Nature abounds in kindness. A variety of food can sustain and please
us. The riches of nature, abundance and diversity of vegetables, fruit and
crops that nourish man are innumerable. Sun, water and air warm and refresh our
organism. The beauty of nature, singing of birds, fragrance
of flowers make man joyful. This is why a believer senses the caring hand of
the Maker in every blade of grass.
However, despite the plenitude of
physical goods, man cannot avoid suffering. Diseases and misfortunes cast a
shadow on our life daily. Death is the unavoidable end of a physical life. Sometimes
the inevitability of physical suffering pushes man to the thought that physical
evil has autonomous substance. Some believe that nature is a product of two
opposed elements, good and evil (the two deities in Persian dualism), or that
matter bears evil in itself (Buddhism, Gnostic and modern theosophist teachings).
Contemplating the problem of good and
evil, man has always endeavored to understand whether these are absolute or
relative notions. Can the evaluation of good and evil differ depending on the
circumstances and the level of human development, or good and evil are such in
substance? We will see that the notion of physical evil (suffering) is relative
because, when viewed from the standpoint of man’s moral development, it can
result in good. On the contrary, moral evil, i.e. absolute evil, can only
result in evil.