Many on a New Age path do not believe in a duality of good and evil, or that real evil exists. Author Joseph J. Dewey summed this up very well in his article Good & Evil – Light & Dark.
Many believe we should not see good and evil as even existing. They believe that because in the Ultimate Reality all is one and all is peace, we can escape the evil others see and do by concentrating on this Reality, and denying the idea that evil exists. One of the few criticisms I’ve received of the book [The Immortal] is from people telling me I should not be teaching about a Dark Brotherhood because it just adds power to an illusionary belief; that Dark Brothers do not exist unless we conjure them up. The basic belief from this camp is if we do not give any belief to the dark side it will not exist.
… [but] …
Because all form is created from the dualities, and we are the power of Decision to “know good from evil,” to say evil does not exist would mean good does not exist also. Good must co-exist with evil to have meaning, just as light needs darkness to be seen. In the Ultimate Reality neither one truly exists; they’re both illusions. Your body doesn’t really exist either. But in this reality we live in, you’d be crazy to jump over a cliff in the belief that your body can’t be hurt because it doesn’t exist.
To really understand evil we must understand that it does have a purpose. Without evil good could not exist. Without hate love could not exist. We live in a world of duality and whether it is an illusion is simply irrelevant. If it is an illusion it can be very painful if we ignore learning the rules and trying to play by them.
This is probably the best summation of the meaning of good and evil I have ever seen:
The basic difference between good and evil is this:
Good is that which takes us forward on the path of Spiritual evolution toward greater freedom, livingness, intelligence, light and love.
Evil is that which takes us back into the past to lesser freedom, lesser livingness, lesser intelligence, light and love.
Good & Evil – Light & Dark is a good read.
Also see:
Is Evil Real?
Is Evil Necessary?
Good & Evil – Light & Dark (Joseph J. Dewey)