When dealing with the philosophical problem of evil, wickedness, and degradation there are two popular avenues that may be explored. These concern themselves with the assignment of blame and the nature of the cause of the absence of morality. One attempts to reconcile the existence of an all benevolent creator god and its allowing wickedness to exist. Many non-falsifiable and clever attempts have been constructed to explain why moral degradation arises. The second avenue explores this question in the same fashion as the first, but emphasizes an internal locus of control attributed to the inhabitants of existence as opposed to an external locus of control assigned to a creator of existence.
In the Western culture, especially in the Judeo-Christian-Muslim realm of belief, the inhabitants of reality who are given souls are also blessed/tested with free-will. Unfortunately, they are also contaminated by a concept called original sin which was inherited from our adamic parental couple. Mankind is inherently evil, not by any fault of a perfect god, but by the fault of his perfectly imperfect creation. The free agents of this universe have choice, and through that choice wickedness and degradation find their manifestation. The solution: be rid of original sin. Then we will correctly use our free-will and evil will be eliminated from our actions.
In the Eastern culture, especially in the Hindu-Buddhist-Taoist realm of belief, sentient experience is tainted, not by original sin, but by ignorance. Through this mental ignorance life is experienced as unsatisfactory, not by any fault of the universe itself, but by fault of the stupidity of mankind. Nature is balanced and perfect as it is, yet our inability to see reality for what it is due to our filtered perceptions causes us to react in inappropriate ways. Here wickedness comes into play, not out of maliciousness, but out of ignorance. This view inspires compassion, whereas viewing people as inherently malevolent encourages hatred. Regardless, when right view replaces ignorance, free-will will no longer be used for degradation.
The converging belief of both attempts to explain wickedness is that it is the fault of the inhabitants of existence, not the creator or the universe itself. And the beauty is that if evil is perpetrated by the inhabitants, and not the unchanging absolute, then evil is impermanent as all things are. We fail to exercise our free-will properly, yet ignorance and original sin may be corrected. It is the nature of all effects to be rendered naught when the cause is removed. All is well.
For more information on the spiritual emergency, such as a psychotic break, please visit Jared B. Hobbs at his blog Meditations and become a Scholar of Consciousness!