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The Self As Evil
The Self and Evil
Is self concern the root of evil?
Many may argue that selfishness is the cause of evil. We lie to others to save our own face, we avoid pledging money to a non-profit to keep the money for ourselves, well kill to fulfill our own twisted need. If we all just learned to look out for our others, to "Be our brother's keeper", couldn't we just squash this thing called evil where it started? But, as I watched "27 Dresses" last night, I remembered a conversation that I had with my mother a few months back. The conversation was based on a timeless story passed on from mother to daughter for generations. This story may sound familiar to to the women in this class, and maybe some of the guys too (if you happen to watch Lifetime, 10 Years Younger or John and Kate Plus Eight - don't worry, I won't judge). The story goes like this:
A mother spends half her life devoted to others. She is emotional support for her husband as he struggles to climb the corporate ladder, she gives up her career to raise two children, she bleeds love ever day to that husband and to her kids, and eventually, she disappears as a self. She has given everthing of herself to someone else. She cooks dinner, gives advice, finds lost toys, and eventually the kids go away and she realizes that she has no idea who she is anymore. And then she realizes, worse of all that she has completely neglected herself and her own needs. Is this evil? Is this evil done to the self?
This summer, I worked at a Peace Camp for elementary-aged students. One of our themes at camps was "Forgive and Be Courageous". We taught our campers to forgive others for the harm they do to us. But we also emphasized the importance of standing up for one's self. We didn't want to teach these children to be push-overs, to say "that's ok, I forgive you" and completely neglect themselves as people. If kids let others walk over themselves all the time, eventually they are just going to break down. And allowing one's self to be broken down like that, well, is that evil?
I was trying to go to sleep last night, and one of my apartments had some friends over. They were playing loud music and laughing and having a generally good time. But, I was trying to sleep and this joyous party in the living room was getting on my nerves. Now, my self two years ago would have marched out of my bedroom and demanded that the music be turned off and the boisterous guests be immediately kicked out of the apartment. But, I'm trying these new things called "being calm" and "being considerate of others". So I sucked it up and eventually I fell asleep. I told this story in one of my other classes, and my professor warned me about always letting others having what they want in denial of my own self-interest. I also talked about this issue with one of my other roommates. She warned me that if I didn't address the issue of the loud friends at night, that half way through the semester I may just lose it, causing even more evil than I would if I had just asked the friends to leave in the first place. So, could not looking out for my self interest now actually cause evil? Could looking out for the good of others actually cause evil?
Now I'm just confused.
Over the summer I also did some volunteer work at Ten Thousand Villages. (for those of you who don't know the store,
its a non-profit fair trade store that sells "fairly-traded handy crafts from around the globe" - good stuff, check it out). For the past few months, I haven't been able to get the image of one of these "fairly-traded handy crafts" out of my head. The craft is a soapstone statue of people holding hands in a circle. But the people aren't just holding hands, they are actually melding into each other. Its really hard to see where one of the statue people ends and the other begins. I could stare at the statue all day, trying to figure out where person A ends and where person B beings, and wondering what happens when person A needs to use the bathroom, because they're all carved out of the same piece of stone, so I guess person B and
person C are going to the toilet too. I think the statue is trying to tell me that our interests are all connected, that my roommates loud friends and my desire to sleep in peace are somehow carved out of the same piece of soapstone. I'm pretty sure King Mufasa told the same thing to Simba in the scene in the Lion King when he is showing his whole vast kingdom to his son. And then the animals break out into song and we, the audience, just start crying because the message is so darn beautiful!
But I'm still confused.
If we are all connected in some way, why do our interests seem so opposed sometimes? And how do we decide who's interests trumps who's in each situation? What is the mechanism that makes us decide whether, today,we are going to work in our own self-interest, or the interest of others, or both? Will we do the same thing tomorrow? Is that mechanism the same for all humans? Or does it vary from person to person? If we consciously decide to work towards our own interest, and ignore the interest of others, does that make us evil? What if we are oblivious to the interest of others? If we neglect our own interest in pursuit of helping another does that make us good? That's not what I taught the camper at Peace Camp.
Let's ask the Buddha, I think he may have something to contribute to this conversation. Now, I am not expert of Buddhism, but from what I do know, it has some very interesting views on the self. Meditation is an important part of Buddhist philosophy, and as I understand it, the purpose of meditation is to become more in touch with the self and then practice control over the self, only to lose oneself in the end. In meditation, you sit quietly, letting sensation come to you and then letting sensation go. Hear the bird, realize the bird, but then it go. Feel the pain, realize the pain but then let it go. This helps you connect the self to the world around you, realize how this interacts with the self, but not letting it effect the self. At the height of meditation, you actually step outside of your body and see yourself as just another entity in the universe. You are not the center of your own universe, you are just another piece of it. In this regard, you would look out for the well-being of yourself just as often as the well-being of everything else in the universe, because really, you're all just the same bits floating around in the universe. Buddha (or someone who knows him better than I do), correct me if I am wrong. I don't want to put words in your mouth.
These were just some thoughts I was having about the Self and Evil (again, not too many thoughts about Good, its just too weak...). I would love to hear what other people have to say!
Is self concern the root of evil?
Many may argue that selfishness is the cause of evil. We lie to others to save our own face, we avoid pledging money to a non-profit to keep the money for ourselves, well kill to fulfill our own twisted need. If we all just learned to look out for our others, to "Be our brother's keeper", couldn't we just squash this thing called evil where it started? But, as I watched "27 Dresses" last night, I remembered a conversation that I had with my mother a few months back. The conversation was based on a timeless story passed on from mother to daughter for generations. This story may sound familiar to to the women in this class, and maybe some of the guys too (if you happen to watch Lifetime, 10 Years Younger or John and Kate Plus Eight - don't worry, I won't judge). The story goes like this:
A mother spends half her life devoted to others. She is emotional support for her husband as he struggles to climb the corporate ladder, she gives up her career to raise two children, she bleeds love ever day to that husband and to her kids, and eventually, she disappears as a self. She has given everthing of herself to someone else. She cooks dinner, gives advice, finds lost toys, and eventually the kids go away and she realizes that she has no idea who she is anymore. And then she realizes, worse of all that she has completely neglected herself and her own needs. Is this evil? Is this evil done to the self?
This summer, I worked at a Peace Camp for elementary-aged students. One of our themes at camps was "Forgive and Be Courageous". We taught our campers to forgive others for the harm they do to us. But we also emphasized the importance of standing up for one's self. We didn't want to teach these children to be push-overs, to say "that's ok, I forgive you" and completely neglect themselves as people. If kids let others walk over themselves all the time, eventually they are just going to break down. And allowing one's self to be broken down like that, well, is that evil?
I was trying to go to sleep last night, and one of my apartments had some friends over. They were playing loud music and laughing and having a generally good time. But, I was trying to sleep and this joyous party in the living room was getting on my nerves. Now, my self two years ago would have marched out of my bedroom and demanded that the music be turned off and the boisterous guests be immediately kicked out of the apartment. But, I'm trying these new things called "being calm" and "being considerate of others". So I sucked it up and eventually I fell asleep. I told this story in one of my other classes, and my professor warned me about always letting others having what they want in denial of my own self-interest. I also talked about this issue with one of my other roommates. She warned me that if I didn't address the issue of the loud friends at night, that half way through the semester I may just lose it, causing even more evil than I would if I had just asked the friends to leave in the first place. So, could not looking out for my self interest now actually cause evil? Could looking out for the good of others actually cause evil?
Now I'm just confused.
Over the summer I also did some volunteer work at Ten Thousand Villages. (for those of you who don't know the store,
its a non-profit fair trade store that sells "fairly-traded handy crafts from around the globe" - good stuff, check it out). For the past few months, I haven't been able to get the image of one of these "fairly-traded handy crafts" out of my head. The craft is a soapstone statue of people holding hands in a circle. But the people aren't just holding hands, they are actually melding into each other. Its really hard to see where one of the statue people ends and the other begins. I could stare at the statue all day, trying to figure out where person A ends and where person B beings, and wondering what happens when person A needs to use the bathroom, because they're all carved out of the same piece of stone, so I guess person B and person C are going to the toilet too. I think the statue is trying to tell me that our interests are all connected, that my roommates loud friends and my desire to sleep in peace are somehow carved out of the same piece of soapstone. I'm pretty sure King Mufasa told the same thing to Simba in the scene in the Lion King when he is showing his whole vast kingdom to his son. And then the animals break out into song and we, the audience, just start crying because the message is so darn beautiful!But I'm still confused.
If we are all connected in some way, why do our interests seem so opposed sometimes? And how do we decide who's interests trumps who's in each situation? What is the mechanism that makes us decide whether, today,we are going to work in our own self-interest, or the interest of others, or both? Will we do the same thing tomorrow? Is that mechanism the same for all humans? Or does it vary from person to person? If we consciously decide to work towards our own interest, and ignore the interest of others, does that make us evil? What if we are oblivious to the interest of others? If we neglect our own interest in pursuit of helping another does that make us good? That's not what I taught the camper at Peace Camp.
Let's ask the Buddha, I think he may have something to contribute to this conversation. Now, I am not expert of Buddhism, but from what I do know, it has some very interesting views on the self. Meditation is an important part of Buddhist philosophy, and as I understand it, the purpose of meditation is to become more in touch with the self and then practice control over the self, only to lose oneself in the end. In meditation, you sit quietly, letting sensation come to you and then letting sensation go. Hear the bird, realize the bird, but then it go. Feel the pain, realize the pain but then let it go. This helps you connect the self to the world around you, realize how this interacts with the self, but not letting it effect the self. At the height of meditation, you actually step outside of your body and see yourself as just another entity in the universe. You are not the center of your own universe, you are just another piece of it. In this regard, you would look out for the well-being of yourself just as often as the well-being of everything else in the universe, because really, you're all just the same bits floating around in the universe. Buddha (or someone who knows him better than I do), correct me if I am wrong. I don't want to put words in your mouth.
These were just some thoughts I was having about the Self and Evil (again, not too many thoughts about Good, its just too weak...). I would love to hear what other people have to say!
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