3 - The “evil seed”

For as We consider those honourable and lofty purposes to which this technical skill should be directed, the question presents itself: why do these same arts sometimes become the means, and, as it were, the paths leading to evil? "Whence then hath it cockle?"¹⁸

All evil, of course, which is opposed to right moral principles, cannot have its origin in God, Who is complete and absolute Good; nor does it come from the techniques themselves, which are His precious gifts. It can be only from the fact that man, endowed as he is with free will, can abuse those gifts, namely, by committing and multiplying evil, and thus associating himself with God's enemy, the prince of darkness: "An enemy hath done this"¹⁹ Consequently true human liberty demands that we use, and share with others, all these resources which can contribute to the strengthening and perfecting of our nature.