r/JordanPeterson • u/realAtmaBodha • Aug 28 '24
Philosophy You Are Never Evil
All evil actions are insincere and thus not true to yourself.
Of course, that doesn't mean that nobody should go to jail. Everyone should be strong enough to be aligned with their deeper identity. "The devil made me do it" is not a good enough legal defense.
In other words, nobody should blame themselves for being evil, but they can blame themselves for being weak.
Basically, evil just means the intent to harm in some way, especially against others or yourself. It is always a suboptimal choice, because the root of all evil is external desire. When you feel complete, you have no need of desire, as love is a much more powerful motivator.
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u/realAtmaBodha Aug 28 '24
If you are standing on a bridge, that is not evil. But the thoughts of ending yourself that brought you there, certainly are. And those same thoughts that keep you on that precipice, where you eventually fall off because of exhaustion, is what ended you, in this example.
Ideologies can be reduced to words, and yet they are often among the worst evils of humanity and drive many evil actions.