Good vs. evil. Two forces acting in the world with minds of their own? Are we all just a bunch of pawns? Some say that a person is either hate controlled by love or love used for the purpose of hate (refer to "true intentions", yin and yang). To me, love is a desire to make others happy. Hate is a desire to make oneself happy. It doesn't matter which you are. All are beautiful in the eyes of love. Much truth is contained in the 'perspectivism' framework. We each invent our own definitions of right and wrong. There is no universal definition as we are often told.
Background
Willpower is the tendency for a person to be themselves. How much do you want freedom? I do not believe in any objective reality, like the existence of willpower. But the concept of willpower is useful for understanding the fight between leaders and dictators. Another interesting concept is destiny. I used to smirk at this idea. I thought predetermination was unscientific. But in many ways, destiny comes from the idea that we are not in control. Destiny is tightly connected to instinct.
Socrates said "I know that I know nothing". I felt this exact way for most of my life. I used to be obsessed with the idea of uncertainty, the idea that we could never really prove anything. This attitude of questioning eventually enabled me to find what I was looking for. And when I think of the sacrifice Socrates made in support of freedom, it appears he found it also.
Many Enlightenment thinkers illustrate a contrast with the rulers of their time; these are people who approached life in an idealistic sort of way, not so much a pragmatic approach. One of my favorite people from this time is Thomas Paine.
Jesus said "love your enemies". This is advice I wish I had when I was young, for I eventually became my enemy instead. The story of Jesus is one of the most elucidating stories of all time. Here you have a man who was very wise and extremely charismatic by all accounts, yet he suffered quite a bit. Why is this? What made Jesus different from Julius Caesar? In my view, it was the nature of his will. The drive that Jesus had was to give to others, not to rule others.
Historical Figures
PARADISE LOST
Who wins in nature? Angels or demons? Imagine you're in a group of about fifty people with no set laws or titles for anyone to hide behind. Just people with total freedom. Who is the dominant one? Who is the scariest person to face? I would argue, everything else being equal, it's the person who fights for something more than themselves. It's my view that there was once a time when those who wanted power were naturally precluded from getting it. The rise of agriculture changed the natural competitive dynamic between love and hate. The size of territory that groups occupied got much bigger. Basically, people had the freedom to start up their own farm far away from others. After a while, those who were successful at this could basically create their own group within the larger "kingdom". Overall group cohesion decreased. This made it possible to carry out secret assassinations whereas before, you would need to do the deed yourself and, afterwards, you would be detected by someone very similar to the one you killed. As cliques developed within the larger group, those who wanted power saw an opportunity. One night, a very mean person sent assassins to kill the top leaders while they slept.
After this night of assassinations, the culprits used brutal tactics to enslave everyone else in the group. They began creating laws for everyone. People were told that this was in their best interest but the purpose was to further consolidate the power of the lawmakers. Not everyone agrees with the creation of laws. A group doesn't need laws in order to do well. What they need are people who stand up for what's right. Since these authoritative figures took over, everyone on Earth has been born into systems that blind us. It’s a lot like The Matrix. We think we are still “living in the 90s” and the war between good and evil is in full swing. But, really, evil won long ago.