Yes, attention spans are declining, thanks to the attention economy. But I am interested more in the question of how to deal with a death cult. Not evil, because everyone thinks they are doing good in some way, for someone (maybe only for themselves). A death cult teaches its followers to hate some enemy that is a whole group, and to want to kill members of that group, because that is considered good and the will of God or the leader, or made palatable by some other machination. If death cult members were like animals who could be deterred by punishment or by killing, or by some reward, there would be either proportionate punitive ways of dealing with them, or kind "Christian" or liberal ways, like increasing their wealth, giving them land, etc. But death cult members do not respond to punishment (even killing) or reward. They just want to kill. In fact they get even more fervent when other members of their group are killed, because they love martyrdom. One doesn't have to hate such people to recognize that once they are in the cult, nothing short of killing them will stop them. Of course if someone has not entered the death cult yet, then all kinds of other measures may be possible, for example, if one can control their education, they can be taught not to hate others outside their group. Note the Sufis and other peaceful muslims, so it is possible within Islam, and most Jews do NOT hate non-Jews, only a small right wing minority does, though they have a disproportionate majority in the Israeli government.
I would find it interesting, Ugo, if you told me the history of when the Christians realized that simply allowing themselves to be massacred (turning the other cheek) was not a viable strategy with some Islamists. It worked with the Romans, but it didn't work with these new people they encountered.
Work on a lot of issues, ecology, wealth, resources and so on......
A stroke of genius in the end, the "sons" of the last end will become the perpetrators of the next still the hotel is crumbling down without anyone to notice it.
The image of Baphomet in this article is quite right in explaining this concept, the goat is the symbol of evil because is the representation of the pentacle pointing down (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigil_of_Baphomet) but the Baphomet have an additional horn so is not a pentacle but an exagram (Sigil of David) quite inverting the meaning and justifying the pentagram pointing up (also a Christian symbol - https://www.britannica.com/topic/pentagram) on his forehead: the goat is the triumph of animal nature on humanity, the fall symbolized by the pentacle pointing downward, but in the Baphomet the additional horn create the divine symbol of the exagram and represent the flame of spirit (or rationality) dominating the goat, the triumph of humanity on animal drives by the spirit (also linked to the meaning of Lucifer and his multiple nature, different from the usual devil...)
We are trained to stay childish, impulsive, short attention span, strong drive to marginal desires and similar is good for business, a lot of sales, so a lot of propaganda is toward keeping us like that, usually called publicity! Tolstoy is from another era and place, a Russia before the industrialization (feat of URSS) so driven by reality and exalting adult behaviors, so he felt things differently because didn't understand the drive of the "industrial" and "bourgeois" France: to him the ruling class is defined by bound of "honor" and mutual obligations prevalent military in origin with little drive toward monetary gain, France of the revolution is driven by the bourgeois class of merchants with little interest in the "honor system" of a nobility that had just killed.
Evil is a prospective, is an evaluation of our gains or lost, world just is cause and consequences, the religions help us to subsume animalism that looks for personal gains (good is my gain) for something like a global consciousness (good is the gain of all) trying to imitate the Divine, one and the same with "all".
Yes, attention spans are declining, thanks to the attention economy. But I am interested more in the question of how to deal with a death cult. Not evil, because everyone thinks they are doing good in some way, for someone (maybe only for themselves). A death cult teaches its followers to hate some enemy that is a whole group, and to want to kill members of that group, because that is considered good and the will of God or the leader, or made palatable by some other machination. If death cult members were like animals who could be deterred by punishment or by killing, or by some reward, there would be either proportionate punitive ways of dealing with them, or kind "Christian" or liberal ways, like increasing their wealth, giving them land, etc. But death cult members do not respond to punishment (even killing) or reward. They just want to kill. In fact they get even more fervent when other members of their group are killed, because they love martyrdom. One doesn't have to hate such people to recognize that once they are in the cult, nothing short of killing them will stop them. Of course if someone has not entered the death cult yet, then all kinds of other measures may be possible, for example, if one can control their education, they can be taught not to hate others outside their group. Note the Sufis and other peaceful muslims, so it is possible within Islam, and most Jews do NOT hate non-Jews, only a small right wing minority does, though they have a disproportionate majority in the Israeli government.
I would find it interesting, Ugo, if you told me the history of when the Christians realized that simply allowing themselves to be massacred (turning the other cheek) was not a viable strategy with some Islamists. It worked with the Romans, but it didn't work with these new people they encountered.
W & P is written from the heart. This is its immense power.
A beautifully written and profound meditation, Ugo.
I suggest seeing this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTDdIO74BuA&ab_channel=MAGNETFILM
Work on a lot of issues, ecology, wealth, resources and so on......
A stroke of genius in the end, the "sons" of the last end will become the perpetrators of the next still the hotel is crumbling down without anyone to notice it.
A delightful and thought provoking inquiry and I loved War and Peace, so thank you 🙏🏻
We can't define an absolute evil, so.....
The image of Baphomet in this article is quite right in explaining this concept, the goat is the symbol of evil because is the representation of the pentacle pointing down (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigil_of_Baphomet) but the Baphomet have an additional horn so is not a pentacle but an exagram (Sigil of David) quite inverting the meaning and justifying the pentagram pointing up (also a Christian symbol - https://www.britannica.com/topic/pentagram) on his forehead: the goat is the triumph of animal nature on humanity, the fall symbolized by the pentacle pointing downward, but in the Baphomet the additional horn create the divine symbol of the exagram and represent the flame of spirit (or rationality) dominating the goat, the triumph of humanity on animal drives by the spirit (also linked to the meaning of Lucifer and his multiple nature, different from the usual devil...)
We are trained to stay childish, impulsive, short attention span, strong drive to marginal desires and similar is good for business, a lot of sales, so a lot of propaganda is toward keeping us like that, usually called publicity! Tolstoy is from another era and place, a Russia before the industrialization (feat of URSS) so driven by reality and exalting adult behaviors, so he felt things differently because didn't understand the drive of the "industrial" and "bourgeois" France: to him the ruling class is defined by bound of "honor" and mutual obligations prevalent military in origin with little drive toward monetary gain, France of the revolution is driven by the bourgeois class of merchants with little interest in the "honor system" of a nobility that had just killed.
Evil is a prospective, is an evaluation of our gains or lost, world just is cause and consequences, the religions help us to subsume animalism that looks for personal gains (good is my gain) for something like a global consciousness (good is the gain of all) trying to imitate the Divine, one and the same with "all".