trocar

Given the dissolution of my eight year marriage and the actions that have lead up to it, I've been reflecting on the dual nature of good and evil and the importance of one's relative position to such actions in determining to which side of the former variable they fall. It's very easy to look at your own deeds and tailor them as a response to those individuals around you...a kind of "every action has an equal reaction" mode of thought. Simple. The things you do are a by-product of those around you. But what if fate is more subtle than that, just suppose that the path you follow through life is based on outcomes, the supposed "good" or "evil" directly impacting and influencing those in your sphere...in other words you are an indirect instrument of fate and your actions have no moral value until they are viewed in the context of an entire life

For example Judas Iscariot (the betrayer of Jesus), here's a tidbit from a Daily Rotten Library article:

"But the motivations of Judas, a key player in all this, are much murkier and touch on some universal philosophical questions."

"The story of Judas raises some pesky questions about free will and predestination. Jesus foretold Judas' betrayal before it happens, raising some weird questions about exactly why Judas did what he did. Was he predestined to do so? Did Jesus actually give him the idea? "

"An early Gnostic sect argued that Judas was actually an enlightened soul, who realized that the betrayal was part of God's master plan to save humanity by having his son crucified. So Judas, being the big man that he was, decided he could live with his soiled place in posterity if it meant everyone got to go to heaven. Other heretical movements advanced ideas such as the notion that Judas was actually crucified in the place of Jesus."

Was Judas good or evil? If the most notorious character in history cannot be so easily placed, how can we so casually define ourselves?