The Existence of Evil
The Existence of Evil

Alive and Free

Bob Gardner questions whether evil is a real spiritual force and what that might mean for addiction, trauma and mental suffering. He reflects on the limits of scientific explanations, the power of attention, and the pull between doubt, faith and the search for genuine freedom.

HonestInspiringEye-openingThought-provokingAuthentic

36:31•1 Apr 2026

RSS Feed

The Existence of Evil and What It Means for Freedom from Addiction

Episode Overview

Suffering is often amplified by imagination and the stories built around an event, rather than the event itself.
Human perception and science may not fully explain experiences of evil, spiritual beings and miraculous events.
Intrusive or disturbing thoughts can be treated as passing phenomena rather than as reflections of personal identity.
Where attention goes, influence grows: what you consume mentally and spiritually shapes how you think, feel and act.
Chasing every instance of evil can be a distraction from seeking stillness and looking for the source of goodness instead.

“What entertains you has trained you. What you tune into, you turn into.”

How do individuals turn their lives around after addiction? This episode of **Alive and Free** takes that question into some unexpected territory, as Bob Gardner wrestles out loud with one huge idea: that evil might be a real, active force, not just a metaphor or a chemical imbalance. Speaking from years of working with people facing addiction, anxiety, depression and trauma, Bob explains how he usually focuses on two things: the body’s condition and a person’s perception of events.

He points out that much of suffering grows from imagination layered on top of what actually happened: “All that happened was only what happened,” and the rest is the story the mind spins. From there, he moves into deeper waters: what if thoughts don’t *only* come from the brain? He talks about intrusive thoughts, psychedelic experiences, reports of spiritual beings across cultures, and his own struggle to make sense of war, corruption and what feels like global madness.

Gradually, he starts to consider that a spiritual dimension, including real evil, might explain what biology and psychology can’t quite cover. The episode leans heavily on Bob’s honesty. He admits his uncertainty, his fear, even his inconsistency in living as if God is real. At the same time, he keeps bringing the focus back to something practical for anyone in recovery: attention. “What entertains you has trained you.

What you tune into, you turn into.” For people questioning materialist answers to addiction and suffering, or feeling pulled between faith, science and lived experience, this conversation offers a candid, sometimes unsettling, but very down-to-earth look at how spiritual realities might affect mental health and freedom. It leaves you asking: if evil and good are real, what are you feeding with your focus today?

PreviousStand where the sun rises