Evil can also be attributed to ignorance and perverted incentives and lying to yourself warping your own reality. That's the east way of thinking of it. The greatest atrocities has been conducted for the "greater good". That's why integrity, speaking truth to the best of your ability is important to make sure yourself is not unknowingly trampling down that path.

I came a cross the concept of "empire" (ie. like the empire in Star Wars) recently which is an archetypical manifestation of the pathological power structures that have risen to the top time and time again in history (ie. fall of Rome, nazis rise to power, the rise of the medical industrial complex).