Evil

Evil is distinct from Nature in that Nature produces suffering as a means to some end not involving agency, in other words by coincidence, while Evil is the specific effort to produce either suffering or some end-product of suffering(subservience, concession, etc.). Evil requires some components of empathy, in other words, an acknowledgement of selfhood beyond the capacities of a landslide or a thunderstorm. Evil is personal, and thus exists only among persons.

It's important to remember, though, that nothing is strictly UN-natural, no more than anything exists without origins. Agents in the world may produce the SuperNatural, outgrowths of Nature which have ranges of variation unconnected to Natural processes; persons, gods, and feelings, along with their associated rationalizations, are examples of the SuperNatural. These ranges of variation fade into irrelevance when the Natural processes propping up persons collapse; ghosts move on, gods are forgotten, and any height of villainy is eventually consumed by the ongoing explosion of the Universe.

Karma

I've been trying to tease apart the psychological phenomenon of sin/karma/debt from its classical supernatural framework(i.e, as an objective reality). My thoughts so far are that expressing one's value system faithfully(being "good") sets one up to preferentially notice/appreciate examples of these same values being expressed by others. "Do unto others as you would see them doing unto you," if seeing were acknowledged as a selective act of perception, not just observation. Likewise doing evil, or maintaining a logically contradictory value system in practice, would breed cynicism, the belief that Everyone's value system lacks consistency.

There's a connection here to relative suffering, to whit: greater suffering makes one appreciate smaller blessings more powerfully, while greater comfort inclines one to greater sensitivity to smaller inconveniences. IF...one has hope of a better(more personally valued) future.

A voice as the collaborating echoes of your depths

The choice, every choice, is not one of what to do, but of who to be. While this is decided, there is no choice to be made, but only a faith in yourself to be maintained.

Is faith a dimension of character, though? Will being the right person, a good person, naturally be easy? What determines faith, though, if not character?

A character, a best self or goal self, may be known to different degrees. What you want to be, and how such a person works, may be more or less thoroughly and usefully known; children often idealize particular traits in their heroes, and are just as often disillusioned by the characters in which such singularly virtuous traits are nested; the pious are often one with the perverted, and the brave may indeed show no fear of committing cruelty.

Faith, then, may just amount to how much thought you put into your Self, how prepared you are for assaults on your character. This is why confidence may not be faked for long, and why is grows the more fragile the longer it is; confidence is not a quality of character, but rather a measure of it.

A decision, though, amounts to a judgement of what the sort of person you idealize yourself to be would do. Pursuing a particular course, in turn, amounts to understanding why anyone ever would, and then logically resolving this moral argument from a hypothetical Other with the values of your own hypothetical Self.