thinking about evil

 

Original sin is not about forbidden fruit or carnal knowledge; it is the first time you look upon another with hate, not because of what they have done, but because they are.

What is evil? The flip answer, which may be more revealing than not: evil is live backwards.

"Evil," a concept, is a creature of consciousness. It is a label usefully used as a warning against the kinds of thought and consequent behaviors that are about willful destruction of a nonconstructive nature.

I have been thinking about delineating evil. I don't think it is about big events we normatively label as evil, such as Hitler, Hiroshima, et al. I think these big events are made up of a confluence of historical trends, perhaps individual psychoses and paranoias that are mutually inflamed, ingredients of fears, ambitions and the primal excitement of blood lust. 

Evil, though a part of this maelstrom, comes from the little worse demons that plague us everyday. One is piqued, or in pain or in a state of carelessness more than ruthlessness, and communicates with spite, cruelty, meanness, lets the pleasure of that passing on of pain or boost of status over or soothing strike of power take control of how our interchanges take place. If we fear retribution or want to hold off guilt, we may layer our consciences with rationales about what we deserve vis-a-vis the other. We may insist we are acting righteously, to right a wrong, exact revenge, or respect divine will. We may say:  Those of that group aren't worth my respect. I must protect myself from their intended violence against me which I fear I may have provoked, so I must take their power and keep them down. Or, perhaps, I was just lost in my own drama, not thinking about the consequences of my cruelty, but nothing so bad happened. Or, all my friends, my neighbors, my kingroup do these things to those unlike them. I am merely being loyal to my own against a potential threat. Bit by tiny bit terrible consequences so easily build. Evil may be a very little thing.

I am thinking of evil as occupying the extreme negative grid of both the compassion and selfishness scales. Sending out bad feeling like a curse into the other does not diminish it in the sender, but rather increases that tendency as practicing deepens neural patterns. It becomes an ill wind blowing the disease about, a vector of infection.

What is the cure? I don't know about the big picture, but in the sense of being the change you want to see, and becoming the person you want to see in the mirror: Look at what you are doing! Now, don't turn the cruelty inward. Look at your bumbling stupid self and give a big psychic hug released in lots of laughter. Then do what it takes to make it right. Graciously apologize, including humble acceptance of responsibility for consequences. Open to the outward manifestation of your inner demons and find, most likely, that they are not who you imagined. Open yourself to your own life and where it takes you, who you encounter, what you come to understand. Is this goodness? Is this love? Maybe it is living forward. 

push back to diminish posterior orifices

 Don't be concerned, all of you recently fired top

government scientists and analysts -- look at all the

farm and hospitality jobs the Mumps have opened up.

we could be saying that cis white Christian men are anti-DEI hires 

-- not hired for their abilities, but for who they aren't

getting rid of all the low wage essential migrant workers

getting rid of all those government jobs

as if labor were fungible

poor budgeting by the Republican legislators has led over time to ever deeper cuts 

for these stalwart public servants to contend with trying to do their jobs without 

the necessary equipment or staff

it's not the governmental workforce that eats up our finances, far from it.  

It's the partisan over-the-top disinformation that makes it so much harder 

for the work of our nation to get efficiently done; it's the catering to the 

self-entitled wealthy that keeps our coffers underfed

Mumps are having a grand old time

trickster twins creating chaos for their abusive amusement

I suggest a tax on all financial transactions -- a fee for the use of the governmental 

infrastructure every time anything is exchanged for money or its equivalent

easily arranged with digital transactions

 Musk is the most entitled, unworthy chaos performer to appear on the public stage

resisting his ridiculousness is courageous and necessary if we are to keep our homeland ours

It not the Dems, or even most of the voters. It's about a longterm, incrementally, diabolically 

executed, in great detail and careful orchestration, conspiracy to overthrow and overtake

the government of the United States, through a persistent and aggregating campaign 

of insistent disinformation and voter suppression by a powerful coterie of those who 

believe they should be in charge.

The solution can't be more of the same (def. of insanity) -- the solution is taking back 

our people's rule from these parties, which we were warned against and never 

meant to intercede.

In these days of criminally rogue gov't what is needed is a large 

enough contingent of people ready, willing, able and energized 

to get together and find our own best reps and procedures

We need to take the default position of pushback -- Mumps 

says: "You Will" we each and all say: "Hell No!" and act as back 

up for any of us who are threatened

This isn't about likability, but inspire-ability, bring people together 

to work for a cause-ability, bring useful truth to the people and 

encourage them to organize and fight back-ability

we have inflation because those responsible for providing the goods 

and services people want and need (in aggregate) are not sufficiently 

providing them at a reasonable cost

2/22-28/25

creating chaos

 

notice Musk's weird over-the-top energy, 

and reported heavy depressive episodes -- 

we're being taken over by a bipolar madman 

(though, perhaps, we in general are not 

making the best use of our natural bipolar 

resource, considering all the potentially 

productive energy if well channeled)

We tend to forget how

ridiculously fallible

people are

Here, in my happy fantasy

where I understand that nothing

matters; and better, nothing

matters to me

I can be kind, and rational -- but

I get freaked out, and that all goes

out the window, like a Russian dissident

I get it

You expect the world as it affects

you to cater to your convenience

If it should fall short, there must be

someone to blame, to rage against.

It not Harris or the Dems or even

most of the voters.  It's about a longterm,

incrementally, diabolically executed,

in great detail and careful orchestration,

conspiracy to overthrow and overtake

the government of the United States,

through a persistent and aggregating

campaign of insistent disinformation and

voter suppression by a powerful coterie

of those who believe they should be in charge.

Trickster Twins creating chaos for their

abusive amusement

 2/2-21/25

shouted out there, in the air

 




I don't get this continual Biden bashing
at this late stage of his career -- he's gone,
guys; get over it

;

Everything happens for a reason
Sometimes that reason is you are
ill-informed and make bad decisions.
Sometimes others are ill-informed,
or ill-intentioned, and make bad
decisions that affect you

;

Have my senses become overtaxed,
numb?  All these blustering years
All these exhausting days of 
Triumph, of celebration,
excesses of inebriation,
because
it costs too much to feel, to freely be

;

Get on with your little life
Enjoy what you can

;

Exploring words to express
feelings and meanings

;

We, humanity, create our own 
rules, boundaries, definitions of
evil, actions beyond what we want
to acknowledge as human
possibility.  Because humanity clearly
has the capacity to surpass those
boundaries, redefine how far we
can go, over and over. Will we come
to understand that there are always
people who are somehow happy to
explore and dig greater depths of
human possibility, of evil

;

Does it matter?
Hell no -- but so much of it
is incredibly beautiful

;


When "truth" is unreliable at best,
all we have are stories.

;

It feels so good to fight back
vicariously when we've no strength
to fright against what's killing us.

;

Everybody has an opinion, a surefire
solution they fantasize, buzzing around,,
threatening, distracting, those who
have the actual responsibility.

;


The power over others is not so much
in the wealth, but in the hoarding.

;


A bunch of wealthy frat boys
without a soul between them

;

Ignorance -- the celebrated norm

;

2025, a time for me to be whatever I
feel I need/desire
to immerse inside my outreaching mind
into a different world of my own design.
The whole political/social capital/working
for a better world -- not my responsibility.
People are a sad disappointment.
Get it together for yourselves.  This time
is mine.

;


To move someone with power toward
our preferred policies, we ought to be
showing them how such movement
benefits them.  Setting ourselves against
them is likely to be counterproductive --
divisive, not collaborative, or persuasive
[not to be construed to mean that calling
out what needs to be called out, resisting
that which needs to be resisted, ought end]

;

You say you are woke?
I was an insomniac from an early age.

;

The cultural myth of POTUS as all
powerful gets assumed by Trump, and
not generally seen as aberrant.  We
have not, at large, gotten the memo
that our Founders particularly meant
a Separation of Powers to deny too much
authority allowed to one person.

;

it seems to be a Republican matter of faith 

that taxpayer money ought go only to

 their causes (like making the wealthy 

wealthier) and not be wasted on what is 

good for the taxpayers (whom they most 

certainly work to not be)

;

clearly the underlying problem is 

poor education available to the masses 

about how our government is meant to 

work, their very vital role, and how to 

educate themselves on the issues 

that affect them -- for a democracy to 

work, the people need to be aware of 

how to rule themselves

;

science/scientists are elevated 

in the minds of many, and therefore 

also denigrated when they are not 

the gods we had thought

scientific knowledge comes bit by bit 

with occasional breakthroughs and 

many, many mistakes along the way 

-- what was scientific "truth" may turn 

out to be not so true on later reflection 

with greater understandings

don't be cruel

;

ever has it been since the press began, 

some are about profit --  give the people 

all the infotainment, gossip, slanted 

narratives -- or to promote a party line, 

or to sell an agenda

while there are also earnest journalists 

giving everything to find and share 

the truth of what is happening in the world

;

how can we blame the "Democratic 

message" when so many low information 

voters were hoodwinked by social media 

pro-MAGA disinformation and mainstream 

media obviously not willing to take the 

potential hit for spreading real, 

useful information?

11/23/24-2/1/25