell to get rid of evil. It is my task to release the ancestors from Satan.
el hombre no es malo o bueno por naturaleza porque en realidad no sabe lo que es realmnete bueno o malo, es la sociedad la que cataloga los actos humanos de acuerdo a lo que la mayoria piensa, o lo que le parece mas conveniente por el momento porque todo es subjetivo y va cambiando durante la historia…el hombre actúa de la manera que le enseñaron y son sus actos los q son buenos o malos…
I agree, that one man’s good is another’s bad. Intrinsically, man may be better said to be at various stages of lost-ness, looking for our independant and private road to the knowledge that will define our goodness at its capacity. In regards to wrong or negative directions, it may be noted that a ball thrown at a wall will bounce back farther the harder it is thrown; excepting if the air inside is dead or flat.
No, I don’t think. They are not. They are not intrinsically good either. They are not innocent too. They just learn ways to judge while they grow. Now, that is intrinsically human.
“And who is to tell us what is good or what is bad?”
I do think man is bad. Children aren’t as innocent as they appear. Have you ever been through junior high school? Pure evil! However, I also believe we are children of God and so I do believe we are sacred and can be cleansed and with diligence lead a holy life but I don’t think we will ever be perfect because of our imperfect nature here on earth. Also being a woman and knowing too many other women I can say it is a myth that women are more spiritual then men. I don’t know whose ass someone pulled that concept out of but it’s not true, men and women are equally but differently bad. have a nice day.
nope..i dont think so..
i believe every human are good basically..
but there are something that will influence them to be still good or to become bad..that something are his friends, family, and environment..
if his family is good and give him good examples of attitude and behavior and the family told him about what is right and what is wrong..so he will be grow to a good person..with a good attitude and behavior and can decide what is good and what is bad..
and if his friends are good, never ask him to do something bad or give him examples to do something bad..so, he will be good too..and even if his friends ask him or he sees his friend doing something bad, but he knows that is a bad thing from his family..he will not do the bad thing like his friend do..
and the environment..if he lives on a bad environment, he will be bad..if he lives on gangster environment he will be a gangster..if he lives on educated and kind people..he will be educated and kind person..
well..thats my thought..
I believe that man is instrinsically good, but very scared. Fear combined with a lack of character / spiritual strength makes him weak, which makes him selfish and then eventually ‘bad.’ But deep down he wants to believe everyone is his friend and is in fact a part of him.
Children aren’t born completely innocent, innocence has to be cultivated despite how easy it is to leave. Children are born as people with needs and the world puts its influence on you. Good people are those who are presented the opportunity to be good, or barring the opportunity to be good utilize their free will and seek it.
what do you mean by “really bad”? I don’t think so..its again the Perception! If serial killer kills someone…he kills..he is just doing Karma!…Is our only purpose survival?factors which favour it are termed as “GOOD” and oppsing it are called ” BAD or Really Bad”!! …what if doors of perception are closed…?..
Ps.sorry for a long post i didn’t realize…Got carried away…
Again like somebody said (And what i was going to say,too)
When a child borns,he is inoccent…I mean…Children when their born are pure at their hearts…Well,for example…
They seem to enjoy everything/every day of their young lifes…
At the older ages…They become…Their different…I guess…
(I’m not an expert at children…)
But babys are full of joy…Mostly.But when we get older we…Are ashamed of our…Feeling…I suppose everybody has been,in some…part of their life….
We are ashamed to say “I love you” or “I’m sorry” …or…
Let’s talk about “really” bad people…
I mean really…
Serial killers…Really…really bad people…etc.
They don’t born…
Really they don’t born to be bad…They don’t born to be serial killers…etc.etc…I’m using these words…To make you people get my point/opinion.
When there’s something on the news or something…Someone killed like 15 people etc. etc.
I don’t say i can understand it,too but…
I think no one of us here (on this forum) could even imagine,what they have been throught when they were small.
Well,maybe nothing that…Terrifying…but still…
Something has really changed their lifes…at young ages…
So no one really borns to be bad,but these “bad” people,”criminals” for example…We don’t know what they might have…A very hard childhood…It’s sad,maybe the most saddest thing is WE can’t heal them…So we have to isolate them..that’s sad.
No one really borns to be bad,and those people (no “criminals” or just “normal” people)
who we are having…
For example,if you have a dad and you can’t really…Understand him…Bet he’s a “good” person at his heart…
What do you people think
Mirá ésto, qué interesante. De las páginas web las mejores son en inglés. De todos los comentarios que leo en ésta página los que me dicen algo están en español. ¿? A veces leo unas cosas raras en español que están en ese dialecto de alta frecuencia pero cuando llego a leer algo que me tranquiliza es en español. ¿Qué me pasa? Lo que me pasa es que no quiero ir más allá. Los indígenas precolombinos no tenían tecnología -no, no la tenían en comparación a su época- pero eran místicos y filósofos. Eso es lo que me pasa. ¿Sigo o me quedo?
Pienso que el hombre es intrínsecamente malo. Te digo por qué: por que es mortal. Lleva en sí la semilla de la muerte, o sea la corrupción. Y no es que me lleve mal con la muerte, tengo con ella mucho en común y me cae bien. Por lo demás no creo que ser malo esté mal, sólo mal administrado.
Isn’t a new born child an innocent one,is it ?I dont think that there is some power who says you gonna be an evil one and you are a kind-herted.Each of us making a choice by our own since we become fully aware of oneselves
Every action has a meaning. Good and evil exist, but their definition is not so obvious. For higher power one, for us ordinary people more. But each person can in themselves and others feel this superiority, or as appropriate to say the balance. In society, these concepts are relative, rather, may from here and such a mess … Framed footboard – bad, but what it can save lives or provoked into action … then what I can not say that I live right and good in the view of God … but I am still learning.
first question is what is so called ‘good’ and ‘bad’?…………..isn’t everything relative?…..are there any absolutes?….or if for moment i block all my senses,how can i differentiate good and bad?……i see what my eyes make me to see….i hear what my ears make me hear…and so on….SO WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON?…..are we moving or its just the TIME that passes by us??
I think that man is good by nature. A normal person wouldn’t do a bad thing just to be happy [well except to masochists and sadists- well this is a different case, out of the normal thing] and I firmly believe that virtues hold the key to achieve true happiness. When we give love and patience in everything we do, it gives us a different sense of fulfillment especially when we achieved our dream or goal. we always strive to be happy. Man lives in search of happiness. There are just difficulties we face that sometimes, it resorts us to the easy road that we think may lead us to happiness [wealth, power, other worldly pleasures]. and most of the time, doing the bad thing makes it easier to have it. And when the challenge ends, we found ourselves empty. Because in the process of having that dream or goal, the person starts to lose the important things [friends, time, passion for the special someone, etc].
I think that a man is as good as his attempt to walk along the straight and narrow path…he might not always succeed, but if he is sincere in his attempts to follow his way, he is good person….
A person who walks without any direction though, lost and without any thought of a destination, sometimes going days in one direction just to cancel it later by walking in the opposite direction, this man is might become bad if he doesn’t change his way ….
Such a person is engaged in uselessness, and for a uselessness to become dangerous, the only question is time ….
Hi Paulo,
Man is neither good or bad. He’s beyond good and evil. What is good for one person is bad for another and vice versa.
I personally think that those people who are indulging in the seven deadly sins are mentally disturbed and need rehab.
Law of Karma will eventually act on everyone.
Yours humbly,
Arun
No, he is just intrinsically badly informed that’s all.
I think that man is good. but in the Road of Life he must make a decision; to be good or to be evil. I read “The Devil and Seniorita Prim” liked this book very much. I want to say thank you Mr Paulo Coelho for such great book!
JJ Rousseau: man is intrinsically good, the society makes him bad…
Man is intrinsically good in the meaning humans were created as part of the universal ecology. But by accident (which I´ll not discuss here) negative energy was formed on Earth. Some men perceived it and used it in order to destroy the perfect order of matriarchy. These men then became “evil” as they no longer followed the only universal law that exists: “you must not harm”. Within these words all the other laws are retained. The Bible is a very good book (though I don´t call it holy), but in fact (if you have some knowledge in science and quantum physics), it´s possible to interpreter the Bible using scientific explanations. But I´ll keep it simple so you all will understand. Revelations 12:7-9 says that the “devil and his angels” were thrown out from heavens to the Earth, which means that the rest of the universe is clean. (I´m not going to give the scientific definition of “devil”, let´s just say negative energy). So, people we call evil, and people that really are evildoers, they exist only here. Humans, as I said above, were not intended to be bad but an accident in the early preparation of the planet caused negative energy to emerge, and some men were not strong enough to ignore it. But we were created with wonderful qualities, so let´s use them!
Good and Bad is a matter of perception
Man is just the way they are.
I am intrinsically good.
Well in my opinion…. everyone is born half good half evil…but we make the chose of deciding which one to dominate our character and which to prevail.we either nourish our “evil” side or our “angelic” side.At the end it is a chose that we take.
I think good & bad is not related to gender.It is based on ur experiences & observations.Sometimes,people became evil because they have spent their life in evil.A prostetute is considered evil but nobody knows that she was not born for that.But she spent her life in it.Life is a mystery for those who study it but a walking world for those who experience it.
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