Sorry for the delays this month - Allen's passing has really taken a lot more time and energy than I anticipated. Thank you for sticking with me.
Ilyin opens the chapter by pointing out that only the truly good and truly faithful get to have a say in this discussion. The spiritually lukewarm "come as you are" Christians or the "Living My Truth" folks are not morally strong enough to have a say. They always equivocate or rationalize rather than take a stand.
An interesting point that Ilyin makes in this chapter is that no one ever asks if the villain is justified or morally right in his actions, only the righteous defender or person who intervenes. They know that the villain isn't but did it anyway. It's far easier to make the virtuous person feel guilty than the villain. We saw this in our current world with both the Rittenhouse and Penny cases. No one disucssed the attackers, just the defenders. Saint Floyd is yet another example of this.
According to the text, our purpose in intervention should flow from a will to do good and to turn others to good. We must aim to strengthen & implement good in the soul.
The weak and fearful always equalize good and evil in order to justify their own inaction. They claim that everyone has a reason for the things they do and that culture/class differences cause evil behavior (sound familiar?). The truth is that evil and good ARE NOT equal and neither are people who act evil and those who act good. Never fall into this trap.
Interestingly, Ilyin said that people in his time said that you can't fix humanity's problems with incarceration and capital punishment. It is so crazy that 100 years later, we are hearing people say the exact same thing.
Ilyin points out that physical action by itself is not enough. We need faithfully directed social education towards good. Force itself is temporary, spiritual foundations are permanent.
He explains it in a good way next. Good and evil are in the mind, but they work through our physical bodies via physical action. In order to stop physical evil, we must sometimes use our bodies (physical force) to stop the evil actions of another body (physical resistance by force).
While force is sometimes needed and perfectly permissible, it's use should be limited and a last resort. Mental/spiritual complusion and reason should be used first, whenever possible, as it provides more lasting change than physical restraint does. For this same reason, we must object to things like excessive force and torture. While they might get compliance, it isn't spiritual compliance. These things also breed contempt.
Ilyin notes that you cannot use force to compel love.
According to Ilyin, the use of force should not deprive the other person for the chance to use free will to change their behavior. As long as reasoning works, it should be used and force avoided. Phyiscal force, according to Ilyin, is permissible only when psychospiritual action (reasoning/appeals to humanity) is insufficient, invalid, or unfeasible. Other factors to consider when deciding to use force include the time available (is an attack in progress or imminent), the intelligence or maturity level of the subject, the morality or culture of the subject, crowd behavior, and war considerations (not much reasoning during battle).
Ilyin makes another great point: We must always strive to comprehend the nature of evil and always be finding ways and means to overcome it.
Ilyin closes this chapter with 5 rules for the use of physical force in resistance to evil:
- We must be vigilant to recognize evil and to distinguish it from things that look similar (stupidity can look a lot like evil).
- We must learn how to prevent the growth of evil and to cultivate good.
- The one who resists must begin with spiritual measures whenever possible and understand that force is not independent of spiritual means. They must be used together.
- We must understand when to stop using force and compulsion.
- We must keep tabs on our own motives to prevent evil from growing in us as we fight evil.
I loved this chapter. Let me know your thoughts below.
