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I'm sure there was an order to all of this when you read it back to yourself, but it's somewhat incomprehensible now.
The questions you are asking are 1: answered all over this forum, it would be worthwhile to go back and read a little here and there to see what has already been stated about these questions regarding the nature of good and evil. 2: they are questions that have been debated since practically the dawn of, at least, religion and civilized man. Perhaps before that. So, there are no short answers, and unless you're the kind of sheep who will just accept someone else's answer at face value, you will have to find those answers yourself if you are to place any real faith in them. In the end you'll be in the same boat as the rest of us - figuring on a good enough place to start and adjusting your beliefs as you grow and evolve.
You seem drastically proccupied with this particular question, and that may be justified - it is perhaps among the most important questions one can ask, and certainly of the most dire importance in most cases of religious faith. How are we to avoid doing evil if we don't know what is and is not evil, after all?
However, from the highest point of view, that of the PanCosmic Eternal Origin, be that God in the Christian Sense, Brahma from whom all things arise, Mithra of the persians, whoever you want to be in charge - there is no good or evil. There is only the Tao; the way, the will of the natural and divine world. Everything goes according to plan, and there can be no deviation from that plan. That this plan includes free will is another world shattering question that can never be answered - there is no way to prove free will, or to disprove it. Most enlightened masters would probably say something enigmatic - "Of course there is free will, we are all compelled to utilize it all of the time." Or, "Of course there is no free will, but you are free to believe in it if you so choose." I sure wish we had one on hand here. Although, I suppose maybe we do and don't know it.
Personally, I believe that 'white' magic is any magic based in the intention to grow and evolve towards a more spiritual state/plane of existence, while black magic is based in the intention to 'secure' some material end - be that money, power, revenge, physical comfort, etc. I do not distinguish one as being good or evil, however, as these words carry inevitable and unavoidable philosophical baggage. I try to think in terms of 'towards divinity' and 'towards materiality' - with the understanding that kether is in malkhut is in kether. All roads lead to rome, as it were.
As for the apocalypse... the earth itself, as a planet, materially, will be here for billions of years yet. Perhaps if the moon crashed, or the sun expanded as it one day most likely will, or a sufficiently massive asteroid were to crash into it that may not be the case, but regardless, it will likely outlive the human race, unless we get off our collective bums to recognize the work we can accomplish working together.
Mostly I think the apocolypse is just a projection of mankind's fear of death onto all of humankind - that one day there will be a 'great death'. Cultures and especially religions vary on the reasons for creating an apocalypse myth (theory?). The Christian apocalypse is intended to engender fear in the congregations in order to enforce church authority and control over the lives of the masses. "In the end, everything will die, but you the righteous few will be spared." Classic cult of personality tactic. Apparently the difference between a cult and a religion is basically a numbers game.
Other apocalypse myths are more open ended, in terms of the 'end of an age' kind of interpretations. Some are all about total annihilation, some go out with a bang, others with a big freeze. Varies largely, I would imagine, based on the origin of the cultures from whence such a myth proceeds - many are very similar to their beginnings; revelations is largely about persecution, which is where Christianity got its start back in the day.
But, until it gets here, there can be no sure answer. Asking for the 'truth' is like asking for the definition of God. Whatever you come up with will be flawed on the basis that there can be no comparison for confirmation. It's a matter of faith - as far as reason is concerned, is mostly just a numbers game. If we successfully colonize other worlds, the likelihood of an apocalypse decreases significantly. Crammed together in one spot like this, well, it is still not entirely immanent, but certainly more likely.
As to british royalty, I cannot bring myself to care even a little bit. They are just people, subject to the same physics, the same biological mechanics, and the same psychoses as the rest of us. Humans idolize famous people, at least the masses do, and expect extraordinary things from them. When they meet those expectations, they are gods or at least angels, when they fall short of them they are devils or demons. Hitler is infamous because he instigated so much pain and suffering - if he hadn't been famous in germany at the time, he would have just been the strange, possibly cruel and narrow minded neighbor of any other person, and the world would not have batted an eyelash at his 'small' acts of 'evil'. You can be just as 'evil' but not famous, and you are not a demon, just a little disturbed or even angry. If jesus never got famous, we never would have heard of him today, and someone back then would have simply remarked, "Well he was a very kind person, it's a shame the romans crucified him. One day, we should really do something about them." If he had been crucified, as I'm sure his fame has something to do with it.
There will not be a war of black and white magicians. That's just ridiculous, isn't it? Then again, what is a magician, hmm?
If there was no conflict, no impending disaster, no villain to despise or love despite, what would we rise above? How would we test our faith, or courage, or conviction? Where would we be without a world in turmoil? What would we fix, and how would we learn to fix it? During adolescence, the human brain undergoes a transformation involving massive hormonal tides which result in extremes of emotional experiences among other things, which throw the individual into turmoil, and make everything a life or death situation upon which the rest of their life hangs in the balance. Those who weather these changes and maintain balance grow up to be healthy individuals capable of coping with life. Those who sink into depression, lash out at others in anger, and in many other ways lose that balance and give in to those emotional extremes in force, often retain the same patterns in adulthood - excess anger, sadness, etc. Those who suppress all emotional changes, who disassociate entirely, due to internal or external pressures, grow up to be ticking time bombs incapable of real emotion. On average, of course, there are exceptions to any rule.
How is the entire human race different than one human being? As above, so below? One part reflects the whole? Kether in malkhut, in kether in malkhut.... ad infinitum. God in man. God as Man. Man as God.
If you want these answers, there's only one place to look, and one thing to compare to. Give it some thought.
peace
V
This post has been edited by Vagrant Dreamer: Dec 1 2008, 04:04 AM