One of the elders of the city said: ‘Speak to us of Good and Evil'
And the Prophet answered:
Of the good in you I can speak, but not for the evil.
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?
Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.
You are good when you are one with yourself.
Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.
For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.
And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.
You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.
For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast. Surely the fruit cannot say to the root: ‘Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance.’ For to the fruit, giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root.
You are good when you are fully awake in your speech.
Yet you are not evil when you sleep while your tongue staggers without purpose.
And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.
You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.
Even those who limp go not backward.
But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.
You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when you are not good,
You are only loitering and sluggard.
Pity that the stags cannon teach swiftness to the turtles.
In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness, and that longing is in all of you.
But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.
And in others, it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.
But let not him who longs much say to him who longs little; ‘Wherefore are you slow and halting?’ For the truly good ask not the naked; ‘Where is your garment?’ nor the houseless: ‘What has befallen your house?’
Excerpt from ‘The Prophet’ by Kahlil Gibran
Morality
Besides this I also wanted to share a very valuable paragraph that I always use to contemplate good and evil in terms of being positive or negative towards spiritual and personal evolution:
All that encourages spiritual evolution is called positive, all that hinders it is called negative.
What is painful, scary, and illegal is typically called “evil,” while what is nice, loving, and accepted is commonly called “good.”
Good and evil as such are subjective and relative terms, while positive and negative are objective and absolute.
Proper balance between good and evil, each in their proper place, results in positivity.
Too much good leads to stagnation and jadedness, which is negative; too much evil leads to total destruction, which is also negative.
Balance is maintained by having both in proper ratio and diametric opposition.
Morality has to do with being good; conscience with being positive.
Morality is programmed into us by our social and biological programming; conscience originates with our innate spiritual intelligence.
One who fights solely for good or evil is a fool, one who fights strictly for positivity is a noble warrior.
Such a warrior will incorporate the proper balance of good/evil within himself, then seek to restore balance to negative systems.