Evil as Noise
Maybe "sin" is not a point docked on a scoreboard, but noise that disrupts coherence in a system.
Most of us grew up with one picture of morality: there is a scoreboard somewhere above, a transgression docks a point and a good deed adds one. It is simple, and it is also what pushes many people away — it sounds like a strict manager's reward-and-punishment system. But you can hear the same concepts differently.
Level 2 The explanation▾
A proposal: see "good" as a move that increases coherence — synchrony, trust, joint action among people — and "evil" as noise that disrupts it. Lying, betrayal, cruelty are not "negative points"; they break the ability of a human system to function together. In the language of the Tanya: the daily struggle of the "intermediate" person.
This is a reading that speaks to the secular without giving up the depth of tradition. But it must be marked: "coherence" here is an illuminating metaphor, not a physical measure. It must not be treated as a measurable quantity.
Level 3 Deeper▾
Speculation The extension from "noise between people" to "cosmic noise" or a quantitative systems model is a leap, and marked as such. The framing is useful as a language for living, not as a physical theory.
The sharp objection. If separateness and multiplicity are both the source of evil and what must not be erased (see "Tikkun"), what distinguishes "good" separateness from "bad"? Without a sharp answer, "evil as noise" may be beautiful but empty. The site holds the question open.
Framing
In tradition, sin/good deed are relational concepts among person, society, and order — not just a scoreboard.
What is open
The distinction between necessary separateness and "noise" that disrupts coherence.
Marking
"Coherence/noise" here are a metaphor, not a measurable physical quantity.
Level 4 Sources▾
- The Tanya (R. Shneur Zalman) on the two souls and the "intermediate" person — for precise verification.
- Ramchal, Daat Tevunot on the place of evil in creation — for precise verification.
- The "systems" reading (coherence/noise) — a marked metaphor, not a model.