“Bonum through malum”

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An intricate cosmic tapestry featuring astrological symbols, celestial bodies, human figures, and geometric patterns in a harmonious, detailed artwork.
Evil in the world and order in the mind At first glance, everyone is familiar with evil. More than we would like, we become acquainted with pain, suffering, injuries to the body and soul. Indeed, evil is almost defined as that which we do not like. Odo Marquard calls it “bonum through malum”: good needs evil in order to be good. Order in the mind has a decisive disadvantage - it has no equivalent in reality. Nobody would think that such a wound, which gapes right down to the bones of the skull, is a good thing. Nevertheless, it saved the man's life because, as it later turned out, the sudden unconsciousness was the result of a cardiac arrest. The sudden head injury, the wound shock, got the heart moving again: Bonum through malum! We often only realize afterwards how good a certain misfortune was for our lives. A stay in hospital that created a marriage, a missed train without which I would never have met the person of my life.

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©Jan Dustin Gaar
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