Here's an interesting answer by Thoth to the problem of evil on a personal level:

Evil is not romantic. Only in works of fiction is it dramatic and a grand thing. In real life, it's sordid and boring.

The problem with people nowadays is that they think of evil in terms of Dracula or Darth Vader, thinking that evil somehow cloaks its bearers in an aura of greatness. Dogsh*t.

Grow up and live in the real world.

Evil is not mastering the forces of the Dark Side of the Force. Evil is being selfish, plain and simple. It's not caring about the consequences of what you do and denying responsibility for the same. It's about indulging yourself to the exclusion of what is required of any decent human being.

It's about not caring, do you understand? Ever met someone who didn't care? Those people only barely qualify as human beings anymore.

That's why they're sordid and boring. Because in a very real sense they're empty.

Interesting enough in a thread put up by a friend regarding the call of evil threatening to engulf him from within. Of all the answers and reactions to the subject matter put up by people from different religious and non-religious affiliations this was the one that made me sit up and take notice. He or she didn't have to philosophize with "i believe is evil is an integral part of man, his tendencies towards evil is much heavier" or soothe the poster with other words that seemed seriously religious or what-not. What my friend needs is a healthy dose of whupping to shock him to his senses.