I believe there's another force as well, one every bit as real as the God ...,

 and that it works consciously to bring all our decent impulses to ruin. ...,

 but a kind of demon of discord, a prankish and stupid thing

 that laughs with glee when an old man sets himself on fire trying to light his pipe 

or when a much-loved baby puts its first Christmas toy in its mouth and chokes to death on it.