God and Evil in the Ancient World

The eye of man and the ye of god are powerful instrumentalities.
The seat of the soul and the power of evil are both to be found in
the pupil; hence, the visual organ works both good and evil.  In
early Mediterranean mythologies- in Egypt, Babylonia, and elsewhere- 
the eye is symbolic of the deity: Eye of Ra, Eye of Atum, Eye of
Osiris, Eye of Horus, etc.  These latter two deities become important
in the death-resurrection theme.  Horus the king fights with Seth,
losing his eye but tearing off Seth's testicle as just retribution.
On his death, Horus becomes Osiris, who rescues the eye from Seth
and recreates himself as Horus.  This all-powerful, ever-living
god brings peace to mankind when his eye is intact in his body.  Loss of
the eye disturbs the social order on man.  The ankh of Horus becomes 
symbolic of the sol invictus, the journey of the sun, the moon, the
morning star, the kingship, creation of good and evil, and a prelude
to a physician's preescription of a drug.  The symbol Rx is not a 
contraction of the Latin "recipe", but is another abstraction of the
falcon-headed god, Horus.
  Apparently as early as ancient Egypt, the eye assumed three functions
in religious belief: seat of the soul (window to the soul); creation of
good; and creation of evil.

  In many of the Mediterranean cultures the evil eye is associated with 
jealousy.  This gnawing, envious emotion ultimately can create evil.
Illustrative of this principle is the Judeo-Greek story that appears
in "Agada".  After his conquest of "the world", Alexander began his
journey to Macedonia.  He washed in a stream of miraculous water that
gave life to a salted fish in his knapsack.  Alexander's eyes shone
like stars when he realized that the stream ran from the Gates of
Paradise.  Following the stream to the gates, he bid them to open.
The gates remained closed, but rolled forth a token, a human eyeball,
as proof of his visit.  Home in Macedonia, Alexander questioned his
wise men about the significance of the eye.  They suggested that it be
placed on a scale and a gold piece be weighed aggainst it.  To 
Alexander's amazement, the eye outbalanced all of his gold, silver,
and jewels.  The wise men told the kind that even his horses, chariots,
and palaces would be outweighed by the eye, since the human eye is 
never satisfied with what it sees;  it wishes to acquire more and moree.
Alexander demanded proof.  The wise men removed the treasure from the
balance pan and placed but a pinch of dust on the scale.  The dust 
proved heavier than the eye.  Alexander immediately drew the conclusion:
"So long as a man is alive, his eye is never sated but no sooner does
he die when he is as dust.  Then his eye loses its impulse and becomes
powerless.  It can no longer desire.."

  The duality of good and evil apparently plays an important role in
sustaining belief in the power of the eye to cause evil.  If a good
and loving God has ordained a perfect world, then the seeds of evil are
sown by earthly man.  Man's greed, envy, malice, aggression, are 
concentrated in his soul and projected outward through the eye in a
destructive manner.  Talmudic sages have argued that man was endowed
with two impulses, good and evil.  God created teh world and pronounced
it good; hence, all things created must have a beneficial function.
The impulse to evil ("yester ha ra), the imagincation of man, is a 
constant test of the innate goodness of man.  The mortal nature of man 
is the ultimate weapon of the divine to hold mankind in line.

Arabic :  'ayn
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