The Community Rule of the Dead Sea Scrolls says the following:
"From the God of Knowledge comes all that is and shall be. Before ever they existed He established their whole design, and when, as ordained for them, they come into being, it is in accord with His glorious design that they accomplish their task without change. The laws of all things are in His hand and He provides them with all their needs.
"He has created man to govern the world, and has appointed for him two spirits in which to talk until the time of His visitation: the spirits of truth and injustice. Those born of truth spring from a fountain of light, but those born of injustice spring from a source of darkness. All the children of righteousness are ruled by the Prince of Light and walk in the ways of light, but all the children of injustice are ruled by the Angel of Darkness and walk in the ways of darkness.
"The Angel of Darkness leads all the children of righteousness astray, and until his end, all their sin, iniquities, wickedness, and all their unlawful deeds are caused by his dominion in accordance with the mysteries of God. Every one of their chastisements, and every one of the seasons of their distress, shall be brought about by the rule of his persecution; for all his allotted spirits seek the overthrow of the sons of light.
"But the God of Israel and His Angel of Truth will succour all the sons of light. For it is He who created the spirits of Light and Darkness and founded every action upon them and established every deed (upon) their (ways). And He loves the one everlastingly and delights in its work for ever; but the counsel of the other He loathes and forever hates its ways.
"These are the ways in the world for the enlightenment of the heart of man (contrary to what the movers and shakers during the 18th Century Age of Enlightenment in Europe were saying), and that all the paths of true righteousness may be made straight before him, and that the fear of the laws of God may be instilled in his heart; a spirit of humility, patience, abundant charity, unending goodness, understanding, and intelligence; (a spirit of) mighty wisdom which trusts in all the deeds of God and leans on His great loving-kindness; a spirit of discernment in every purpose, of zeal for just laws, of holy intent with steadfastness of heart, of great charity towards all
the sons of truth, of admirable purity which detests all unclean idols, of humble conduct sprung from an understanding of all things, and of faithful concealment of the mysteries of truth. These are the counsels of the spirit to the sons of truth in this world.
"And as for the visitation of all who walk in this spirit, it shall be healing, great peace in a long life, and fruitfulness, together with every everlasting blessing and eternal joy in life without end, a crown of glory and a garment of majesty in unending light.
"But the ways of the spirit of falsehood are these: greed, and slackness in the search for righteousness, wickedness and lies, haughtiness and pride, falseness and deceit, cruelty and abundant evil, ill-temper and much folly and brazen insolence, abominable deeds (committed) in a spirit of lust, and ways of lewdness in the service of uncleanness, a blaspheming tongue, blindness of eye and dullness of ear, stiffness of neck and heaviness of heart, so that man walks in all the ways of darkness and guile.
"And the visitation of all who walk in this spirit shall be a multitude of plagues by the hand of all the destroying angels, everlasting damnation by the avenging wrath of the fury of God, eternal torment and endless disgrace together with shameful extinction
in the fire of the dark regions. The times of all their generations shall be spent in sorrowful mourning and in bitter misery and in calamities of darkness until they are destroyed without remnant or survivor.
"The nature of all the children of men is ruled by these (two spirits), and during their life all the hosts of men have a portion of their divisions and walk in (both) their ways. And the whole reward for their deeds shall be, for everlasting ages, according to whether each man's portions in their two divisions is great or small. For God has established the spirits in equal measure until the final age, and has set everlasting hatred between their divisions. Truth abhors the works of injustice, and injustice hates all the ways of truth. And their struggle is so fierce in all their arguments for they do not walk together.
"But in the mysteries of His understanding, and in His glorious wisdom, God has ordained an end for injustice, and at the time of the visitation He will destroy it for ever. Then truth, which has wallowed in the ways of wickedness during the dominion of injustice until the appointed time of judgement, shall arise in the world
for ever. God will then purify every deed of man with His truth; He will refine for Himself the human frame by rooting out all spirit of injustice from the bounds of his flesh. He will cleanse him of all wicked deeds with the spirit of holiness; like purifying waters He will shed upon him the spirit of truth (to cleanse him) of all abomination and injustice. And he shall be plunged into the spirit of
purification that he may instruct the upright in the knowledge of the Most High and teach the wisdom of the sons of heaven to the perfect of way. For God has chosen then for an everlasting covenant, and all the glory of Adam shall be theirs. There shall be no more lies and all the works of injustice shall be put to shame.
"Until now the spirits of truth and injustice struggle in the hearts of men and they walk in both wisdom and folly. According to his portion of truth so does a man hate injustice, and according to his inheritance in the realm of injustice so is he wicked and so hates the truth. For God has established the two spirits in equal measure until the determined end, and until the Renewal, and He knows the reward of their deeds from all eternity. He has allotted them to the children of men that they may know good (and evil, and) that the destiny of all the living may be according to the spirit within (them at the time) of the visitation."
I therefore agree with one statement made by Pangloss, one of the characters in Voltaire's "Candide," albeit to a point, when he says, "It is clear...that things cannot be otherwise than they are, for since everything is made to serve an end, everything necessarily serves the next end." However, I would add that if God does exist, then nothing happens without His permission, and that everything we go through in this life does not go unnoticed. I will also venture to agree with that God created both good and evil, because it is those two opposing forces that hold our three-dimensional universe together, and will continue to hold our lives in balance until the Second Coming.
This argument, however, does not mean that I condone misuse and abuse in order to keep the balance. I continue to be just as frustrated as the next person over the injustices of our world. The only thing that keeps me from going up in a puff of smoke altogether is that a large part of me knows that no matter what I do, I can never fully eradicate all evil from the world. I am only a human, although some say I otherwise, both to my credit and discredit. Evil existed before me, and it will exist after me, and because of that, there has to be a reason. This line of thought is not an excuse to give up, however. While we speak, the world is readying for Armageddon, with each sect of society believing that they are the Chosen Ones. Ultimately, we will find out whether it will be God who decides who survives to inherit the next world, or natural selection (as Darwin believed at one time), which will do the job of weeding out the wheat from the chaff for us. Survival of the fittest has always proved itself to be true regardless of what a person believes, creationist or evolutionist. Therefore, this sibling rivalry between "God's children," for those who believe in God, and racial cleansing for those who do not, has existed throughout the ages, with everyone fighting for the best seat in the house. This is not perfection--this is sin.
If we are looking for a reason why things happen, then the concept of optimism as portrayed in "Candide," within rational limits, can be a life saver. Take to the extreme, optimism and pessimism produce the same result: inaction. My personal philosophy lies somewhere in between the these two poles. In order for our lives to become manageable, we must consciously keep the pendulum in the middle, not swinging too far to the left nor the right. As far as I have been able to determine, this is what human perfection means at this point in time.
I have been through a lot in my life, just as everyone has, and I survived in a lot of different ways depending upon the situation, just like anyone would. The difference for me was not to become bitter. The old woman in "Candide" sums up my point by saying that optimism in its simplicity, within reason, is a very effective coping mechanism when all else fails. We may not be able to see the reasons for everything all the time, and we can have terrible things happen to us and still joke about them. We still have to get on with the business of living, and this is what true optimism means to me: "...I grew old in misery and shame, having only half a backside and remembering always that I was the daughter of a Pope; a hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts; is anything more stupid than choosing to carry a burden that really one wants to cast upon the ground? to hold existence and horror and yet cling to it? to fondle the serpent which devours us till it has eaten out our heart?" The old woman then goes on to tell Candide and Cunegonde, Candide's one true love, how the doctor who treated her after she had been cannabalized (thus losing half of her derriere) helped her to cope. He told her that what had happened to her was the result of the nature of war, no more, no less. Again, it was this simplicity that enabled the old woman to survive, which was the priority. Put simply, hang tough and keep the faith.
One important fact to always bear in mind that keeps things in balance: No one really know anything for sure. At this moment in history, everyone I know is burned out by the endless possibilities and infinite interpretations that exist in this world, and some of us are just too exhausted, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, to care. This is when we find solace in "menial" tasks that goes beyond the Christian work ethic and the saying that idle hands are the Devil's work. There is something incredibly comforting and stabilizing in the performance of everyday work.
This is a time for spiritual healing as we get ready for the Second Coming, and taking care of our own little corner of the world while we reach out as far as we can to help one another to heal as well. Keeping things in perspective is the first step to achieving sinless perfection, and to take a step back, take some deep breaths, and resist all temptation to hysteria about Armageddon. Martin, another character in 'Candide' said it best: "Let's work without speculating; it's the only way of rendering life bearable." Candide, tired of worrying about things beyond his control, is finally able to stand up to Pangloss' litany about this being the best of all possible worlds made by the best of all possible Gods (perfection), "That is very well put, but we must first cultivate our garden." With that ending, I think Voltaire was more of an optimist than he would have us believe.
However, there is still one question that was posed to me recently that I have been unable to answer: if by definition, God is perfect, then what does He want with us?