Evil And Suffering In Different Cultures

Envy, agony, grief, gluttony, greed, and lust are just a few examples of evil and suffering caused and experienced by humans. Most cultures have unique notions that explain why suffering and evil are justified. In the Greek, Maori, and Norse cultures these concepts are called reincarnation, utu, and destiny. The Greeks believed that between lives, humans do penance for their earthly sins determining their subsequent life, while the Norse culture says that divine creatures called Norns carved everyone’s fate into a tree. In the Maori culture, the concept of utu is meant to be the power that balances out evil and good. In most creation stories, when the earth is created there is no evil, and everything is unburdened by the evils that now plagues

Several religions and cultures around the world have some variation of the concept of balance like yin and yang. Each of these cultures believes that balance is what allows one to live a stable life. In Maori culture, this concept is called utu. The Maori Dictionary defines utu as restoring balance, which includes reciprocation of kind deeds as well as revenge. Māori culture is strongly driven by this concept and the idea that for the world to stay stable, there must be actions to balance out good and evil. In the Māori creation story, all but one of Heaven and Earth’s children became so enthralled with what light was like that they agreed to a plan to separate their parents, thrusting their father away. The one son who remained loyal believed that because his brothers had sinned, he was obligated to equate the transgression. The disgraced brothers had spent so long in darkness that the temptation of light was so strong that they succumbed to curiosity. To punish his brothers the last loyal son sent

They all for several centuries were devout to their gods because they believed that their gods in some manner controlled the past, present, and future. Greeks believed that gods, especially Zeus, were omnipotent when in reality they were described as having many personified qualities, and they could not control everything, including the other gods and fate (Matlock). Because of this impediment, Zeus could often be found tempting humans into doing his bidding. In the Greek creation myth Epimetheus, a titan who had pledged his loyalty to the Olympians was brought a human named Pandora, to marry. Even after Epimetheus was warned of Zeus’s trickery, he allowed his wife to accept a box as a present from Zeus. Pandora was told never to open it, but like many others after her, the temptation was too much to bare. An epic poem titled Dionysiaca, proclaims "[Zeus] had no thought of fighting against the threads of Fate", but he instead manipulated situations to his whim so that he might get the result he desired. Pandora became so tempted by the idea of what the box might hold, that her temptation got the best of her and she could no longer resist, opening the box and releasing evil into the world. As the lid was shut the last thing remaining inside of the box was hope. “Ever since, humans have been able to hold onto this hope to survive the