The 4 Aspects of Fighting Evil

The 4 Aspects of Fighting Evil

I've spoken about this before, and I will again. From my studies and experiences, I've theorized that there are 4 aspects of fighting evil, and there are even other ways to interpret this in your own ways, but here are some of my ways of viewing it. And I will share them with you.

The Fire Aspect- This one is obvious. Just think of the term used time and time again. "Fighting fire with fire." That's what this one is. Vengeance. The advantage of it lies in how effective of a tactic it is at scaring evil. The disadvantage is overkill, taking things too far, when sometimes the punishment may not seem to fit the crime.

The Earth Aspect- This one makes me think of a fair, balanced version of fighting evil. Reaping what you sew. Since this planet Earth consists of all 4 aspects, any of the other 3 aspects can be applied where necessary. Justice. The advantage is that it's actions are equal to the evil it's attempting to fight, destroy, punish, or teach a lesson to. Not too much as to be considered unfair, yet not too little as to be considered weak and afraid to fight back. This one I feel most in line with, because I understand and accept all of the aspects, but agree with this ideal the most.

The Water Aspect- To fight hatred with love, cruelty with kindness. It's advantage comes with the times it's able to make an evildoer see the error of their own ways by comparison to the seemingly undeserved respect you show towards them. As in, if you want an evil person to be good, then first show them what good is. The disadvantage is for the times it can be viewed upon as a weakness.

The Air Aspect- This one I can interpret in a few ways. The first way I thought of it, a while back, was ignoring evil. It's advantage is against the type of evil that thrives off the attention it's given. Ignoring those types of evil people make them lose the motivation to do evil. Another way I had interpreted it had to do with a combination of knowledge and indirectly fighting evil. Such as being a strategist or someone in a support role who may not necessarily fight evil themself, but yet in a sense indirectly does by offering some type of advice or useful resource to help the other person fight evil. Praying could perhaps be considered this as well, yet supplemented with the intentions of any of the other 3 aspects.

Each of those 4 represent common tactics you see with Police, when interrogating people. The Good Cop (Water), The Bad Cop (Fire), That one Cop who is serious, can be friendly but also firm and strict (Earth), then there's that one quiet Cop that you don't know what they're thinking (Air).

One mistake I see certain Warriors make is denying the importance of aspects other than their own, rather than learning to balance out those other ones.

There are also mixtures of these elements as well, such as Lava, Ice, Mud, Smoke.

That's really interesting.

There was this one episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, where Roku's Uncle was explaining the four elements to Roku, and I think he explained it very well, as well as how they work together.

This is a very good ilistration of the four elements in practicle form. I also know for some its Hard to be balanced between All four stances so to speak, Im speaking for myself as well. But to think of positions and situations, i could use this as a Template.

I'm more of a Water/Earth myself.

@ShowStopper- As for the Last Airbender thing, you were telling me about that recently, and it sounded VERY interesting.

And yes, I would say that you were Earth/Water too. That makes Mud. And no that's not a bad thing.


@Ark- I have viewed myself as a balance between all the elements, so for that reason I say Earth. Because in my mind, on Earth, as a whole, exists all 4 of those elements.

I don't think everyone should necessarily be a balance between all 4 of those elements, since that doesn't work for everyone. BUT, I do think that they should at least allow each element to be each element. "A place for everything, and everything in it's place."

@Tothian- All 3 seasons are on DVD.

Cool. Wasn't there a movie or two about it also?

There was a movie, but there was way too much to fit into just one movie, so they are making more.

Oh okay, cool.

As for another similar idea of what I'm talking about, I heard that the Book of Five Rings talks about a similar idea with this.

You'll notice that when the 4 elements are discussed, there's either "Air" or "Wind", I think I remembered reading that they used both of them in there, so therefore those are the 5 elements being discussed.

And in fact, if I added "Wind" as a 5th element to this philosophy, it could make a lot of sense as well.

It would refer to the Hero Support types who indirectly help either the Police, or other Real Life Superheroes. Or even Detectives. I associate this type of element with not the stuff that is blown in the wind, but rather the wind itself helping guide others toward evil.

But, before I officially add this in to my philosophy about this, it'll require further studying about this, and more deep thoughts. I'm likely to probably add it eventually, though.

Yeah, it would be a good idea to study this more.

A wise man does not seek answer, He seek's more questions, With this type of view, I would say there is never enough thought as with the element's are thoughts will always be in motion, try not to reach an understanding but wait for one. Interpretation will often lead you to your questions which may be answered, if they are not...meh no biggy there's always another answer out there, just keep asking...that's ramble speak for: The more you ponder a question the more likely it is to be answered, I personally believe wind and air go hand in hand as for your air interpretation, it was interesting, in my own opinion the air element is much like your description of wind in that action can happen through inaction, or very little. look at the way element's tend to work with one another, when air turns into wind it ripples the water it pushes it from one side to the other, or air when it interacts with fire, Air if it choses to can often fuel a flame, stop it from going out, or even spread it to another area, Earth has the unique quality of being affected and affecting the other elements. The rotation of the earth can move the water from one coast to the other it does so in a more aggressive fashion then air, air has a lighter touch where Air would suggest for the water to ripple to the other side the earth literally kicks it to the other coast (i.e. high-tide,low-tide) but air can be pushier then earth with fire, While earth provides fire with the nurturement and the path in which to spread, it is air that gusts and pushes, almost as if showing fire the path earth has laid out for it. I could go on and on but if I did that it would only become more confusing (mainly to myself lol) but another element to consider might be spirit what does the spirit element do, perhaps it binds all the others together it may be what sustains the force of the other 4? a good question one that could spur many more.

why is'nt snow a element to the factor? snow or the cold has had such a impact on the world,like the ice age i would figure it to be a part of group in a equal term?

Well snow and Ice are a combination of two elements , Air(Temperature) and Water(Percipitation), I think what Tothian was explaining was each singular basic element, if we start combining elements I think I might have to start writing all of this down just to organize a though process lol

Whoa! This is getting deep. I like that.

@Captain Knight-

I have pondered a little bit about it so far, but what I'm starting to theorize as the difference between Air & Wind, are:

Air would ignore the evil that thrives on attention, or, perhaps the air surrounding Earth (Dust in the Wind), Water (Bubbles), or Fire (Heat) can also seem to be ignoring it but rather letting the evil wonder what it's next move is..... Still not entirely philosophical match with those mixed elements I just mentioned in the parentheses, but the thoughts are starting to come together.

@Red Vision-

If you see the bottom of my post, you'll see the other mixed elements there. One of them is ice - but snow is a really good one too, because it blends not so much with cold air, but wind!

Well with enough time I am sure we can develop a muc more resolute description and definition of the elements in this context. I think wind could be a combination, Air is the basic element but if you give that element spirit it flourishes and becomes stronger perhaps turning into wind, could be, I think spirit(or The Force for us Jedi) could be a great factor for putting the elements into motion here.

did someone say jedi????... lol

The spirit is in another dimension, but temporarily bound to the earth for now. Spirit is a whole different ball-game than the other elements. Yin-Yang is what holds all the elements together.

like gravity right? another energy i fell is overlooked & yet important for survival.

Gravity is actually a force that leaks from another parallel universe where it is as strong as all the other forces, that is why it is the weakest force here. It was on the Science Channel.

really? I wish i had seen it. bummer.

This stuff interests me to no end.

I am alittle confussed,on the theory. gravity being weak don't make sense?

It takes all of Earth's gravity to pull down a little feather.

it also keep everyone from down under,on the planet.lol

Haha, yeah. It's a good thing that it is so weak, though. If it was as strong as all the other forces in the universe, the universe would fall in on itself and become the biggest black hole ever.