On Evil Deeds

Re:

NYT – “Bombings Kill at Least 171 Iraqis in Baghdad” and the Virginia Tech Shootings

When our view is informed by seeing life without the veil of the personality-when we see things objectively, in other words-we see that since most of humanity lives on the surface of themselves, out of touch with their inner depths, such behavior is inevitable and needs to be curtailed and controlled. To say, however, that such things should not happen does not make sense-they are a natural consequence of humanity’s estrangement from its depths. Also, what we consider evil behavior is simply behavior rooted in ignorance of how things really are. Rather than destructiveness estranging us from the Divine, it is an expression of our estrangement, which has nothing to do with the underlying presence of that dimension of existence. The solution to human destructiveness does not lie in trying to regulate or eradicate it but rather with connecting to a dimension within ourselves in which such behavior does not make any sense.

- Sandra Maitri, The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram (158)