I was planning to change a lightbulb this afternoon, but I took a nap instead. I’ll change it tomorrow.
After dinner, I decided to rewatch Spectre – a Daniel Craig 007 epic. It isn’t really Superhero fare, rather more a hero epic in a Freudian motif.
In this epic, Bond is a hero caught up in a pitched battle against an evil organization whose name is Spectre. I enjoy this cinematic story because of its simplicity – a devoted, albeit flawed, protagonist is pitted against a monstrous Evil that is intent on world domination. In the story, Spectre offers the world the illusion of security as it exploits that security to rape the world. Were true evil only so straightforward and readily recognizable. Alas, it is not.
True Evil is most often mundane. It is cloaked in plausible beliefs, concealed prejudices, and casual banality – as Hannah Arendt observed of the Third Reich. Evil is could-be goodness that averts its gaze from injustice and suffering. Evil is ordinary people choosing to mind their own business rather than risk the adversity of getting involved.
For much of my life, Evil and I have been on congenial terms. On those occasions when I have turned my back on Evil, I have benefitted not. That’s what makes it so easy for Evil to prevail. Good rarely benefits us directly when we embrace it. Instead, Good most often benefits others. That’s what makes our relationship with goodness so difficult. Doing nothing, the most banal form of Evil, is what is easiest. I know; I put changing that lightbulb off to tomorrow. It was what was easiest.
Now, I am going to go back to watch the remainder of James Bond’s Spectre tale. Perhaps there is something to learn from this modern epic.