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| Watercolor by William Blake, ca. 1795 |
"And Caiaphas was in his own mind/A benefactor to mankind." --William Blake, "The Everlasting Gospel"
When most of us think of Hitler, Stalin or Ahmadinejad, we think of a creature who’s fallen so low that he’s become a separation – or, at best, an aberration- from the human race – someone whom we’re not like and could never possibly become. Like the superstitious, medieval peasant, we see a beast descended from the demonic line of Cain rather than a fellow human being.
When most of us think of Hitler, Stalin or Ahmadinejad, we think of a creature who’s fallen so low that he’s become a separation – or, at best, an aberration- from the human race – someone whom we’re not like and could never possibly become. Like the superstitious, medieval peasant, we see a beast descended from the demonic line of Cain rather than a fellow human being.
But what do we know of the author of evil himself – of Satan?
Wasn’t his name once “Lucifer” (which means “light-bearer”)? Wasn’t he the
mightiest, most beautiful and most virtuous of the Almighty God’s angels? Wasn’t
he presumably exalted above all the others for his righteousness? Here’s what
the Bible says:
Ezekiel 28:17: “Your
heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of
your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast
their eyes on you.”
Isaiah 14:12-15:
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.”
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.”
Evil often begins with the pride that comes from doing what’s
right. Although we don’t know what exactly it was that Lucifer did that earned
him so exalted a position, it was obviously something very good and deserving
of reward. When any of us do evil, it’s often not conscious. It begins with a
good purpose - like Hitler’s sincere desire to rescue Germany from inflation
and foreign dominance, Stalin’s to usher in an egalitarian order, or Ahmadinejad’s
to secure Iran from outside aggression – that becomes prideful. Pride then
blinds the individual to their selfishness. As they pursue their noble goal with increasing self-aggrandizement
and wickedness -with an increasing philosophy of the ends justifying the means
- they tell themselves that it’s for “the public good,” and that makes it okay.
This is critical to understand: most egregiously evil individuals honestly
believe that they’re doing what’s right.
John Milton’s classic work Paradise Lost brilliantly
captures this truth about the nature of evil. Milton portrays Lucifer’s fall as
beginning with pride that leads to righteous indignation against a God whom he begins
to believe is a tyrant.
"My sentence is for open War; Of Wiles,
More unexpert, I boast not: them let those
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.
For while they sit contriving, shall the rest,
Millions that stand in Arms, and longing wait
The Signal to ascend, sit ling'ring here,
Heav'n's fugitives, and for their dwelling place
Accept this dark opprobrious Den of shame,
The Prison of his Tyranny who Reigns
By our delay? no, let us rather choose,
Arm'd with Hell flames and fury all at once
O'er Heaven's high Tow'rs to force resistless way,
Turning our Tortures into horrid Arms
Against the Torturer."
--Satan in Paradise Lost, Bk. II
Although this is extra-scriptural, it seems to me to be an accurate depiction of evil. God is seen as "the Torturer," "the Tyrant," and rebelling against him becomes a good, a noble, a laudable act. This is borne out by scripture: Isn't the essence of Adam and Eve's rebellion that the serpent convinced them that God was selfishly holding them back from their full potential? When Milton describes the angelic rebellion Lucifer leads, he portrays it as a kind of democratic revolution against a perceived dictator. Satan and the demons were, indeed, acting from the most base and selfish motives – but they thought they were in the right. Also along these lines is J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of the king of Numenor who is so seduced and brainwashed by Sauron (Middle-Earth's Satan figure) that he leads his imperial fleet to Valinor (the land of the gods) to wage ware against the perceived injustices of the gods.
"My sentence is for open War; Of Wiles,
More unexpert, I boast not: them let those
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now.
For while they sit contriving, shall the rest,
Millions that stand in Arms, and longing wait
The Signal to ascend, sit ling'ring here,
Heav'n's fugitives, and for their dwelling place
Accept this dark opprobrious Den of shame,
The Prison of his Tyranny who Reigns
By our delay? no, let us rather choose,
Arm'd with Hell flames and fury all at once
O'er Heaven's high Tow'rs to force resistless way,
Turning our Tortures into horrid Arms
Against the Torturer."
--Satan in Paradise Lost, Bk. II
Although this is extra-scriptural, it seems to me to be an accurate depiction of evil. God is seen as "the Torturer," "the Tyrant," and rebelling against him becomes a good, a noble, a laudable act. This is borne out by scripture: Isn't the essence of Adam and Eve's rebellion that the serpent convinced them that God was selfishly holding them back from their full potential? When Milton describes the angelic rebellion Lucifer leads, he portrays it as a kind of democratic revolution against a perceived dictator. Satan and the demons were, indeed, acting from the most base and selfish motives – but they thought they were in the right. Also along these lines is J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of the king of Numenor who is so seduced and brainwashed by Sauron (Middle-Earth's Satan figure) that he leads his imperial fleet to Valinor (the land of the gods) to wage ware against the perceived injustices of the gods.
There is a lesson here for all of us. Whenever we hear that “Obama wants to destroy the
country” or “The Christian Right wants to kill homosexuals” or “Ahmadinejad is
a madman,” we should remind ourselves
that, tragically, whatever we think of these people, it's quite likely they believe that they’re
doing what’s right – even that God is on their side. That’s what makes evil so
insidious. The greatest evils are perpetrated when we believe that we can do no
wrong. And that’s why we should cringe when people act like they could never become a Hitler or a
Stalin. That attitude is the beginning that led to the infamy those two
men obtained. Our attitude should rather be “There but for the grace of God go I.”
(Entire nations, too, can fall victim to the blinding effects of pride. Read this article to see how)
(Entire nations, too, can fall victim to the blinding effects of pride. Read this article to see how)
