There are no evil people, only innocent, love-worthy people in the grip of the innocent, mistaken belief that they are separate and need to defend the concerns of their separate “self”at the cost of some separate “enemy.”
That’s it. This innocent mistaken belief. There is no other evil.
And when one believes they must hold onto and protect their separate self, it only ever harms them, and only in their thoughts and beliefs.
And in the struggle to defend their separate self, they will often take actions that make it easier for others to believe that they, the others, are also separate and must also defend themselves. And so evil spreads and spirals.
(And to be clear: the evil is not the defending ACTION or even the PERSON engaged in the action, it’s the BELIEF that one would ever need such an action. The action is nothing more than the inevitable consequence of the belief. It’s the belief that spirals and destroys peace.)
I have an opportunity to break the cycle when it gets to me.
My job is to recognize that in reality there is no separation, that everyone on earth is me. That everyone is doing the best we can with what we’re thinking and believing, to remember that my actions always follow from my beliefs, and to see that all the evil in my world is created when I believe myself separate and move to sustain, protect or defend that separation.
“Defense is the first act of war.”
When I recognize this, I see that I can question every thought of evil that arises and find there are no evil people, except me when I believe it (and not even that because I am always mistaken when I believe it, so even I am not evil).
The only evil that has ever existed is the confused belief that there is any evil aside from the belief that I need to sustain, protect and defend this imaginary separate self.
And that belief is the justification for every “evil” action that has ever taken place.
“The only devils in the world are the ones running around in our own hearts. That is where the battle should be fought.”