Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for November 17, 2014

That is the problem, isn’t it? How to tell the Angels from the Demons if you don’t buy a program from the stadium vendors?Well, unless you are a True Fan, of course.Then the particulars are of no interest.I love the artwork in either case, naturally.Art transcends mundane realities, thank goodness.

But aren’t dragons actually evil, sometimes? Smaug wasn’t protecting his young, after all. Not to push an allegory too far, but isn’t that the question about evil in the world—is it a function of pathology, motives we don’t understand from our own perspective or free will exercised solely for the benefit of oneself regardless of the effect on others?

Or something else entirely?

With dragons it always depends upon the mythology in question. In Western mythology, dragons were evil monsters that slaughtered people and took things that wasn’t theirs. In Eastern mythology, Dragons were powerful and wise creatures that could be benevolent. I have read that the Japanese used to believe that dragons caused the rain to fall. My favorite dragon was Lady Nora from the webcomic “Twokinds”. She was powerful and mostly benevolent but she had a playful sense of justice.I believe that good and evil are related to one’s consideration of others. A good person is one who considerate of others and is willing to make sacrifices to help other people. An evil person is selfish to the point where the ways he or she harms others is unimportant. The truly evil find enjoyment in harming others.

My great-granddaughter is named after Saphira, the dragon in Eragon.

Good one…

I am delighted by the erudition and mutual respect shown by the posters today. Thank you all.

An interesting conclusion. Where in the drawing above do you see the nest of eggs?

The purple dragon was a good guy, after all. But the quote wasn’t a reference to reptiles literally.Can regular people win over those who are willing to commit any amount of evil for power? It sounds good, but has mixed success. The Nigerians aren’t having much luck getting their kids back from Boko Haram, for instance. And the complaints of not-rich Americans don’t affect the success of the rich.On the other hand, the Civil Rights actions in the 60’s did move justice along a bit.