Can something that does not exist be evil?
An Analysis of the Aswang Festival '06 Arguments
Yesterday (Sunday), barely a few days before the first day of Aswang Festival 2006 my devout grand aunt who is a member of the Ladies of Charity was unusually quiet over lunch.Then, when I was about to finish my own lunch, she blurted out -- "Something that does not exist cannot be evil."She looked at me and smiled.I somehow knew what she was getting at, considering the release of the pastoral letter of the Vicar General of Capiz denouncing the Aswang Festival, about a week before.I smiled back and was bombarded by arguments in my head coming from the wisdom of a religious, Catholic old, but strong lady.
I attended the Saturday anticipated mass about two weeks ago, and let me just get this to you, before you think I am some kind of religious fanatic -- I go to mass not because of the rituals and mumbo-jumbo (which, ironically are also rooted in pagan practices), but because every time I go to mass, the cumulated faith of all those present seems to give me a much more personal perception of my God.You might call me a spiritual vampire, if that is what you like, but I just want to point out that evil is not external.It is something that comes from deep within each one of us.We are all, by nature good, but when we succumb to an external phenomenon known to most Catholics as 'temptation', we unleash something that resides within us that was never meant to be unleashed in the first place.So, if my theory applies that all evil originates from within each one of us, where from within does it come from when according to Christian teachings, we are created in the image and likeness of God?Does God have some evil within Him too?Let's go back to elementary Catechism for this -- we have all been told that we have one God in three persons; if we look closely, each of these three persons represents an aspect of the nature of God, the divine aspect, the spiritual aspect, and the human aspect.It is the human aspect of us that is the source of a tendency to release that which is evil -- remember when Christ got angry at the people selling wares at the temple entrance?That was his human aspect showing through.Now, the divine aspect remains dormant in us for most of the time because the practicality of the human aspect overrides it.For instance, unconditional love comes from the 'divine us', but being humans, we have the tendency to seek recompense for the love that we give out.Another example -- the 'divine us' tells us to forgive no matter what, but the 'human us' tells us to forgive ONLY IF.Now, where does the spiritual aspect fall into all these?Let's just say that the spiritual aspect is the embodiment of our free will.It gives us two choices by presenting to us what could happen if we take either choice.It helps us decide whether we should give in to our humanity or go with our divinity.Where does the Aswang festival fit into all these?
The pastoral letter read during the mass enjoined all the faithful to 'boycott' the festival because it glorified the aswang which represents evil.I personally believe that something is evil only if we allow it to be.I am not saying that the aswang represents good just because I want it to, what I am saying is that something should exist first before we could actually affine to it an 'evil' or a 'good' tag.Therefore, only those who believe that the aswang exists can truly say that it is evil.If we are not even supposed to judge a person who is right in front of us, who are we to judge something that is not even there?It is quite ironic, but at the rate things are going, it is not the organizers of the festival who are giving flesh to the 'aswang evil' but the Capiz church itself.The mere fact that the church claims that the aswang is evil would lead one to conclude that, for the church, at least, the aswang is a real creature in flesh and bone!Do I make sense?Now to the dreaded conclusion -- for one to judge whether something is evil or not, supposing this something really does exist, is succumbing to the 'human us' because the 'divine us' would leave judging to a recognized Higher Power.If divinity dictates that we should not judge anything or anybody (who or that exists) then how human can we get by judging something that does not even exist?As far as I know, the festival is there simply to prove that THE ASWANG DOES NOT EXIST, that it is simply a figment of the imagination, that it is the stuff of myth and folklore; which of these objectives glorify evil, and which of these objectives celebrate the aswang?As far as I am concerned, the festival actually celebrates the 'non-physical existence of the aswang'.What bigoted dumb ass cannot comprehend this?Oh, maybe the successors of the Spanish Friars who created the aswang myth in the first place.Perhaps this is a guilt trip of the successors of the creators of the aswang itself -- those who discredited local herbal healers and freedom fighters by calling them aswangs -- the Spanish friars; or maybe those who raise their hands 'proclaiming the Greatness of the Lord' when their scandalous acts proclaim otherwise.Live God, don't just speak God, don't just preach God, LIVE GOD!Am I blasphemous?Well, I should be -- considering the number of hypocrites who might be reading this column.Bato-bato sa langit, ang tamaan, huwag magalit. Oh,and by the way,to all the writers who say that the aswang is synonymous to 'witch' do your research homework first and re-asses who should be called 'stupid'.
Be rational; be insane… every once in a while! TTFN!
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