[John Prophet]

Dan Linehan, I understand your problem very well. In fact, I faced a very similar issue many years ago. The only thing I can do is tell you how I dealt with it and maybe that’ll assist you a little bit. The truth is that the conclusions I reached while examining this problem were what directly led me to my villainous, or as Steve would call it “darkworker” outlook, which I now possess.

When I was younger I used to get very upset when I heard about people praying on one another and I always wondered why we all just couldn’t get along. However, I realized that this stuff had been going on thousands of years before I was ever on the planet and so I reasoned that if no one else could come up with a solution to completely end all violence and suffering, then I probably wasn’t going come up with a miracle solution either.

It could be argued that the only real way to create a true utopia on earth would be to take away everyone’s free will. That basic human element of perception, priority and choice is the true basis of so much conflict. But this solution seemed even more horrific to me then the problem it was designed to solve.

As you pointed out, this issue can be very frustrating and you end up just rehashing it in your head in an endless loop without finding a reasonable solution. I know this feeling well. It was in response to this problem that I essentially decided that it would be in my personal best interest to just stop caring. I was sick of it. This wasn't making me happy and so from an emotional standpoint, I concluded that apathy was the best policy. You might say that this was a turning point where I began to choose practicality over principle.

From a logical standpoint, I began to question the nature of morality itself. Competition, violence and extreme disagreement seem to be permanent staples within human culture and civilization. Maybe these things were there because they’re supposed to be there? Maybe they’re inevitable. Maybe they served a purpose. Could it be that this world was not really about right and wrong? If I saw the flaws in many organized religions (and I did), why was I still clinging to the basic moral principles that they (at least) claim to embrace? Could these be lies as well? What if this world was not about good and evil, but about predator and victim; a constantly changing and shifting hierarchy system of winners and losers, the successful and the failed? This certainly made more sense from an effective progress standpoint (evolution). What if might (in any way that the word could be reasonably applied) really was right? Is there any more objective (non bias) way to determine who is “right” in a disagreement between people, other than to see who ultimately comes out on top?

The more I thought about this and the more I analyzed the world around me, the more I began to realize that the “goodness” model of philosophy didn’t make any sense. And the more apathetic I became about the “evils” of the world, the happier I was. Since a utopia, where there was no violence and pain, seemed impossible at this point, I concluded that the only reasonable solution was to try and make myself happy. This was all that was in my power to do anyway. And since I had completely discarded the model of morality, I no longer had to worry about trying to be “good” and instead I just concern myself with being effective. I wasn’t a saint, I wasn’t all loving and charitable; I was a human organism trying to make his way in the world the best he could, by his own wits. A weight had been lifted from me. It made everything so much simpler. It was terrifying and yet liberating, simultaneously.

Dan, what you have expressed here, is a problem which I refer to as the issue of moral hypocrisy. How can you destroy a killer without becoming a killer yourself? How can you judge others actions that you don’t approve of, without becoming judgmental as they are? This is what has led me to conclude that all encompassing goodness simply doesn’t work; it’s impractical. You can’t truly thwart “evil” without resorting to some of its tactics (without being significantly more powerful than the said evil, of course). Instead, I decided that there really was no such thing as true good or evil. Or, another way to think about it is to say that “good” is anything that I like and “evil” is anything that I don’t like; because it’s completely subjective. This allows me, as an individual, to determine what is right and what is wrong and to judge situations and others accordingly (the way I and everyone else would do anyway).

It’s obvious to me, from reading your posts that you’ve already begun to reach this conclusion. “Judging” others is not wrong. In fact, it’s a very important tool for understanding the world and navigating through it. If something seems wrong to you, then I say trust your instincts. We cannot afford to throw out standards of human conduct for fear of being too judgmental. And since we’re all playing on the same “field” (please excuse the trite sports metaphor), then we cannot afford to be too high and mighty or righteous. We don’t have any real world advantage over the “bad guys”. None of us can hope to be truly “good” and hope to effectively navigate or improve this world. We must understand that reason that those “bad guys” resort to such tactics is because those tactics are so effective. And it’s unreasonable to think that we can make any real impact without at least doing some of the same (beginning with our capacity to judge).

In your initial post in this thread you asked “So how do you love evil?” The answer that I came to long ago is that you must be occasionally willing to become evil. Or, more accurately, you need to throw out the concepts of good and evil altogether and realize that there is no such thing. It’s all subjective. Except the idea that certain evils in this world may be necessary for human evolution and social progress and that these things have to happen. People will suffer and die and that’s that. It’s just part of the deal. It can’t be stopped and in most cases, the most you can do is make yourself and those around you happy. But you should never be afraid to judge others by your own standards of morality either. Remember that to oppose another’s ideas can often mean making yourself into a villain in their eyes. Let us not forget that the Christian word “Satan” means “adversary” or “accuser”. So the only recourse for anyone who wishes to stand against any perceived injustice committed by others is to become villain to the people who are committing this injustice. They will fight for their version of “right”, you will fight for your version of “right”, the rest of us will do the same and victory will determine whose version of “right”, is the true right.

This is the basic line of thought that I used when dealing with the same type of problem that you are discussing here. This process took years. You expressed in interest to have this issue resolved, this weight lifted from you and I can assure you that coming to this conclusion will do that and more. It makes things so much simpler because you never have to concern yourself with “what should be” versus “what is”. No idealism, just embracing grim reality and learning how to enjoy it and use it to your own advantage. The more you walk down this path the more sense it will make, and the more advantages you will see. Of course, you will have to make up your own mind as to whether this is the right way for you to go. For me, these conclusions were the only ones that made sense to me, while pondering the kinds of issues that you’re dealing with.

And for the rest of you reading this and wondering; these choices are what Steve’s concept of polarization is all about. What you have just a read, is just one recipe for making a true “darkworker”.