Studies in Evil

I would think that evil is a corruption of the good and that evil or in modernist language; human corruption can be seen as being expressed in the fanaticized consciousness. The term fanaticized consciousness, as it is used by Gabriel Marcel is the modern term for what has been referred to as idolatry in religious history. The fanaticized consciousness is brought into existence and maintained by some object or idea. Some one can speak against the fanaticized consciousness and be accused falsely of being against sex, peace, liberty etc. because the fanaticized consciousness can be seen as being at the very heart of things and ideas that are basically good or neutral, but are used as mechanisms of self-aggrandizement by power obsessing people. Those who are severely narcissistic cannot see the destructive consequences of their activities. So the intention of these types of people may not be altogether evil, but the consequences are. I believe that the appropriate response to what could be referred to as evil forces working through the power of idolatry is through C.S. Lewis’s natural law from his book: “mere Christianity.” 1. Prudence 2. Temperance 3. Justice as Fairness 4. Fortitude. But, of course, it only produces personal and social harmony when everyone in your life space is in accordance with it. When others who are after manipulative and exploitative power make you their target, then you must respond in some way: submission to corruption, over-responding and becoming malignant yourself or in some way perfectly responding what ever that means.
I believe that I have the right notes to write an essay on what I would call “The Root of Evil” or to use modernist language; “The Root of Human Corruption.” The starting point will be the Apostle Paul’s enigmatic statement that “Money is the Root of Evil.” The notion that Money is the root of evil is only one side of the coin; of course money is the root of progress also. I can also relate this to several notions from the Book of Ecclesiastes: “This only have I found; God made man upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.” … quoted from Ecclesiastes 7: 29. The idea that God made man upright correlates with modernists ideas and the idea that men have gone in search of many schemes is I believe an important clue to understanding human corruption. Iconoclastic activity is seen as a way of tearing down the right things with the right timing (Ref. Ecclesiastes Chapter 3) , but taboo-breaking is a form of ersatz activity or an inferior substitute. taboo-breaking can be seen as merely a means of obtaining the existential needs for “excitation and stimulation” an analytic tool articulated by the Psychologist Erich Fromm.
I believe that the notion of money as the root of progress as well as the root of evil as well could be generalized into what the Philosopher John William Miller called the mid-world of symbols and functioning objects. Symbols brings language competence/incompetence into the picture and of course money is the central functioning object because it is used as a: 1. Medium of Exchange 2. Store of Value 3. Measure of Value. We are all familiar with the phrase irrational exuberance as it relates to money and it could be used in the same way to relate to other things as well.
Heraclitus said that: “Man’s character is his fate” and it is critical in determining whether he is correct and the problem of human corruption originates in character rooted passions or whether other modernists concepts such as the mishandling of basic instincts is a better explanation.