Evil

Lack of influence of evil spirits[edit]

Life after death/soul#Lack_of_influence_of_evil_souls

Evil Exists[edit]

"We must never take one sentence in the Teachings and isolate it from the rest: it does not mean we must not love, but we must reach a spiritual plane where God comes first and great human passions are unable to turn us away from Him. All the time we see people who either through the force of hate or the passionate attachment they have to another person, sacrifice principle or bar themselves from the Path of God.

"We know absence of light is darkness, but no one would assert darkness was not a fact. It exists even though it is only the absence of something else. So evil exists too, and we cannot close our eyes to it, even though it is a negative existence. We must seek to supplant it by good, and if we see an evil person is not influenceable by us, then we should shun his company for it is unhealthy."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, October 4, 1950: Spiritualism, Psychic Phenomena and Related Subjects, a compilation from the Universal House of Justice, February 14, 1973 to National Spiritual Assemblies, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1734)

Evil influences both in this world and the next but there are no evil spirits[edit]

"In regard to your question concerning evil spirits and their influence upon souls, Shoghi Effendi wishes me to inform you that what is generally called evil spirit is a purely imaginary creation and has no reality whatever. But as to evil, there is no doubt that it exerts a very strong influence both in this world and in the next. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the 'Some Answered Questions' gives us a thorough and true analysis of the problem of evil. You should preferably refer to that book for further explanation on that point."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, November 1, 1934, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1772)

Source of Evil Thoughts[edit]

"They come from other minds: they are reflected. One should not become a mirror for them—to reflect them, neither should one try to control them for this is impossible: it only aggravates the difficulty, causing more to appear.

"One should constantly turn the mirror of his heart squarely toward God so that the Light of the Sun of Truth may be reflected there.

"This is the only cure for attacks of evil thoughts. The face of the mirror should be turned toward God and the back of the mirror toward the evil thoughts."

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Daily Lessons Received at Akka, p. 35, 1979 ed., in Lights of Guidance, no. 1730)

Bahá’ís Recognize that Evil is Negative and Can Take Control of Our Life But we Have the Power to Become Free of Such Forces[edit]

"Bahá’ís recognize that evil is negative and has no existence in its own right, but that does not mean that there is no power in evil. Do not Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá warn us repeatedly of the spiritual infection of Covenant-breaking? In one of His Tablets, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:

'If you seek immunity from the sway of the forces of the contingent world, hang the 'Most Great Name' in your dwelling, wear the ring of the 'Most Great Name' on your finger, place the picture of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in your home and always recite the prayers that I have written. Then you will behold the marvellous effect they produce. Those so-called forces will prove but illusions and will be wiped out and exterminated.'

"In a letter dated 26th November 1939 written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer we find the following:

'Evil forces do take control of our life, but it is within our power to free ourselves from falling under their subjection.'

"There are, therefore, specific actions that Bahá’ís can take when confronted with the kind of situation of which you write, but the principal way in which they can overcome them is to deepen themselves in the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh so that they will come to recognize the lack of any true reality to such negative forces."

(From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, August 30, 1984, in Lights of Guidance, no. 1769)

To-dos for this page[edit]

Add re: relative non-existence of evil, etc.
Use quotes from https://bahai-library.com/compilation_traditional_african_culture (see "evil" and "voodoo")