An action that results in unnecessary pain, suffering, injury and destruction. There are two kinds of evil: that which is caused by mans' selfish interests, and that which is due to mans' imperfect development.
Evil often results from the sordid conditions of which people are subjected. The infinite being within man is a struggle in the whole of life from darkness towards the light, from the lower to the higher, from the lesser to the greater, that through evolution, mans' spirit is constantly rising. If there were no struggle or distress, there would be nothing for the spirit to conquer. While there are the potentialities of the Godhead within man, it is only through development that they can be expressed. The process of development is like the extraction of gold; which consists of crushing, refining, and purification.
Evil, or ugliness does not exist in the world of spirit, except for those in very low spheres, whose lives were so impoverished that they have no beauty to enhance their conditions.
There are some people who consider that there is no evil--only the absence of good, or that which we regard as evil is only imperfection, imperfectly expressing the Collective Spirit through it.