: : In Tolkien evil has a purpose. And so it is with our world. How would we know goodness if there were nothing bad or rotten? How could we be drawn nearer to the numinous and ineffable without "heats and fires without restraint"?

: The argument that we can only know we are happy by suffering is nonsensical to me. I'm happy my parents are alive and don't need them to die to make me realize it. From a religious point of view it makes God and Evil equal partners in the creation, which I must reject. I don't need to eat a bar of soap to know that I enjoy ice cream.

This is spurious, you need to eat ice cream to know that you like ice cream, consequently you would need to eat soap to know that it is not good to eat (unless of course you believe everything you are told .. and then what would happen if somebody told you palmolive flavoured pizzas were superb eating?)

: The yin/yang concept has been used for centuries to try and explain the good and bad in our lives, but when I look at small children cavorting happily (and they seem to know they're happy), who have never suffered, it brings the whole concept into question.

The happiness of the ignorant or innocent or stupid or mad argument. I'd rather look at the world through open eyes.

: That's only my opinion of course, and I don't want to come across as being disrespectful to others who hold different beliefs, but it is difficult to describe one's own beliefs without contradicting the beliefs of another.

No disrespect taken of course, and hopefully none given, not intended anyway.