Everyday Canvas

Facing Evil with Logic

Prompt: French philosopher and political activist Simone Weil (1909–1943) said, ““Never react to an evil in such a way as to augment it.”
What is your interpretation of her words?

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To put in other words, I think she meant, in general, not to let anything negative become worse or bigger because of our actions and the way we interpret evil.

In particular, if we take apart how we address each item in anything negative, we have to start with the way we focus on the issue at hand. That is, to deal with difficulties that actually confront us, and not the side issues that spring from them or any related issues that happened in the past. Anything imaginary or irrelevant needs to be deleted from the immediate focus.

Another point is not to give in to temptation, especially the temptation of hurting oneself physically and /or emotionally out of regret or guilt feelings. Self-immolation amplifies whatever is nasty.

Another temptation can be to dominate others by using the idea of protecting them or making them feel responsible for what happened. And yet, another one could be the temptation of perversity, which fosters the idea of 'if I am hurt, so will I hurt the others'.

How we act when we come face to face with evil or anything nasty is very important. What is real and has actually happened is secondary to our judgment of it. We need to be wary of what’s subjective inside our minds, all the time.

This quote shows Simone Weil’s exceptional compassion and concern for the well-being of others. She died from TB in 1943 while helping the French Underground during World War II. Her life story is that of a mystic and a godly humanitarian being.