Hurricanes, earthquakes, famines, and other natural disasters seem to have become common occurrences in recent years. People often call them Gods acts and get reconciled with the misery and devastation they cause. Sometimes they are said to represent evil forces of nature. But is it possible to characterize nature as evil or good? Good and evil, like all other pairs of opposites, are relative terms; neither has any absolute meaning. The concept is also subjective; what is regarded evil by some may be termed good by others. We see this happening all the time. In the case of nature, though, there is no demarcation between some and others. The constructive and beneficial aspects of nature are considered good and the destructive aspects evil. The problem is with our concept of nature. For most people nature is what directly affects the planet earth. They are, of course, aware of the existence of the universe but anything happening out there does not figure in determining the constructive and destructive aspects of nature. Catastrophic events occur all the time in the universe. Stars explode, collide, or disappear into black holes. Planets freeze and life (if existed) vanishes. We have no idea if there are other inhabited planets in some other galaxy or even in our own. Nature is the whole universe which consists of events both constructive and destructive. Construction and destruction are intrinsic to any creation. The universe itself has gone through creation and will eventually go through destruction. The destruction of one thing results in the creation of another. Our concept of nature is closely related to the concept of God. We anthropomorphize God and make Him responsible for the creation and everything that happens in it. Thus we consider the natural disasters His acts. At the same time these events are considered evil. So is God responsible for evil in nature and on earth? Religions may say that God created man in his own image but the fact is that man has created God in his own image. Every religion attributes to God omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience, which are inconsistent with the concept of God as a person. God has no form and no attributes. He is simply the Ultimate Reality, the universal consciousness that permeates everything and at the same time transcends everything. Natural disasters are, therefore, neither acts of God nor they represent evil forces of nature. They are inherent to creation itself. More information on this topic can be found in the booklet Where Is God and other articles at www.cosmosebooks.com. |
