The Devil: Is he all bad?

Alan Watts has remarked that in some ways, Satan is the most significant character in Christianity (Myth and Ritual in Christinaity). Nowadays, he has mainly descended to become a comic buffoon, primarily concerned with crude and mindless violence and the inflicting of pain. Though perhaps that describes, in outcome at least, what we, via our elites have become.

 

Still, Satan, Lucifer, the devil has a much more interesting history and role, if one is prepared to dig a little. Christianity inherits much of its scriptures from Judaism, and thus it inherits the Jewish fall. However, it may feel to Jews, I think to Christians, the fall of Adam and Eve seems slightly odd. The punishment of the expulsion from Paradise for eating an apple from a tree that God has planted in his garden (why plant it, if it’s so bad!?), when tempted by a particularly sneaky creature which God has also created, seems incredibly harsh.

 

One can rationalize the story as, not God punishing humanity for disobeying him, but the expulsion from Eden being simply the natural consequence of learning of good and evil. The story is an allegory for what it means to be human. One imagines that animals and human babies don’t distinguish themselves from their environment. The world happens, and part of that happening is what they do, but they don’t know it is them doing it. Becoming human is learning to distinguish yourself from your environment – those clouds over there moving is nothing to do with me; this arm reaching up for an apple is me. This basic polarity between me and not-me gets extended and refined, and itself differentiated until we are who we are. Allegorically, this polarity might be represented by male-female, or even better knowledge of good and evil. The world is not all of a piece, but some bits are good (especially me) and some bits are evil (especially bits which want to hurt or kill me).

 

Thus, allegorically, to be human is to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And eating of it necessarily means death, because life and death are one of the primordial polarities and a very strong basis for good and evil. If you can distinguish yourself from the universe, then there is a ‘you’, and since nothing lasts for ever, to distinguish is to die.

 

So, the tale can be made to make sense, but as a tale, it seems a bit lame. God sets up a wonderful garden, in which all wants and needs are catered for. But for some reason, God has planted a poisonous tree amongst all the rest, and just to make sure, he points out that the delicious looking fruits are actually evil (though Adam and Eve don’t understand that yet) and will kill them (they don’t understand that concept either). And, just to make doubly sure, God creates a sly serpent and pops that into the garden too. The phrase “I could have written the script” immediately comes to mind. Having neatly baited the trap, the innocent humans blunder into it and God responds with an entirely disproportionate punishment.

 

However this may seem to Judaism, to Christians, this seems a bit unfair. Punishment is okay if one has knowingly done something wrong, but the ultimate sanction for being placed in a situation where you can simply roll like a ball down a slope does not seem just. And not only the ultimate sanction for Adam and Eve, but for all humanity…that’s not something which an individualistic Westerner can accept.

 

Christianity, of course, has its own Fall, which is very much more to its liking. Lucifer was, is, the greatest of God’s creation – the most beautiful, the most intelligent, the best. And, that is his problem, with his mighty intellect, he foresees something which is wrong. He foresees that God will do something which is wrong. What a bind that puts him in. God, the creator and sustainer of everything, the very being of Lucifer’s being, will do something that is wrong. Lucifer can clearly foresee this, what should he do? Most people know that he should do all that he can to stop it, even though this means pitting himself against his boss, and not just any boss, but the boss of everything. Once rebellion is made, there is nowhere to hide, because God is everywhere. Most people, despite knowing what they ought to do, would, of course, do nothing and acquiesce in whatever crime was being planned.

 

But not Lucifer. He stands up for what he believes is right and he is defeated and exiled. It is never really clear what Lucifer thought was wrong. It is said that Lucifer objected to the elevation of coarse, smelly humanity to a position above his own – that he should bow down to Adam who was given dominion over the earth, or to Mary designated as Mother of God, or even to the human form of the son of God.

 

There is something in this, of course. A basic notion of fairness, of just desserts, says that Lucifer, as the greatest being of creation should have that position recognized. But I think that there must be something more to the story to make sense. Rank and precedence is really rather childish as an ultimate principle. It’s the product of a courtly mindset (as is much of the symbolism for the Christian God), and though no doubt it it’s a delightful game if you’re in that environment, it shouldn’t really be the fundamental issue of the universe, and one would hope that the most wonderful creature in all creation was above such silly games

 

Ivan Karamazov gives us a more compelling reason for Lucifer’s rebellion. The Grand Inquisitor confidently asserts that the Church now works for Satan. He also asserts that the Church does so out of love for the people. Because, whatever God may say, the situation he has created does not look like love. It looks like love for the few and nothing for the many. One can imagine that as Lucifer gazed upon the divine plan, he was horrified to see that this is what was to pass. That, as the Grand Inquisitor shows, is something noble enough to justify rebellion.

 

This seems far more reasonable as a cause of the fall. Rather than the greatest creature in all creation worrying over a courtly snub, he is motivated by good, by love of humanity. The only question then, is the one that Ivan raises, how can a good God seemingly only save a very few?