Satan and Man's Potential for Evil

"Satan is cool" — George Carlin

I wonder if George ever heard of the UK band, Satan. :p

No matter.

Since I'm Buddhist, I am open to the LaVey form of satanism, which is a symbolic interpretation.

Anything else which involves unnecessary violence and deluded people totally missing the point is diabolism.

Satan is cool but being a supernatural entity, he can only make suggestions about exploring the dark side of morality, and man's potential for evil.

Oh, and I don't worship satan. As a Buddhist, I view him as the monotheistic version of Mara, who represents human temptation.

As well, the Bahá'í view of satan is closest to my view:

"This lower nature in man is symbolized as Satan — the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside." - Abdu'l-Bahá

In Buddhism, the demon Mara was conquered by the Buddha. Yet Buddhists view demons differently from the way they are in the West. Being nuisances, their purpose is to distract the Buddhist from practising the Dharma, the Buddha's teachings.

Likewise, I view satan as a pest rather than the actual embodiment of evil.

For evil is an impediment to Enlightenment when it leads to disrespect of the Buddha, his teachings, and fellow Buddhists.

Indeed, we all make choices, and the fruit of those choices ripen in our life. That fruit is called "karma". Choices which harm us are deemed "bad", "evil", or "negative", while choices which do not harm us are deemed "good" or "positive"; but choices which have no consequence are deemed "neutral".

To me, "Satan is cool" means "the potential for evil in human beings is fascinating". Yet such fascination would not lead me to worship satan.

Instead, my open-mindedness regarding Satan as the symbol of rebellion is tempered by my adherence to Buddhist ethics.

For I hold no belief of evil as a supernatural entity because it violates the Buddhist principle of non-self (anattā), the illusion of "self".

Belief in satan is to worship him. In not believing in satan, I show respect in Buddha's teaching that all things, including "self", are temporary.

Given that satan was invented by men as symbolic of the potential for evil in people, he has no existence in this world, for such inventions are temporary.

Still, the potential for evil in people is fascinating.