 Villain
I have to applaud Steve for this blog post. I am a darkworker, as Steve put it, and I have been for a long time. When I was a kid I used to attempt to conceal and otherwise fight what I was ((there is a lot of bias in society against folks like me) but every time I tried to do the “right thing” it seemed to make things worse, rather than better. On top of that, I knew, deep down that it was just an act. The whole thing seemed forced and the concept that is typically known as “goodness” didn’t make much sense to me. I eventually found that just being myself, which is admittedly somewhat selfish, antisocial and perhaps occasionally predatory, worked much better and made me a lot happier. It was just a more natural approach for me.
Though, I’m not surprised that many of the people in these forums don’t seem to understand this concept, I am pleased that as a self help professional, Steve does. Although, the darkworker polarity which Steve is referring to, maybe more immoral (by traditional and mainstream standards) it is not, necessarily bad. Everything in nature has its purpose, even individuals like me. The trick is to step out of notions of good and evil and understand that everything has its place, as well as an upside. If you think about it, a well polarized lightworker shouldn’t have any problem with a darkworker; the lightworker takes pleasure from giving, and the darkworker enjoys receiving. The same applies to how a well adjusted darkworker feels about a lightworker. There should be no conflict here.
The problem arises from the confusion of not choosing. And I believe that this is where a lot of good and evil line drawing comes in. On the one hand a person may want to be selfish sometimes, and yet charitable at other times. Practicality in one hand, and charity in the other; with a whole lot of guilt and confusion in between. Only by embracing one polarity, can a person truly understand the importance of the other. I believe that this is what Steve is getting at. Another observation I have, is that despite what some of you may think about some of the words Steve uses to describe the character darkworker, such as greed, power, lust, selfishness etc. These are only negative in the context a very narrow social perspective. And I personally find this type of terminology very appealing (I use these sorts of words in my daily affirmations all the time, and I love them). For someone like me the idea of gaining more power is, well, empowering.
Although, I will not deny that I’m probably not going to help improve the world in any kind of direct way, let us not forget that villains are often catalyst for change and they help prevent social and cultural stagnation. What would creation have to build on, if you were to completely blot out destruction? In a bizarre, indirect, sort of way, dark ”evil” individuals are just as important as light “good” ones. I’d also like to point out that, although folks like me many have a similar philosophy and world view, as the emperor in Star Wars; it would be a mistake to assume that we share the same angry temperaments. Remember, in a world in which sadness, frustration, and pain can be so common; happiness can be an utterly selfish indulgence for some, just as it is a contagious remedy for others.
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