#9 - Integrate or Repent

Is there good and evil or just mistakes?

*A series of works written in one sitting — inspired by The Culture of Narcissism

Recently I angrily argued with a friend about how his pattern of behavior was hurting his friends. He later apologized and I quickly rejected it saying he had done nothing wrong. He didn’t know the effects of his actions and its effect on others and now he was enlightened and able to act in a more integrated way in the future. This is the increasingly popular therapeutic approach to morality, but is it missing something?

I’ve previously written about the increasing popularity of shadow work, which provides a mechanism for people to face their darker desires. One important question is: Is evil real? Is it within each person or a type of person? Does everyone have a desire to cause unnecessary pain and suffering?

It seems like an important distinction. If you believe some class of people, political or otherwise, are evil, then do you look for signs in everyone you meet? If you believe everyone has the capacity for evil, then how do you defend against the evil inside the house? Your friends or subconscious actions could be evil in disguise, the devil’s trick.

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts.” —The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

The therapeutic view of evil sees it as a mistaken focus that could be corrected with a steady hand and greater awareness. But there is a way in which this encourages moral relativism and erodes moral standards and responsibility. The therapeutic view is amoral; there is no clear delineation between right and wrong both in our judgements of others and thus in our own minds. Decisions about hurting others at some personal price become not a choice between good and evil, but some gradient of mistakes, a victim to outside circumstances. This therapeutic view allows more deception both internally and externally. Therapy labels as sickness what other modes might call weak, willful actions. Therapy calls for treatment when morality calls for repentance.

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”—Charles Baudelaire

The therapeutic view of evil does avoid repression and guilt. Many people’s experience being raised Christian is overwhelming repression and guilt for many fundamental desires like lust. The therapeutic view in avoiding the insistence on personal responsibility and right and wrong, allows even darker desires room to become known and healthily integrated.

Perhaps an integration of the therapeutic and moral view of evil would be a healthy path to repentance. A ritualized way to confess and explore your actions without shame, but still upholding real values of right and wrong. And of course, organized religion already tries to do this to limited effect i.e. Christian Confession. Maybe I should accept an apology as a secular form of this among friends.

Personally, I believe everyone has the capacity for evil and it breeds in resentment and suffering. While it is theoretically true that greater awareness and love can bring even the most tormented and evil into the light, practically you can’t save everyone. Many people can be practically thought of as evil or demons to be expelled rather than carefully reasoned with, loved, and integrated. The same pattern plays out internally. Both models give truth.

Finally, how do you protect against evil in the house? I think you can’t, you have to live and sleep at night. You don’t forsake companionship and sleep alone, though true stability and safety are an illusion, but instead, choose your housemates carefully before sleeping freely. While theoretically unstable, you can build higher and sleep more soundly with some support.