Transformation of the Evil

Abstract

“Evil” appears as a fragment that is no longer available for feedback and has a motivation to destroy. The destructive pattern can affect all levels of complexity, i.e. the social, individual, psychosomatic, and cellular levels. Lack of relationship, isolation, lack of understanding, existential distress, trauma and situations of upheaval make it easier for the “evil” to take root as an attitude. “Evil” can be defined neither by a refusal of contact alone, nor by aggression alone, since both, in the correct dose, contribute important qualities to coping with life. They serve fine regulation and cultivation.

The natural transformation of basic needs is familiar to us from development and education, as well as from our socialization. Socially integrative regulatory systems can be traced back a long way. Spiritual traditions promote the transformation of lower-level desires to the possibility of higher-level relational experiences.

In some traditions, calls for transformation are lived out as normal under fear of punishment. Other cultures rely on the power of unconditional love. In psychotherapy, the second approach has proven especially useful. Whenever something has lost inner contact, its reintegration requires sensitive contact, a loving basic understanding, and the discovery of its meaningful function in the greater whole.