People of the Lie

For a long time psychiatrist M. Scott Peck pushed those in his profession to define human evil.

We tend to think of evil in abstract terms, as something that is entirely other. We say it exists, at least if we honest but insist it is hard to pin down.

Yet we know evil when we perceive it, when we stare into its face and are horrified. It can cause us to lose heart.

Evil is not only out there somewhere in the world it may live at our address.

When we are given a full glimpse of it, when it is revealed, we want to run, but the truth then does us a favour, it forces us to take a stand.

We really have no other option as this is one fight we are not allowed to sit out.

Most of all it challenges us, as we confront our own weaknesses, strengths and past failures and come to terms with those who failed us so long ago. And all the lies we believed. It forces us to hold fast to our beliefs; and to focus on where our hope lies.

Okay so I may have digressed a little.

Peck looked to define evil so that he and his colleagues could better understand the condition; and consequently how to treat it.

He was under no illusion though; at the end of the day only people who want to be helped can be helped. In other words, only people that are open to admit there just might be a big problem; somewhere!

Do you want to be healed is the question?

Sometimes it is the spirit of evil behind the person that drives them; at other times the person is so far gone that they reprobate and incapable of reflection; so this is the hill they choose to die on.

As a Christian, Peck acknowledges that evil can have a spiritual cause. This might necessitate exorcism in some cases. Obviously, this means having to work with specialists in that area, and within religious faith.

In his book, Peck describes two such cases. Both patients, young and vulnerable, were taken advantage of by evil; I am talking about supernatural evil here folks; just so you know.

Satanic possession was at the heart of both.

Both exorcisms were successful; and in follow up therapy they improved in leaps and bounds. And that is something that would have not been possible prior to the exorcisms.

To Peck human evil goes by the name; People of the Lie, which incidentally is also the name of his book.

Here are some of Peck’s thoughts on the subject:

We cannot begin to hope to heal human evil until we are able to look at it directly. It is not a pleasant sight.

Like he says, judgement of what an evil person is needs to be made; but not until we have dealt with and spring cleaned the dark part in ourselves.

But at the end no human can save another; we cannot even save ourselves.

Defining a Psychology of Evil

Science has steered clear of the problem of evil because of the magnitude of the mystery involved. It is not that scientists have no taste for mystery, but more that their attitude and methodology is reductionist.

Then there is the opposite angle, where the appetite for mystery is as large as God himself; and the fact that He is too large to digest does not deter in the slightest. Instead, it is more like the bigger the mystery, the better.

Fact remains the problem of evil is a huge mystery; one that does not lend itself to reductionism.

Peck notes evil humans are quite common and usually appear quite ordinary, at least to the superficial observer; it is that mother of three next door or the deacon down the street.

There are thought to be two types of evil; one where people are in the process of sliding into evil. Then there is the other kind where there are those who have fallen victim to, and have been taken over by radical evil.

It is not just the actions of evil people that are wrong so are their motives, so is their thinking in general. It starts with flawed thinking, wrong premises and the like. Then comes the cherry on the cake so to speak, as they attempt to justify themselves constantly, first to themselves then to others.

When these others just don’t get it, or can’t follow the logic there is the clue.

Peck writes: evil frequently produces confusion. Describing an encounter with an evil person, one woman wrote, it was “as if I’d suddenly lost my ability to think.

“Once again, this’ reaction is quite appropriate. Lies confuse.

The evil are “the people of the lie,” deceiving others as they build layer upon layer of self-deception.

Deceiving others while being deceived?

If confused in response to a patient, the therapist must wonder if this is not the result of her or his own ignorance. But it also behoves the therapist to question: “Could the patient be doing something to confuse me?”

The evil forever flee the light of self-exposure and the voice of their own conscience, if they still have one, they are the most frightened of human beings. They live their lives in sheer terror.

They function almost like robots; just going through the motions of life. Mentally they have zoned out.