Who are God and the Devil in the Human Mind and Consciousness?

Humankind has always viewed things in opposites and dichotomies from primordial times. In the human mind and consciousness, there must and are opposites and dichotomies. Such opposites and dichotomies not only exist in the material world but in the immaterial worlds and beyond. Humankind has particularly viewed the immaterial world or rather the supernatural world in terms of strict opposites and dichotomies from time immemorial.

Primordial humans viewed the world in terms of what they could and could not understand and/or easily decipher. Anything that was beyond such human analysis and understand was regularly assigned to the realm of the supernatural. The positive aspects of the supernatural was assigned to a benevolent supernatural deity or a god. Conversely, the negative aspects of the supernatural was assigned to a malevolent deity or a demon or demons.

The majority of humankind staunchly contend that cannot be supernatural good without the existence of supernatural evil. They believe that if goodness has a supernatural origin, then evil also has a supernatural origin. They maintain that the moral ambiguities and conflicts of this universe exists because of these two opposing factors. They furthermore aver that such ambiguities explain that why this is an often imperfect, even dangerous world. They are resigned to the fact that supernatural good and supernatural unfortunately co-exist.

I. GOD

To the majority of people, God and the Devil exist in separate components. To go even further, many propose that God and the Devil exist in diametrical opposites. They believe that God is the representation of all that is benevolent. To them, God is the essence of perfection. They contend that God is the ultimate and highest level of all that is good and just. They maintain that God is beauty, pureness, and goodness.

Many people view God as the essence and manifestation of the highest level of spiritual development and evolution. In fact, they believe that God is the purest essence that exists in the universe. However, there are some who maintain that God is beyond all character designation. They strongly insist that God is totally beyond all what humans characterize Him/Her to be. According to them, assigning human characteristics to God is to limit Him/Her. There are a few who vehemently state that to even to characterize God in limited human terms would be deemed blasphemous. They are of the school that to even mention God's name is irreverent or worse. To them, God deserves only the highest form of respect and reference, if not deference. reference.

Along the lines that God is all good, there is a strong contention that God is incapable of doing anything bad or evil. People oftentimes argue that these are acts of nature and God had nothing to do with it. Some would proclaim that God acted this way in so called retribution to the imperfections of humankind. Very, very few people are going to state that God does evil things or otherwise act in less than positive ways. To do so would cast doubt on the goodness and perfection of God.

Of course, there are people who insist that those who have the audacity to cast aspersions as to the goodness of God are totally blasphemous at best. They furthermore contend that humankind is not capable of fathoming and understanding the actions of God. They maintain that God's actions are not for humankind to understand and judge for such are God's actions alone. They believe that only God knows the ultimate reasons for implementing such actions.

II. THE DEVIL

The consensus with a majority of people that as there is a supernatural good, reason only dictates that there is also a supernatural evil. The Devil is considered by many to be the representation of pure and unadulterated evil. The Devil is also seen by many to be the symbol of the most abject, darkest, and abysmal negativity. In fact, he is deemed by some to be negativity beyond the most blackest negativity.

Besides being seen as evil, the Devil is seen to be impure, debauched, and corrupt. The majority of people see the Devil as a representation of ultimate corruption in addition to being without conscience. There are those who view the Devil as a symbol of the most abhorrent imperfection, blemish, and sin. Some even classify the Devil as the epitome of darkness and contamination.

Others perceive the Devil to be the symbol of devolution to the lowest and most banal levels. They see the Devil as the most bestial of all life forms. They maintain that the Devil embodies the very worst and most insidious of characteristics. They assert that the Devil is the nadir of spiritual development while being the total apex of wickedness and abomination.

There are those who vehemently proclaim that nothing comes out of the Devil except evil, desolation, destruction, and other types of negativity. After all, they insist that the Devil is the purveyor of lies and other falsehoods. There is no good in the Devil; in fact, one say aptly say that the Devil is the total antithesis of goodness and other positive characteristics. They contend that even if the Devil does something positive, it has an underlying premise which is quite negative, even horrific. They assert that the Devil, by his very nature, has an ULTERIOR motive for doing what seems on the surface to be good or positive.

While many people maintain that God and the Devil exist as separate, even opposite entities, there are those who differ from the majority societal and theological consensus. There are those who contend that God and the Devil co-exist and work together in some sort of plan regarding the redemption of humankind. They strongly assert that God created the Devil with the purpose of testing, strengthening, and giving moral resolve to humankind.

To them, the Devil does not serve a negative purpose at all but a positive one. They argue that the Devil was created to assist humankind in learning, knowing, and eventually attaining a level of pure goodness and ultimate unity with God. They furthermore attest that if there was no Devil nor evil, how would humankind know the ultimate value of goodness and God. The Devil, they staunchly aver, is the litmus test of endurance, trials, tribulations humans must undergo in the ultimate scheme of things. They state that the Devil with God's permission may administer arduous tests; however, in the end, humankind will be much better, wiser, and more evolved for taking such tests.

Then there are those who believe that there is an evil side to God. They strongly maintain that the Devil is God's negative, shadow side. They contend that everyone and everything contains both good and evil aspects to their personality. They contend that nothing material and immaterial is all good nor are they are bad. They assert that it is realistic and mature to state that good and evil exists in all, even the purveyor of the supernatural, God. They attest that even God has His/Her negative side which some would classify as the Devil.

Some people are of the school that imperfection is rampant in the human and natural world so why would the supernatural world be different. To them, if humankind is imperfect and flawed so is God. They explain that since evil and other forms of negativity exist and occur in the world and if God made the world then in their minds, He/She is responsible for the less than positive conditions in the world. They further assert that if God was completely good, the world would be good and nothing bad or evil would occur in it. They even add that if God was completely good, He/She would prevent evil and other forms of iniquity from ever occurring.

Others staunchly declare that God is quite cognizant of the evil occurring in this world. They assert that God is a party to the inequality, wars, holocaust, and social ills that are present in society. They add that all such events occurred with God's tacit permission. They contend that God is as much at fault for the desolation, oppression, and murder of humankind as the worst dictators and soldiers. These factors, they explain, demonstrate that what is associated with the so-called evil of the Devil is actually the callousness of God towards His/Her universe. They opine that if God knows of the inhumanity of this world and refuses to do anything about it, how benevolent and loving He/She really is?

Each person has his/her idea and perception of what God and the Devil are. However, most view God and the Devil as separate entities on opposite sides. They view God as the epitome of good while the Devil is considered the antithesis of all that God is. They see God as the true benefactor and symbol of love and enlightenment while they see the Devil as pure desolation and negativity.

However, there are those who believe that both God and the Devil embody both positive and negative characteristics. They contend that no one, including God and the Devil is either all good or all bad- God can be bad as well as good and the Devil can be good as well as bad. There are a few who believe that what is deemed to be the Devil as just the shadow side of God which many people, based upon their social and religious condition, consider to be a taboo subject. How one perceives God and the Devil is based upon his/her individual thoughts and beliefs.