This has really only become a question in modern times. A few hundred years ago there was no question in people's minds that evil was a real thing. Today we realize that what was sometimes taken for evil might have been a form of mental illness. I am not questioning the fact that some people have done terrible things, we all know that they have. The question I am really asking is, does the devil or a demon enter into the picture? If we take an infamous person from the pages of history, who did hideous things to his or her fellow human beings, were they driven by some paranormal force that we are yet to understand?

Many people say that Hitler was not only bad, but that he was the very incarnation of evil. If this is true than we would be talking about a person who's body was taken over by some sort of entity. I wonder how many of us out there think that Hitler was really the devil? The answer might be surprising in that there may be more people who think this than we suspect. One clue that stands out is the fact that Hitler and some of his minions believed in the paranormal and acquired items that they thought might possess some sort of power, such as the spear, that they thought, pierced the side of Jesus. It is said that strange ceremonies went on at the home of Himmler, the head of the SS. Another question that some people have is why was a skull really the symbol of the SS? Did it have something to do with Hell? Heinrich Himmler and Rudolph Hess were said to be the most interested in the paranormal. While they tried to get Hitler more interested in it, he didn't seem to be as enthusiastic as they were. Hitler had been blinded in a gas attack in World War I and had regained his sight. At that time he claimed to have had some sort of religious experience. Was this good or evil that he had experienced? It might be hard to discern between the two in a given circumstance. What is even more amazing is how Hitler surrounded himself with people that were possibly even more sinister than himself, or at least as sinister, if that was possible.

In the old days evil was an accepted thing. In some time periods people that were suspected of being evil were killed or tested by bizarre methods that resulted in death for the innocent anyway. A good example of this is the New England test for a witch. You were tied to a chair and thrown into a deep pond. If you floated you were a witch, if you drowned you were innocent. Great test wasn't it? Before that, you were usually just burned at the stake if you were suspected of being evil.

Do evil spirits walk among us? This question has been asked since the beginning of time. There are some instances that would seem to indicate that the answer might be yes. The Catholic Church performs rights in extreme cases called exorcisms. These exorcisms are meant to drive evil spirits out of human bodies. All those that believe in Christ and the new testament, know that there is a passage that talks about evil spirits being driven out of bodies by Jesus. This would indicate to all Christians that evil does indeed exist. Not everyone is a Christian however and not everyone believes this to be true. The most famous exorcism took place in 1949. The boy was able to propel objects through the air that were aimed at the priests performing the exorcism. Bloody scratches appeared all over the boy's body and these were not scratches of his doing. He had been to different doctors, physiatrist and clergy but none could help until he was referred to the Jesuits for help. They in turn referred him to a priest who aborted the exorcism after the boy was able to get a mattress spring and cut him. The next priest was Father Bowdem who performed an exorcism on the boy and watched the words Hell and Christ form in blood on the boy's body during the right. The demon was driven out by easter. Father Bowdem had assistants, when he performed the exorcism, and one kept a diary so that all would know what they went through.

Today evil might be a little more hard to spot. Evil might have a smile and tell us that it is working for our benefit. We have to look deeper into the face of evil and see what evil's deeds really are. Are the deeds really what we are told? Do they really accomplish the tasks that we are all led to believe? Do these deed hurt people? These are all questions that must be answered. If we are told by some politician that a bill that is being passed is for our benefit and it turns out that it hurts most of us or does nothing at all for us but helps some company or individual, is this a form of evil? If an employer cuts the pay of the workers saying that the company can't afford to stay in business unless it knocks off $5.00 per hour from all the employees pay and then he gives himself a million dollar raise, is this evil? What if companies band together to drive the prices of items we need to live through the ceiling, would you call this evil? Maybe evil is becoming much more subtle than in the past. What becomes a life and death situation for some of us, is a economic opportunity for others. Maybe evil is dividing us.

Has our perception of good and evil changed? In simpler times, murder and stealing were considered wrong by most people. Today there are a lot of other things you can do that will hurt your fellow man. An example of something that seems a lot more benign would be investing in the stock of a company that is known to use child labor in the third world. This is sort of evil by proxy. Another thing that is being done today is the heavy investing in petroleum stocks and futures. All this investing is forcing the price up of a commodity that many people in this country need to live, but are having a hard time affording. A secondary effect is that these companies are flush with cash and their heavy lobbying efforts stop us from developing alternate means of power. Look at Sweden for example. They are pursuing their plan to be off of all peritoneum energy sources by 2020. They claim that they will be using biomass and geothermal power for heat by then. What are our plans, do we even have any?

I think that evil is not only killing and torturing, but also not caring and maybe even enjoying the suffering of others. Evil is putting your finances ahead of the needs of your fellow citizens and the desire to do anything to achieve the power you crave. This may go along with a very low opinion of those who are not in your financial class.

Does evil exist? I think that it does and that it is in many forms and we are surrounded by it and may not even realize the fact.