I don't believe in morals, good and evil, or any of those superstitions. I think in terms of wisdom and foolishness.

Evil- Anything that went against societal expectations. Expectations that were usually based on whatever religious interpretation happened to be in that part of the world.

The origins would probably be something like this:

We figured out what made ancient civilizations run smoothly and most efficiently, by trial and error, or by whatever knowledge we had at the time. Then, we applied some kind of metaphysical hypothetical presence, (god or gods) that could smite you or your family in some way, shape or form, if you went against the flow of society. And only the leaders and rulers could know about the true nature of these “gods.” The leaders and rulers knew that some people were smart and knew they really wouldn’t get smited from the sky, so they used actual physical punishment like beheadings and lashings and crucifixions as a deterrent to prevent anyone from going against the status quo.

Ouch! I don't have a current definition of evil. That realisation is why I said "ouch".

I don't have morals either.

I prefer ethics, which is a set of behaviours I adhere to because I believe that other people want the same things I do and so it's a case of "do unto others as you would want them to do unto you".

evil is the act of doing another human harm wether physically or psychologically hurting them to an extend where it's more than a normal human imagination .it originates from your mind u build them up in ur mins and it soaks you all off your good will as a human until you finally reacts.

“Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer;
nothing is more difficult than to understand him.”

• Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”

• Blaise Pascal

For me cruelty in all it's forms is a definite form of evil. Cruelty to animals and to our fellow humans beings It is a complete lack of empathy for others. So I guess a psychopathic person would by this definition be evil. Well anyway, that's the best I can do to describe what evil is.

"[T]here is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
—Hamlet

I think evil is just the label we give to the actions we consider to be harmful, sometimes extended to natural ills.

i think in terms of positive and negative energy, positive being love and negative hate.i think evil is negative energy with judgement thrown into the picture. most people think in terms of right and wrong . i think in terms of cause and effect. what i deem as "evil" or lets say what i fear may not be the same as what someone else fears so its a judgement call to each individual to label someone or something as being evil. as for its origin its been here always along with love. in order to know its origin we would have to know the origin of existance itself and in order for there to be a beginning there would have to initially be nothing -nonexistance. its not possible for something to be born from nothing because its not there null and void. the only other answer is that we do exist so we always have and always will. there is no beginning , there is no end. positive and negative energy are a part of everything . we would not know love if there was not hate,we would not know light if there were no darkness etc..both are needed energys so maybe we are searching for a perfect balance of the 2. what else is there to do in eternity wherever we go from here. i guarantee it won't be heaven or hell . like anyone is deserving of a perfect heaven eternally after living 100 or less years. lol

To me, 'evil' is a religious term encapsulating religious systems of morality.
I don't use it.
It makes me uncomfortable to see it being used by seemingly 'progressive', 'liberal', 'left-wing' people.

I believe our virtues are the bases of our conscience, promote positive mental health and positive behavior. I use immoral to define evil, which is what offends our conscience. Essentially the further we extend our empathy the more moral we are being, while the smaller our circle of empathy the less moral. As a rule of thumb I think selfishness and neglect are important factors in what is evil.

Oh yes... i believe in morals. Whew! A world without them would be terrible. Im glad we already got a set of them and principles too. Im really glad they have been established for us. This explains evil and things that are close to it. You got me on the theory of them. I don't know that. i know we need laws that protect us and explain things we should not do because its offensive to others and we established and deligated a structure of persons to carry out them laws. We got that part right in society. It evolves with time. People can't own people. Thats been established. Respect of others has been established. A lot of pain brought about laws to protect and respect people. We will continue to evolve to love and respect all people. I really hope so.