the question of existence is vast and varied…
and it has many different sides to it…
we have, among the many questions of existence,
the question of what is good and what is evil? as one
of the many questions we have about existence…
Another such questions of existence is this question
about what it means to be human…
and one of the questions about being human lies in the question
of balance… equilibrium… I hold that part of the question of
‘‘what does it mean to be human’’ lies within this mixture of
good and evil, what does it mean to be human and of equilibrium…
that they are all different sides of the same question…
that the question of evil is also a question of balance and equilibrium
in human beings…
the lives of human beings have to be balanced… we cannot, if
we are to survive and existence, be too committed to any one
activity, idea or prejudice… that a successful human existence lies
within having a balanced life…if we go too far on one side or the other,
we lose our balance and we also lose our quality of existence…
let us put it this way… if a man becomes addicted to drink, and his
focus is on getting his next fixed, his next shot of booze, he has no
more balance or equilibrium in his life… and we can call this
imbalance or lack of equilibrium, as evil…we tend to think of
evil as some large, fixed instance, like the Holocaust was evil,
and it was, but evil is also found in our smallest moments…
one might say that evil, by definition is the action of largeness,
where evil is the work of one or more person engaged in actions
depriving others of their rights or needs… but we can do that
individually, we can deprive one of their needs and rights acting
one on one with a person… if I cut a car off on the freeway from
malice, and not by accident, that is evil… the act of evil is not
dependent on big, largescale actions, it can be as small as
kicking a cat out of the way because we are mad at something…
and what are other examples of this act of evil? Evil can be
the act of depriving people of food and water or education…
as I have done before, I have listed depriving people of their
essential needs, of being alive requires food, water, shelter,
education, health care and of course love…
and depriving people of their essential needs is also an act of evil…
But evil also has a different face, with different actions…
the fixation of actions and ism’s… in other words, the
women who fixed lunch in a school, they have strict orders
not to give food away, under any circumstances, but one lady,
from kindness, feeds a homeless and hungry child without payment,
this act of kindness from a bureaucratic viewpoint, is evil, because
it doesn’t lead to some set goal or principle… being kind is not
allowed in the business world… because it interferes with the real
goal of business, which is the accumulation of money, of profits…
and anything that interferes with that is unacceptable… this fixation
of purpose, this too leads us to evil… for a fixation of purpose,
where the purpose, the goal is the only thing that matters… all other
aspects of this is negated, is unacceptable… fixation of purpose,
for example, the seeking out the trinkets of existence, of seeking out
money, fame, power, titles or material possessions, are acts of evil,
if, if they don’t allow any other purpose outside of it… kindness of
actions, such as feeding the homeless is forbidden because it
interferes with the fixation of purpose, which is the constant
seeking of wealth/profits… where seeking wealth/profits is the
only acceptable goal…or meaning to be found…this fixation of
purpose, where one goal and one goal only is acceptable, can be evil
because it allows one to overlook, ignore other aspects of existence…
As they say, let us put some meat on this point… Einstein was
famous for his incredible focus on his work… he engaged in
thinking about physics, almost to the exclusion of everything around
him… and that by itself is not evil, but if he were to be so focus
on his work that he ignored starving people around him, that would
be evil… Einstein cheated on both of his wives, he played the violin,
he traveled… what this shows us is some balance in his life…
and to be human, requires us to be balanced… if we ever focus
on something to the determent of things around us, that is evil…
Kropotkin, you are playing fast and loose with the definition of evil…
nope, I am saying that evil are the acts of human beings who are engaged
in focusing on something else…the act of evil can be big or it can be
small… there is no size limit on the acts of evil… a small act, kicking
a dog because one is mad is the same level of evil that prompted the
Holocaust… and what is the cure to this engagement with evil?
we have a fixation of purpose, and that if taken to heart, can lead us to
acts of evil… and the cure is balance… to be equal, not centered
on rules or principles… and with balance comes a flexability…
the act of balance is the act of choice… we can choose to be
good or evil, and by our choices, we can engage with either good
or evil… the act of being evil is not about size, but about intent…
and it can be incredibly large or very small… evil doesn’t have
a size limit… but it does connect with us in terms of making choices…
and if we focus on being only about rules or principles, we can make
our choices to be evil, if we were to only practice the rules and/or
principles to the exclusion to all other possibilities…the fixation
of making money, because it excludes other choices, it is evil…
the fixation of becoming famous or achieving titles, if that is
the sole fixation of one, that is evil…for there is no balance
there… there are no choices to be made… we have one choice
and one choice only, and that is the practice of this fixation of purpose…
Recall that human beings are, as defined by evolution,
social beings, we can only succeed within the group, the tribe,
the city… we cannot under any circumstance survive by being alone…
In order for human beings to achieve their own needs and goals, must
have the help of others… we cannot succeed without others…
that is not supposition but fact… as part of the human needs,
we must be part of the group… where we find our answers to our needs,
the need of love, the need for safety/security, of self-esteem, and of
a sense of belonging… these are psychological needs that all human
beings have…and we can only meet these needs within the confines
of a society, a state, a tribe… with others…and this action of ours,
this fixation of purpose, is not balanced enough to allow us to
be part of the group, to have choices… a man fixated on only one
goal, is by its very definition, unbalanced… and unable to make
choices… and that becomes the act of evil… to be good is a choice,
to be evil is to practice the fixation of purpose to the exclusion of all
other choices…
My own fixation is the love of justice, which is the love of equality…
‘‘that all men are created equal’’… and I choose this goal over all others…
I hold the way we survive as human beings is by the practice of justice
toward all…to be evil, to be truly evil, requires intent and a single
minded purpose toward something without making choices…
and equality toward all is balance… to make freedom or justice
the exclusive property of a few, those who can pay or have power
enough to grab it, that isn’t the practice of ‘‘all men are created equal’’
how do we avoid evil? by making choices, and by remaining in
those choices, to be balanced and practice justice…is this
a fixed and set rule? No, because balance and justice requires us
to view the scene we are in, as choices to be made…
As usual, people around here will say how wrong I am, but the
point isn’t about my being right or wrong, but about your choices,
are you engaged in practicing balance and justice? that is the path,
the true path to becoming human… and that path also allow us to
understand what evil truly is… it is small or large acts, made
by making choices and is bound by a fixation of purpose…
in evil, there is no balance, no justice, no choices…
what is evil? and why would you choose to be evil,
in large acts or small? But Kropotkin, I am not evil…
and how do you know? What criteria do you use to avoid
the label of ''EVIL?" and one might say, this is ridicules,
I am not evil… are you balanced, do you avoid
this fixation of purpose? do you make choices, or do you follow
the choices of others?
Kropotkin
