I have often thought that the great minds and great religions of a people reveal, in high relief, the basic problems with their society. China is rife with corruption and favoritism. Confucius' writings on honesty and probity of government officials and concern for the larger picture and for the sons' future world certainly fit with my theory.

What is the greatest evil in a people gives rise to its finest philosophy and religious texts. Thus a religion that recommended an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth gave birth to a religion that said do good to those who do evil to you. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Another religion, rising from the roots of social inequity, says that all men have the seed of the divine in them and that as they are born again and again in the Wheel of Life, learn lessons that bring them to self realization of that divinity.

Perhaps the reason for evil is to give the impetus for good to grow, lest we sit back, complacent.