How Suffering Can Make You Evil

One fundamental fact of life is that you will suffer because of blind chance.

But as humans, we want to understand why we suffer. Thus, it’s difficult to accept that suffering can happen for no apparent reason. Refusal to accept this fact leads you down a destructive path.

Here is how that looks like:

You suffer dreadfully and don’t accept it. Instead, you judge reality as unfair, unjust, and insufficient. You become resentful about your suffering and envious of anyone who doesn’t suffer. Your resentment and envy fester. Vengeance seems desirable and maybe even necessary. You begin to develop an increasing desire for malevolence, cruelty, and evil. Soon, you act your desires out. You begin to voluntarily and consciously increase suffering, destruction, and evil in the world.

It seems wise not to go down that path – not least because at worse your behavior becomes homicidal or suicidal. But what do you do instead?

We’ll explore answers to this question in future blog posts.