Resist Not Evil

 One of the devil's favourite tricks, tried and tested throughout the ages, is to get people who are basically on the side of good to react to evil, thereby drawing them into his net. He presents one group obviously motivated by evil in some form and then another group, seeing that evil reacts to it and in so doing succumbs to an evil of its own in the form of negative emotion, anger, hatred, whatever. Unlike the first group, this second group does have good instincts but is lured into defending them in the wrong way. The members of this group should react to evil from the standpoint of the spiritual man but instead their correct recognition of evil leads them to react to it from a lower, earthly or worldly, standpoint because they are not yet stabilised in the eternal.

God can only erase evil from the world when it is no longer in the hearts of men. In a world of freedom and choice he cannot unilaterally remove evil or darkness while men have not outgrown the capacity to behave in ways conforming to their lower nature. There is the saying that all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, and that saying is true. However, what is done is important. If good men fight evil with hatred and anger in their hearts they are continuing the cycle of evil. This is the hardest thing as it is natural to hate evil, and it can even seem weak not to respond to it with force, but the fact is fighting evil in conventional or confrontational ways will not remove it. It will only perpetuate it. To do bad things or to act in bad ways even if it is ostensibly for good simply feeds the evil. It may destroy it in one form but then causes it to flourish in another, and that is all the dark forces care about. They are not bothered by the type of evil, evil meaning anti-God, anti-creation thought and behaviour, that exists. Their concern is merely that evil exists in whatever form. That God is denied.

There is no doubt that you must fight evil but you cannot fight it with its own weapons. All people on the spiritual path are confronted by the problem of how to react to evil. The natural thing when you see it is to want to contest it and defend the good, but there can be a subtle egotism in this. I am fighting on behalf of God. I am God's strong right arm in the world. You may well be called to serve as God's representative in the world, he needs such, but you do that best by letting him act through you not by acting yourself or from your own standpoint. The only way to help God eradicate evil in the world is to banish it from your own heart and then let your light shine. In the spiritual world you do not fight fire with fire but confront it with a higher spiritual energy. If Jesus had actively resisted when he was arrested he would have soon been forgotten about. By allowing himself to be killed he transformed hate into love. At least he did for those who were open to him and the truth he brought.

This world is a battleground between good and evil and evil takes many forms, particularly now when most people do not know what good is or that good as the world sees it may be spiritual evil. The teaching not to resist evil does not mean let evil have its way but don't react to it on the human level. Evil will be conquered when human beings do not reply to it in its own language. Darkness is not overcome by more darkness but only by light.

Do not misunderstand this. Jesus was not saying that a quietistic approach, defined as a purely passive acceptance of things without any attempt to change them, was desirable. The non-resistance is on the level of the ego, internal only. Every person who believes himself to be a follower of God or truth is duty-bound to defend the good and stand against evil. However, he acts from love of God or truth and that means he acts correctly - as long as he really is in touch with truth and not just his idea of it.