While important distinctions are to be made between evil and insanity, illness and sin, in the book 'People of the lie' the most important distinction to remember is that to name something correctly gives us a certain amount of power over it.
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Throughout the centuries it has been believed that evil can be defined as a specific form of mental illness and should be subject to at least the same intensity of scientific investigation that we would devote to some other major psychiatric disease.
Yet evil is still evil. Auschwitz and My Lai and and Jonestown and the Oklahoma City bombing are facts. Evil is not a figment of the imagination of some primitive religious mind attempting to explain the unknown. And it is more than just a "sickness."
Psychiatrists, in general believe that the word "sick" is more appropriately applied to those who are afflicted with something for which treatment or a cure is possible - and also desired. Although the evil are operating from a "sick" perspective, the difference is that many of those who are "sick" deal with their venom internally, turning it painfully upon themselves if they choose not to seek help.
Because they lash out at others and use them as scapegoats, it is the people around them who must suffer.
Think of the ill effects caused by those who are addicted to a high opinion of themselves, to complacency and self-righteousness or far worse.
But a thinking disorder does not absolve someone of responsibility for his actions. We have the choice to think or not to think, and while evil should be considered a psychiatric diagnosis, that doesn't mean people shouldn't go to jail when they have committed a crime. Full agreement with the law, which most infrequently absolves people of a crime on the grounds of insanity. The reality is that whenever we have a choice, we should be held accountable.
It is important that we make distinctions between evil people and ordinary criminals and between evil people and ordinary sinners.
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While many think that the problem of evil is confined to those already locked up, not all inmates are truly evil people. Obviously they are destructive, and usually repeatedly so. But there is another kind of randomness to their destructiveness. Moreover, although they generally deny responsibility for their evil deeds, there is still a quality of openness to their wickedness. They themselves are quick to point out, claiming they have been caught precisely because they are the "honest criminals." The truly evil, they will tell you, always reside outside of jail. Clearly, such proclamations are self-justifying. They are also, believed, generally accurate.
Of course, an evil deed does not an evil person make. Otherwise, we would all be designated evil, because we all do evil things. But, it is widely believed it would be a mistake to think of sin or evil as simply a matter of degree. Sinning is most broadly defined and "missing the mark", which means we sin every time we fail to hit the bull's-eye. Sin is nothing less than a failure to be continually perfect, we are all sinners. We routinely fail to do the very best of which we are capable , and with each failure we commit a crime of sorts-against ourselves and others.
There are differences before the law in defrauding a business, claiming false deduction on your income tax, telling your wife that you have to work late when you are being unfaithful, or telling your husband you don't have time to pick up his cloths at the cleaner when you spent an hour on the phone with a friend.
Surely some of these deeds are more excusable than others-and perhaps all the more so under certain circumstances- but the fact remains that they are all lies and betrayals.
The reality is that we do betray ourselves and others routinely. The worst of us do it blatantly, even compulsively. The noblest of us do it subtly and self-centeredly, even when we think we are trying not to do it. Whether it is done consciously or unconsciously is of no matter; the betrayal occurs. If you imagine you are sufficiently scrupulous never to have done any such thing, then ask yourself whether there is any way in which you lied to yourself. Or have Kidded yourself. Be perfectly honest with yourself and you will realize that you sin. If you do not realize it, then you are not perfectly honest with yourself, which is itself a sin.
But those who are evil cannot be strictly defined by the magnitude of their sins or the illegality of their deeds.
It is not their sins per se that characterize them; rather it is the subtlety and persistence and the consistency of their sins.
And underlying this consistency, what distinguishes those who are evil, will always be found within the extremes that they will go to in order to avoid the consciousness of their own evil.
Educational Book Share: The Road Less Traveled and Beyond - Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety.
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