Not sure I’d place JP Sears in the same category as Dag Hammarskjöld. JP uses the word “think” constantly. I “think” this and I “think” that. And of course, “I changed my mind about...” Near the end he delivers five actions one can take to defeat evil. Um, wow. There’s so much to unpack it’s making my head spin. I love the poetry of DH though and appreciate the reminder of it here. That poem in particular is extraordinary.
I knew a little about Dag and that he was killed. I thought he was just one of those "rare" (really?) people of integrity involved in politics and diplomacy.
I didn't know he had thought deeply about all this. It was also good to see JP come out and say what he had to say.
My thoughts in reading this: Evil is relevant in this physical universe.
If we lived in a universe where something destroyed could be immediately recreated. Where someone made sad could immediately return to happiness. Where someone killed could immediately return to life. Then evil would not be so relevant. Such a universe theoretically exists, but it is not this one.
So when one destroys something I owned, or steals from me leaving me saddened, or kills me cutting my participation in the game suddenly short, then I am going to tell that one that he (she?) is "bad." And what of the one committing such acts? In this world they will quickly come to the conclusion that they ARE bad. At that point they have to make the choice of trying to repent and reform, or take on their newfound role in the game of life as an "evil person." After a few thousand lifetimes like this, that decision to be evil can become very entrenched, accompanied by the constant fear of being found out. This can result in some extremely deviant behavior.
I too have come to see evil as real over the past two years, mainly because of how I have seen not only the willingness, but the gleefulness, of the way children are being sacrificed in the name of ideologies and politics, as well as the disdain for having children in the first place. I see this running through all the current themes.
It's a lot, seeing and recognizing evil as its own disembodied force, a will apart from Man.
The challenge is, how to acknowledge it sufficiently as to avoid its traps without getting sucked into the darkness through simply academic study (for ostensibly benevolent ends, no less)?
I think that, perhaps, your SubStack title has it right: *Political* ponerology. Strip it down to cold facts. Analyze and dissect it like a robot fish. Do not give it the credence (nor credit, as autosuggest rightly affirmed) of true acknowledgement. And through the facts, we may learn to dodge it. And in the dodge, encourage it to slink back quietly into that good night, without too much more bloodshed.
It's a psychopath network. Here's what we know about them:
https://robertyoho.substack.com/p/149-testing-for-psychopathsthe-stuff#details
Not sure I’d place JP Sears in the same category as Dag Hammarskjöld. JP uses the word “think” constantly. I “think” this and I “think” that. And of course, “I changed my mind about...” Near the end he delivers five actions one can take to defeat evil. Um, wow. There’s so much to unpack it’s making my head spin. I love the poetry of DH though and appreciate the reminder of it here. That poem in particular is extraordinary.
I'm smiling from ear to ear from reading this, and seeing that copy of Political Ponerology on J.P. Sears' bookshelf.
And thanks for turning me on to Hammarskjöld.
I knew a little about Dag and that he was killed. I thought he was just one of those "rare" (really?) people of integrity involved in politics and diplomacy.
I didn't know he had thought deeply about all this. It was also good to see JP come out and say what he had to say.
My thoughts in reading this: Evil is relevant in this physical universe.
If we lived in a universe where something destroyed could be immediately recreated. Where someone made sad could immediately return to happiness. Where someone killed could immediately return to life. Then evil would not be so relevant. Such a universe theoretically exists, but it is not this one.
So when one destroys something I owned, or steals from me leaving me saddened, or kills me cutting my participation in the game suddenly short, then I am going to tell that one that he (she?) is "bad." And what of the one committing such acts? In this world they will quickly come to the conclusion that they ARE bad. At that point they have to make the choice of trying to repent and reform, or take on their newfound role in the game of life as an "evil person." After a few thousand lifetimes like this, that decision to be evil can become very entrenched, accompanied by the constant fear of being found out. This can result in some extremely deviant behavior.
I too have come to see evil as real over the past two years, mainly because of how I have seen not only the willingness, but the gleefulness, of the way children are being sacrificed in the name of ideologies and politics, as well as the disdain for having children in the first place. I see this running through all the current themes.
Beautiful article. I love Solzhenitsyn's work and found Hammarskjöld's poetry to be awesome.
It's a lot, seeing and recognizing evil as its own disembodied force, a will apart from Man.
The challenge is, how to acknowledge it sufficiently as to avoid its traps without getting sucked into the darkness through simply academic study (for ostensibly benevolent ends, no less)?
I think that, perhaps, your SubStack title has it right: *Political* ponerology. Strip it down to cold facts. Analyze and dissect it like a robot fish. Do not give it the credence (nor credit, as autosuggest rightly affirmed) of true acknowledgement. And through the facts, we may learn to dodge it. And in the dodge, encourage it to slink back quietly into that good night, without too much more bloodshed.
Hi Harrison, I also advocate psychopathy awareness in politicians. My sites are DomesticEnemies.Org , PsychopathicTimes.com , https://nopsychos.wordpress.com/research/
Inspired to echo your work today.
https://heroesvsvillains.substack.com/p/why-i-changed-my-mind-about-evil
Another relevant article to pair with the JP Sears vid and your terrific article
https://www.winterwatch.net/2022/09/in-defense-of-carl-raschkes-true-story-of-how-satanism-is-terrorizing-our-communities/