We humans are not inherently evil. Albeit, somewhat self obsessed and selfish. But not to the point where want to own and control the world? Or kill just for pleasure.

Yet we confront examples of such everyday, and worse. Or if you will, murdered innocence. Hate is learned and irrational and indeed self harming.

I had a stroke fairly recently, and opened death's door and saw what I can only describe as hell, and or our probable future.

A dog eat dog future where the only thing that matters is wealth and its acquisition? Where our planet is reduced to the dark side of the moon, as any and all resources are consumed harvested and sold.

The moral compass wrecked by mad desire. And all of it presided over by an entity so evil as to both beggar belief and instantly terrify simultaneously.

One explanation is a damaged brain hallucinating and it could have been?

But if you believe that, then you have to hold open in your mind the possibility of actual witnessed events taking place at another level of reality?

Yes Peter, there is evil abroad seeking to harvest souls, which it consumes to retain immortality, at least that was my impression before I was rescued by a angel.

This evil entity is at work in the world; otherwise some of the things we observe would just not be possible, like ISIS and intense evil committed in the name of God or even pedophilia in our so called religious establishments.

Where we allow members of the community of man to be crucified for daring to be born different!

And had J. C. walked among us today, this gentle kind galilean, who preferred the company of men, would in all likelihood been judged as daring to be born different and given the same inherently evil judgemental treatment?

If we all of us just judged the man in the mirror and then went to work on him as our only real responsibility; to be the best we can be, the whole world would come right tomorrow!
Rhrosty.

This essay describes what the Western way (or mind) in both its religious & secular forms is really all about.
http://www.beezone.com/AdiDa/Aletheon/ontranscendingtheinsubordinatemind.html

Meanwhile the set of references featured on this site provide a very sobering assessment of the state of the humanly created world-mummery in the "21st century". Pointing out that, in one way or another, the much lauded old ways lamented by Sells have inevitably created the situation thus described.
http://www.beezone.com/news.html
This essay does the same:
http://spiralledlight.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/4068

Indeed/not Peter Sellick. You are a sage, seer and prophet, like me.

Ours is a wisdom profound, Buttercup.

'We humans are not inherently evil' You mean its taken you this long to find out Rhrosty. That is why the fools with psychology degrees (many very perverted) sowed the seeds for the outlawinfg of any reasonable discipline to be emparted to children. We now have many schools (mainly State) where young kids belt teachers, take drugs and bully only to have the teachers sacked. Rebellion, greed, lust and the resultant anger is very much part of humanity. Nowhere is it more expressed than in the feminist movement and other perverted displays of humanity.

Stranded in the present? Westerners?

The most prominent feature of the Western lifestyle is the non-acceptance of the present, always seeking or hoping for a "better" future.

Whether one actively seeks or passively hopes for a future is relatively a minor difference: both are cases of addiction to future whilst the perfection of God's presence in this very moment is denied and forever postponed.

You correctly identified, Peter, that the source of this problem is the tragic Judeo/Christian idea as if time is linear and history has a direction.

Peter thankyou for this article ; I found reading it very interesting. I agree that we need to aim for more in our society, and in our world - that the perspective whereby the answer to every malady is just more consumption. I think of myself as a Christian very strongly influenced by Marxism. I hold on to the existential hope associated with that Christian faith. But I have hope for a better world as well. A world which overcomes oppression, falsehood, alienation... A world of plenty - where that plenty frees human beings to develop their talents and interests in every direction. But still holding on to the notion that "fulfilment in the world alone is not enough."

Rhrosty: It's against my self-interest to say this I guess, but I am sorry to hear you have suffered much. There are horrific things in this world ; beyond many peoples' willingness to even consider. But things are more complex than a simple binary. There are many types of evil. Trust in God ; but perhaps even God will not protect you from everything. So if it makes sense, walk as you think God would want you to walk. There is a reason for the idea of Christ as Shepherd.