Searching for Meaning in Evil's Turbulent Wake

July 28, 2011 by Joseph Susanka

Continued from Page 1

Yet it is also doomed to failure.

Our need to wrestle meaning from such Evil, often leads us to blame cultural, political, or religious ideologiesb but this kneejerking blame-game is not only politically and spiritually unhelpful, it is misguided. Even the most clearly-stated of intentions (pdf) will never fully explain such depravity; ideologies and motivations will never truly match up to the unthinkable actions conceived and carried out by misguided fanatics.

Attempts to present the world with a tidy, conclusive narrative that encapsulates such tragedies cannot work unless we recognize that we are dealing not only with the "positive" forces of cultural mores, traditions, and historical precedents, but with "negative" ones, as well. The notion of Evil as privation—a key cog in any attempt to understand the motives that drive such tragedies—is a game changer.

Darkness only makes sense in contrast to the light it lacks. Its presence is a reminder that those who carry out such diabolical schemes are not simply putting a lesser good in place of a greater one; they are replacing a good with something that is not even a "being" at all—a confusion so warped and so profoundly blinding, should we really be surprised by the twistedness of its fruits?

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7/28/2011 4:00:00 AM

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About Joseph Susanka

Joseph Susanka has been doing development work for institutions of Catholic higher education since his graduation from Thomas Aquinas College in 1999. He blogs at Crisis Magazine, where he also contributes feature articles on a variety of topics.

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