The Problem Of Evil Is The Problem Of Thought

Tuesday, 12 May 2026, 11:00 am
Opinion: Martin LeFevre - Meditations

Flocks of sparrows land in groups of 1o or 15 in the shallows across the stream. One group flies down from the branches overhanging the creek as another flies up, in a perfectly choreographed flurry of life.

As soon as this aerial dance ends, a mallard couple casually drifts down on the current. They are the picture of ease, and languidly settle into the shallows for some preening and a nap.

Their connubial bliss is rudely interrupted when three males make their way upstream near the edge of the stream. Stealthily paddling against the current or walking in their ungainly way in the shallow water, they head straight for the female across from where I sit.

Sure enough, when the lead male gets within a few feet of the female, all hell breaks loose. The paired male fiercely attacks the chap at the head of the duck pack. There's a brief skirmish, and all five fly downstream at high speed, just above the water.

A few minutes later one of the males returns, flying higher. The encounter must have unhinged him, because he hits a branch, though he recovers quickly in flight.

It’s a tremendous thing to spontaneously step out of the stream of content-consciousness without being separate from the world. Content-consciousness is to humans like water is to fish. And when one fish awakens and exclaims, "All the water!" the other fish say, "What water?"

To become aware of the rising, darkening sea of consciousness as we know it, and effortlessly step out of it, is the art of undivided observation in meditation.

It’s the quality of watching that acts on the cumulative personal and collective past within one, and stops one from suffocating in the pollution and debris. Then there is another order of consciousness altogether, one of air and light, stars and night.

There are two levels of human reaction. The first one you'll notice when you’re sitting quietly and not escaping through busyness or entertainment is the mental chatter and memories thrown forth in the mind, as well as the emotions that bubble or burst to the surface.

The second level of reaction is the unseen observer, with all its habitual judgments, evaluations and conditioned choices. Most of this content is subconscious, and automatic. From this blind background, we think we’re free to choose, and call it our “agency.”

There is no such thing as free will however. It’s only when we don’t choose, but take total responsibility for the content of consciousness within us, and simply watch with the intent to understand, that we begin to liberate ourselves.

It’s the observer and lack of attention that keeps the mental chatter going, and the unfelt emotions piling up.

Now high-tech fools have are replicating the observer/self (especially themselves) with “agentic AI." That's making the problem of thought, which has become synonymous with the problem of evil, much worse. The question is, is it bringing content-consciousness to a head, and can enough human beings meet the moment?

When one is able to simply attend to the movement of the content of the mind and heart, while also passively watching the secondary level of reactions from the illusory observer, the mind quiets. The heart empties its burdens and opens to non-personal love immeasurably beyond the mind of man.

There is no method to meditation, or whatever you want to call it. One simply watches the movement of one’s mind intensely, without interference or resistance.

You'll see that awareness quickens and thought slows. There's an unforeseeable moment when the attentive brain catches limited thought separating itself from itself as the observer, the self, the ‘me.’

This insight into the infinite regress of thought ends inward division, at least for the time being, and one comes into direct contact with the wholeness of life.

With both levels of reaction, it’s the quality of the watching that acts on and negates the past. The ‘I,’ as a product of thought, can only react.

All methods, techniques and traditions of meditation are devices of thought. And thought cannot quiet thought; only passive watchfulness gathering non-directed attention can.

Symbolic thought separates. That is it’s necessary and rightful function, since we couldn’t conceive, plan or build anything without it.

But when “higher thought” spilled over into the psychological realm, as it has since the beginning of man, the problem of evil began.

Why does the human mind separate where it’s mistaken to separate, thereby producing division, conflict and suffering? As well as the increasing fragmentation of the earth’s seamless ecosystems, which have become the precipices at which humankind now teeters?

I don't know. But symbolic thought is a very powerful evolutionary adaptation. Which is why people who say AI is just another technology don't know what the hell they're talking about.

The remedy to the wrongful use of thought is the awakening of insight. Can insight affect the consciousness at the core of humankind, which is shared by everyone?

Perhaps, but what matters most is a deep and diligent insight into the entire movement of thought within ourselves. That’s the meaning of self-knowing, which is, as it’s always been, the prerequisite of liberation.

Martin LeFevre

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Martin LeFevre - Meditations

Scoop Contributor

Martin LeFevre is a contemplative and philosopher.

His sui generis “Meditations” explore spiritual, philosophical and political questions relating to the polycrisis facing humanity.

lefevremartin77@gmail