Why no one is actually evil?
- Yusuf Kemal
- Jun 24
- 8 min read
Nowadays, people tend to think that the people in power are evil, and that may not be entirely false. Few people in their right mind would argue against the evident malignity of risking civilizational collapse being one of, if not the most, evil thing ever done against humanity.
And it is true that destruction of nature, wildlife, and the biosphere are eventuating the degradation and collapse of entire ecosystems and of other Earth life-support systems, such as the climate system and water cycle, which in turn has deleterious and devastating consequences on humanity and on all life on Earth. There is no doubt that it is nefarious and flagitious.. But, is it inherently so?
We embarked on a journey to change the world -and save life as we know it- but have we considered changing ourselves? After all, wasn't it true when Leonardo DaVinci said that "There is no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself"
I know it is easy to default to the easy and convenient mental pathway of pinning all the blame and shame on the people in power -now don't get me wrong, they are culpable, that is indubitable and irrefragable-, but it is the best way as far as strategic success is concerned? In other words, when has blaming others ever really helped produce the kind of massive system change that we're advocating for? Those are questions that, we don't seem to be asking at all. And as Richard Feynman quipped “I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.”
There's an old saying that, "The best way to defeat your enemy is to make him your friend"
Therefore, it may be really worthwhile to explore and analyse why the people in power behave as they do, instead of defaulting to the cognitively expedient position of blaming it on their insatiable selfishness and cupidity.
Here's a story to illustrate the point here:
“There was a small encampment of this tribe, and the tribe had a leader. And one day, a little child from that tribe came to the chief and said ‘Chief, I have a question for you.’ , and the chief said ‘what?’, and he said ‘I see sometimes that people are good. And the same people who are good, I see sometimes that they are bad. How can this be?’ So the chief said ‘Because, you have two wolves in you: a good wolf and a bad wolf. And they both fight.’ So the boy thought about it and thought about it. He said to the chief, ‘Chief, which wolf wins?’, and the chief said ‘the one you feed’”
So, from this short story, we see that we all have good and bad; light and darkness; altruism and greed; peace and war; all inside us. The trick here is to understand that all humans, including the people in power, have those wolves, and that those very people have'taken a wrong turn, they got lost in this discombobulating labyrinth we call 'life'. They lost connection with their true self. They lost connection with their soul. They lost connection with their heart. And they lost connection with who it is they truly are. As Mary Wollstonecraft once said "No man chooses evil because it's evil. he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks."
I know this will court substantial backlash against me for saying this, but, in the light of all what has been said hereinbefore, I actually do not think that, someone like
Andrew Tate is truly a bad person. I actually think that once upon at time in the distant past, he was a kind, compassionate and decent person who cared for others. But somewhere along his life journey, something happened to him, and he became angry, confused, resentful, racist, discriminatory, corrupted and hateful.
Our behavior towards others is not a product of nature, but a product of nurture. Our upbringing, parents, family, friends, neighbors, classmates, colleagues, experiences, feelings, endeavors; all pour into how our adult self will be. And the people in power, be them politicians or not, had something befall them along their life journey, and that caused them to take that one wrong turn, and they got lost. They got confused, fazed and discombobulated, and they went astray.
They thus, lost that connection with their true self. That connection with their soul and their heart. That connection with who they are. And, since they couldn't find their way out in that labyrinth we call life, the had to make a move, because life had to go on, and thereby, as the years went by, they grew farther and farther from their true self, they became farther and farther from who it is they truly were, and they forgot about it. They chose to feed their bad wolf, and starve their good wolf.
Our mission, is thus, not to add to their latent and quiescent pain and memories, but to listen, to observe, to show understanding, to show empathy, to show love and care for them, to provide solace, and to never ever judge or assume.
As Jay Shetty once reminded us,
"We think we know what everyone’s going through, but the truth is: We have no idea!"
He also had added,
"Judging is critical; observing can be educational".
So let us remember that, one cannot assume and always be right. And at the end of the day,
"Those who judge, will never understand; and those who understand, will never judge."
Let us not judge or assume, but instead "respond intelligently, even to unintelligent treatment", as Sun Tau taught us.
Let us all be instruments of pure peace, wherever there is hatred, let us sow love. For love, is more powerful than hate. As Martin Luther kind reminded us "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred, only love can do that."
Jim Carrey in his 2014 commencement address reminded us of the importance of favoring love and faith over fear, hatred and false hope, where he said: "Why not take a chance on faith as well? .. Take a chance on faith. Not religion, but faith. Not hope, but faith. I don't believe in hope. Hope is a beggar. Hope walks through the fire, and faith leaps over it. You are ready and able to do beautiful things in this world. And after you walk through those doors today, you will only ever have two choices: Love or Fear. Choose Love, and don't ever let fear turn you against your playful heart"
"When I say be kind to one another, I don't mean only people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone."
So let us choose to love and be kind to one another. Let us choose to be the light in the dark; the heroes that choose to always try to understand others one more time, in a world that doesn't seem to want to be understood. The silent heroes that listen, for the letters that make up the word 'listen' also make up the word 'silent'.
One of my favourite quotes from Ram Dass, is,
"When you know how to listen, everybody is the guru."
But we must be wary and diligent inasmuch as when we listen, we do so to understand, not to reply. Let us know what we're doing, and how we're doing it. For if we don't, we risk failing future generations, and that is something that I'm sure none of us want.
Rachel Naomi Remen reminds us
"The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words".
And let us take this moment, to reassess and reevaluate our current strategy in changing the world. It is said that a question opens the mind, while a statement closes it. I say that questions aren't the lead to the answers; they are the answers.
The Dalai Lama teaches us that
"The planet doesn't need more 'successful' people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds." So, with that in mind, let us be those silent healers.
No one is born evil, just like no one is born racist, misogynist, insular, hateful, spiteful, misanthropic, antipathetic, ageist, sexist, etc .. They are conditioned by others, or in many cases, themselves, to be like that. True evil doesn’t exist. Everyone is capable of doing good. There’s goodness in ALL people, but that goodness had been buried deep down in their souls, and so it doesn’t manifest itself outwardly in the real world.
What we need to do is to believe in people (yes, even politicians, decision-makers and business leaders) and bring out the best in them that had been buried all those years, or even decades. But it is not possible to do so while we continue to harangue, berate and scold these people. I’m not even implying that they’re not reprehensible or despicably contemptible, I’m not saying they’re not culpable of the admittedly unconscionable things they've done, all I’m saying is, force creates resistance, but love builds influence, and kindness fosters trust. And from love, action based on, not money or political interests, but on true values and ‘doing-the-right-thing’ integrity-based mindset predicated on mutual trust and rectitude, could be educed.
Involving is Key
Benjamin Franklin once observed,
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."
So, ultimately, if we wish to change, better or save the world, it would pay fulsomely to just stop pontificating and preaching to people in power (be that political, fiscal or financial power) and start connecting with them. Stop lecturing and start understanding (without excusing or condoning) them.
Because, let us not forget,
The world doesn't want to be saved. It wants to be loved. That's how we save it.
Again, let's remind ourselves of it one more time "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn". We need to start involving the people in power, not just peremptorily 'ordering' them to "DO" this or "DO" that.
Here’s an excerpt from one of http://Inc.com’s most erudite and compendious articles, “How Emotionally Intelligent People Use the Rule of Rethinking to Think Like Scientists”:
"I think too many of us spend too much time thinking like preachers, prosecutors, and politicians," psychologist Adam Grant, author of Think Again, said in an interview. "When we're in preacher mode, we're convinced we're right; when we're in prosecutor mode, we're trying to prove someone else wrong; and when we're in politician mode, we're trying to win the approval of our audience. Each of these mental modes can stand in the way of 'thinking again.'"
A new dawn eventuated by us, characterised by a new strategy and approach is exigently needed. If we wish to change the world, and transform civilization and society on all fronts (environmental, climate, racial, social, economic etc..), then we'll have to guide the people in power and bring out the best in them, indirectly 'force' them to present their best selves to us; the good wolf inside of them. Cuz everyone is capable of good.We just have to help them "learn" by involving them and not constantly and rebarbatively putting them off with our tirades, perennial persiflage and sardonic contumely and invective.
As humans, we must do this. If it is to succeed, however, we will need a whole lot more than civil disobedience and sign-holding. We'll need love and understanding, we'll need empathy, we'll need the use of psychological and Neuroscience-based techniques to nudge the people in power into real action steps, and we'll need to execute all of it with impeccable emotional intelligence. (Of course, thats just one tactic in an endless ocean of potential ones).
It may seem impossible, but, as Sun Ra sagely taught us,
“The impossible has been tried and failed, now, I want to try the impossible”
But, I believe it is possible, how about you?
Ladies and gentlemen, this has been your personal writer, Yusuf Kemal.. and I invite all of us, to re-consider.
Myriads of thanks and I wish you a splendiferous day!
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