A Psychological Revolution

If we recognize that all evil arises from the very fabric of our minds and the ways our minds work, then the only way to save ourselves from these evils is to change them: take advantage of the plasticity of the mind and rewire our behaviors. And if we recognize that our systems are corrupt because they have been built and maintained by a corrupt psyche, where vice rules over virtue, we will realize that the necessary change has to start from within the human mind. The change of systems will naturally adjust and follow.

1. Physics of evil, and is mankind a slave to it?

The most basic behavior of every molecule, cell, or organism revolves around acquiring resources and territory, and fighting over those with competing ones. The whole concept of evil can be reduced to this one fact. The whole existence and further expansion of our universe is conflict-based: every particle has an anti-particle, and destruction in creation is a physical necessity.

Conflict and war are the parents of creation, but are not responsible for a fair harmony as some like to claim. It is rather responsible for an existence that perpetually verges on self-annihilation.

On a physical level, ranging from atomic structures and stellar formation to the flow of energy, there is always a fight over resources and space, where both are limited within a specific operational sphere. Despite the universe offering an unlimited space, when a star goes supernova, it creates a black hole, as all of its energy and particles cannot disperse at will: they are confined to its gravitational sphere by physical necessity. After the self-destruction of the star, leftover star dust (that is, the nuclear waste) contributes to creating further celestial objects. The history of civilization follows no different pattern than can be found in celestial combat, orbital dominance, and stellar cannibalism or appropriation.

On a chemical level, chemistry inherits these behaviors where self-replicating molecules destroy one another in a fierce competition, “stealing” raw material from another replicator. The molecule more effective at acquiring this raw material and commandeering it will eventually win. War over resources and ideological dominance follows no different pattern. This, by no means, justifies human warfare in modern times, where knowledge of our own psyche and morality is abundant. Unlike molecular life, humans developed morality out of necessity, while still falling back on behaviors instilled by nature.

On a biological level, among more complex and developed lifeforms, the same pattern of consumption, predation, and territorial dominance to maintain an equilibrium in their local ecosystem persists. A human is no different in the sphere of individual, local life, or as part of something greater: a community, a nation, etc.

Within the sphere of the human brain and mind, the competitive neural pathway selection decides how harmonized or conflicted the personality will be. The boundaries of that personality, its ego and sense of self; how much meaning it will attach to it; and how aggressive-defensive it will be against criticism; how, in connection with the personality, will the newly developed selfhood cope with its existential anxieties: will it choose to harm others or morally adapt? These will extrapolate to social hierarchies and pursuit of status, and eventually expand to competitions of worldviews: religious, racial, political, philosophical, national.

The pattern of competition for survival began with rivalry over resources and space; it ended with competing for meaning and a fight for identity protection. There is no surprise that the human mind refuses to blatantly acknowledge facts even if proven wrong: it renders its survival of identity and meaning in life obsolete.

With the growing technology, the brutality and fierceness of achieving success over others grow as well. Not so much the ability to control it to prevent self-annihilation.

The only known equilibrium, thus far, seems to be found in death and destruction.

2. The impulse to eradicate what is perceived as eroding.

The human is prone to thinking that absolute eradication of perceived eroding factors or threats will irreversibly erase them from history. The human is also prone to thinking that the eradication of perceived eroding factors will lead to salvation. The curse of the nationalist, who believes in the superiority of his nation and race, is their belief that the purity of nation and race will bring their vision of utopia to life. Globally devastating wars have been conducted in the name of this belief, and no utopia has ever been achieved.

However, the greatest pitfall of the belief is that if even the purest and most homogeneous society is embittered and hatred-ridden, it will turn on itself, resulting in inner conflicts. Abuse, oppression, and prejudice are not something solved by the purity of a community: they are a disease ravaging even the most homogeneous.

Those who perceive themselves as moral and fighting for the greater good are also prone to thinking that killing evil with brutality and cunning. Even if each most malevolent individual should be erased with one fell swoop, they will grow back like the heads of Hydra: because the source of evil lies in the very structure and laws of the universe.

Every new conflict is unique and repetitive at the same time. If only the opposing sides would take their time to penetrate inward through their crude passions and worldviews, they would maybe see the bottomless absurdity of being so hell-bent on serving carnage in their name. Yet, they go on, without stopping to think, because the momentum is there, and it seems the massacres cannot simply stop at random without giving them a meaningful justification or before hitting rock bottom. No charity and humanitarian work will solve the problem, nor will it prevent the next conflict from coming: these are only necessary for temporary relief, but reach no further. By the time one life has been saved, dozens will be taken, while whole new conflicts and escalations will wait around the corner.

3. Should we cut ties with nature?

These ways of being we have inherited from nature, but it would be absurd to try to completely break away from them. However, no fixed relation of humans to nature exists; we are part of it and separate from it. With growing self-awareness and the ability to recognize what undermines our efforts to achieve a life worth living, we can extract the good it taught us and separate it from what is destructive about it. It is a mistake to think that our need and will to be cunning and violent to survive are fixed as well.

4. As humans, we are able to break the circle of creation through destruction.

The underlying will to turn a good or neutral thing into a weapon charged with unjust hostility, whimsical aggression, and stubborn oppression is what needs to be overridden.

5. The survival modes that were corrupted by the underlying propensity for maliciousness:

- Identity and meaning building, when infused with a sense of supremacy, lead to hostility and oppression.

- Addiction and relapse mechanisms that govern our lives, not only in substance abuse, but also in the sphere of thoughts: we easily become addicted to extreme thoughts to cope with existential anxiety and unwanted change. As easy as addiction comes, so difficult it is to root it out. Maintaining a healthy attitude is a daily battle; relapse is a matter of one minor slip.

- Living in one’s bubble brings comfort, but without empathy, receptiveness and understanding, it leads to detachment, ignorance, or indifference towards the struggles of others. Many times, we do not realize that even from a selfish standpoint, the hardships of strangers have a negative influence on our own, egocentric lives.

- Because we grow used to living in a bubble, the discrepancy between our perceptions is so stark that the same thing in the same world appears utterly different. This division of perception, infused with arrogance, leads again to hostility, without thinking whether there is a justified reason to be hostile about.

- We form groups around anything as long as it fills us with meaning through the sense of belonging (especially to something far greater than ourselves). From individual passions to common worldviews, across all areas of life, mankind has found reasons to come together. However, when the group formation is being driven by malicious intent and hidden agendas, it puts itself above human life. Loyalty to ideology should be rendered obsolete by loyalty to preserving innocent human life (which works only if all parties involved adhere to this attitude without exception). Placing abstract ideologies above human life has always proven to be catastrophic. As a result, we receive gargantuan amounts of sorrow no one ever wanted, but all have to become accustomed to. So went the stories and legacies of the Christian Crusades, Arab conquest, Soviet communism, German nazism, and countless more.

- We cultivate arrogance and apathy in our behavior as much as we persist in ignorance and stubbornness in our beliefs. We pride ourselves on perseverance, even if the chosen path has an eroding influence on ourselves and those around us. We persevere in stubbornness and prefer choosing familiar misery instead of openness to change. Cognitive inertia hinders any efforts to break away from the toxicity of our chosen comfort zone.

- Extremism and utopianism often go hand in hand, wreaking havoc wherever they go. Utopian thinking is an addiction to visions of an idealized, monolithic, and “pure” society. Extremism, ironically, is utopianism’s first weapon of choice and at the same time the first knife to cut its wings. While trying to annihilate those who do not fit the utopian vision, it also wrecks the soil upon which such a utopia could rise.

- Downplaying evil through humor has been a disease since time immemorial. Humor has also become a torture method for perverts relishing in Schadenfreude. Gallows humor has become a justification for the most perverted acts of morbid brutality. Moreover, it is effectively used to ostracize those who do not share (and rightfully so) this form of doubtful amusement.

- Nature taught us to be cunning, paranoid, prejudiced, and violent. Under nature’s conditions of being constantly in a state of fatigue, constantly forced to act rather than think, we have become suspicious and murderous of everything and everyone. Trust is a luxury in a world where nothing is what it seems. Thousands of years of growing self-awareness and amassing knowledge about our own psyche have passed, and yet here we are making no use of our experience. We fall prey to our own impulses, and it will take many millennia until we dismantle what makes us sick.

- The impulse for hatred is stronger than the will to reason and understand. But those who hate without understanding dig humanity’s grave. Decisions dictated by virulent passions will come back to poison the wells we are drinking from.

- The pitfall of immediate language has led to misunderstandings of catastrophic proportions. The development and expansion of language gave rise to civilizations, yet many underestimate that language also has the power to bring them down. We know more than we can express, and what we can express is insufficient in detail. Heuristics, mental shortcuts, and shock language (so often used in scriptures), if given to the uninformed, will be taken literally and used as justification for atrocious acts.

- All things considered, after the wisdom of morality has been acquired, there remains the question of the will and willpower to implement it. It is easier to be guided by instincts and moved by passions, slaving to nature’s ways of living and upbringing. Whoever looks at the Earth’s history and claims it is as it should be “the best of all worlds”, I beg to ask the question: whence the visions of heaven and escapism into comfort fantasies? We imagine better realms after death for a reason, and that reason is that life on Earth is infused with too much misery, for much of which we are responsible without either realizing it or wanting to change it. Dwell in your misery then, but dare not to complain about what is your fault.

- The pitfall of mythmaking and taking myths for truths. We mythologize war criminals and make them heroes. We mythologize nations, making them saviours of the world. We worship mortal people, making them idols. And because we cannot accept them to have flaws, being addicted to an idealized picture, we attack with hostility any voice denying that picture. Thus, we enable those whom we grant a protective aura to walk away from any crimes of abuse.

- Forcing submission by the power of given authority. If we give away our submission to those who force it and do not earn it, we have failed.

6. Who are we up against? Against the arrogant and the stubborn who pride themselves in their boorishness, foolishness, and vulgarity; against those who use other people’s bodies and minds as fields to spread their morbid fantasies across; against the stubborn who unable to cope with their own, inner bile, will spew it out wherever they go; against those who with their inner rottenness bring down a dozen uplifted people, but cannot be uplifted themselves from their lowly bitterness by a whole nation; against those who through unfortunate circumstances will never acquire neither awereness, nor knowledge or opportunity to grow out of a malicious and parasitic existence; against those who are too fragile to admit their pernicous acts and words even when confronted with them; against those who twist the tables for the sake of doing so and those who do not admit the lies even if confronted with them; against those who are too far detached even from the idea of a better, different life and self; against those whose ears will never be reached by words that could alleviate them; and against those who even presented with wisdom and tools to utilize it, will spit in it face, beat it into the ground with vicious satisfaction and laughter.

7. How to reach those who block themselves from change? How to reach in-depth those who are removed from access to change? What is it about benevolence and wisdom that makes it so unattractive to the boorish and spiteful at heart?