Idea to be tested:

Light and darkness, good and evil, are, according to Toward the Light, opposites, primal forces that may be reflected in many ways and which represent many different things and phenomena, for instance love and hatred.

As I have written on several previous occasions, this primal force always appears as part of darkness, evil, through a ‘light’ and a pure black aspect; that which I have previously called the double aspect of darkness or evil. 

Now – the idea to be tested: If evil always appears in a double version, as ‘light’ and pure black, then this double aspect, these poles (cf. Toward the Light), involves a tension between the two aspects or poles, a tension which man instinctively seeks to equalise, release, since it causes unrest and suffering. Man seeks to free himself from the unrest and tension that haunts his spirit, consciousness or body, and this can be done in two ways (cf. pp 173-174 of Toward the Light on a depolarisation of spiritual darkness):

1.    Either by an act of darkness, whereby the grain of darkness that affects man (by way of polar tension) is depolarised, which may feel like a momentary relief, which is, however, not lasting, as the same darkness (or another kind of darkness) may immediately cause the individual to perform the same or a similar act. This option is therefore – of course – not preferable as it is not constructive.

2.    By the individual’s sorrow and remorse over the darkness that has brought about an evil thought or action in him. This is how light relates to and deals with evil, and consequently, this way is preferred. By the individual’s sorrow and remorse, it thus triumphs over the influence of evil. (A third way to depolarise spiritual darkness exists, but is known only to God).

What is decisive in this connection is the (polar) tension between the two aspects or poles of darkness, a tension which may easily tempt a person to carry out acts of darkness, for example murder, in order to free himself from the inner tension or suffering resulting from darkness at all times.

It is also crucial to point out that the ‘solution’ of darkness to the problem is illusory; for instance, a murderer may at the time of the murder feel an immediate relief from the pressure that has haunted him, but in the next moment or shortly after, the darkness in him (or her) will, as a consequence of the act, ‘freeze’ and make the tension and suffering even worse as he/she may then be affected by a similar darkness as well as have on his conscience the dark act; the deed of darkness, the murder, has then settled as a painful complex of darkness in the murderer’s spirit and body, and he will have no peace or rest.

Other examples of the polar tensions of darkness that may lead us to perform dark acts are the bipolar psychiatric patient’s swings between mania (the ‘light’ aspect or pole of darkness) and depression (the purely black aspect of darkness); a polar tension which the patient may seek to rid himself of through destructive actions.

In addition, we may consider the premeditated suicide, where suffering makes a person see self-chosen death as something ‘good’, perhaps as something that brings ‘peace’ for the burdensome suffering; however, according to Toward the Light, suicide does not bring peace; it brings even more and deeper suffering than that from which one seeks to escape.

We may also look at a person who, on the one hand, suffers from inferiority complexes (the black aspect) and, on the other hand, the phenomenological twin, megalomania (the light aspect). This polar tension may similarly encourage destructive actions.

What is new to this approach is the polar tension between the two aspects of darkness, which may lead man to perform destructive actions in order to free himself from the tension and suffering by enticing him, illusorily, through the ‘light’ side of evil with relief from the pressure of darkness as well as pointing out the constructive way that light deals with the polar tension, suffering and turmoil described in Toward the Light, that is the individual‘s sorrow and remorse and perhaps a plea for forgiveness if the dark thought has been brought to life through action.

The polar tension can be perceived as the engine of darkness, of evil, and it can be observed in many places and in many areas, for example also the political area:

When there is a build-up to war between two countries, when rhetoric via polarisation begins to create conflict, and when later and, at worst, actual acts of war become a reality, then it is an expression of the two poles of darkness, where the ‘light’ aspect or pole of darkness appears as something ‘good’ or desirable, for example “to clean the air”, and where the reality of war itself is the purely black side of darkness.

We may also see, for example, the polar tension, the engine of evil, in the mutual dehumanisation, violence and harassment where the frontlines are drawn up through polarisation between Danish Muslims and other Danes. This phenomenon can also be observed in other Western societies.

The area is vast and comprehensive and provides a subject for many future studies and analyses.