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Word Gems exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Evil attracts the weak not the strong
This point is closely related to the essential powerlessness of Evil but deserves separate billing. A popular view easily ascribes great strength to the grand archetypes of Evil: The Terminator, Satan, Hitler, Hannibal Lector, The Borg, or Torquemada of the Inquisition. We see them as larger-than-life, almost invincible. As Dorothe Deluzy has already instructed us: "We believe at once in evil, we only believe in good upon reflection. Is this not sad?" And yet many thinkers would explain that "Evil is pregnant with calamity." And those who engage in it are not strong but weak. Leo Rosten: "I learned that it is the weak who are cruel, and that gentleness is to be expected only from the strong." Kenneth Clark, Civilisation: "The [18th-century] men who met each other in the salons of Madame du Deffand and Madame Geofrin were engaged on a great work - an encyclopedia or Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers. It was intended to advance mankind by conquering ignorance... But authoritarian governments don't like dictionaries. They live by lies and bamboozling abstractions, and can't afford to have words accurately defined. The Encyclopedia was twice suppressed." Editor's note: The current move to control the internet, under the pretext of protecting the people, is our modern version of Dear Leader's attempt to control the flow of information to those whom he would deceive. Abigail Adams, 1777: John Adams wrote to his wife, urging upon the invading British troops, "Contempt, Derision, Hatred and Abhorence"; moreover, for his part, he favored a national motto, 'Conquer or die.' Abigail, while not naive regarding the war's harsh necessities, responded by focusing on Christian duty: "Let them reproach us ever so much for our kindness and tenderness to those who have fallen into our Hands, I hope it will never provoke us to retaliate their cruelties; let us put it as much as possible out of their power to injure us, but let us keep in mind the precepts of him who hath commanded us to Love our Enemies; and to exercise towards them acts of Humanity, Benevolence and Kindness, even when they despitefully use us." Eric Hoffer: You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. The systemic weakness of Evil is difficult for most people to see; yet, once it is seen, it will be seen everywhere. So much could be said here, but I'm thinking of one small example which might illuminate this issue. Remember the scene in Back To The Future where Biff is bullying Lorraine:
"You're gonna marry me someday, Lorraine. You belong to me, I own you, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Evil has no power to offer us the things we really want, and those who engage in Evil, despite a show of force, are helpless and weak to secure what their own souls require. Evil might kill one's body, but it cannot force another to love it. It cannot demand one's allegiance, admiration, and respect - that which people truly desire. These triumphs are of the Spirit, not of Evil's brute force. Evil resorts to vain and futile attempts to bully, intimidate, deceive, and otherwise extort from others, their victims, that which they are powerless, utterly weak, to earn for themselves by spiritual means. JFK, speaking of a form of Evil, said that it might have allies or accomplices, but no friends. Yes, Evil is pregnant with calamity. Its feet are made of clay. Brandishing its menacing and ugly face, it stands before you, but with no sure foundation. And this is why, as Dr. King instructed us, "unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than Evil triumphant!"
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