Tragic events are taking place in the world: senseless mass slaughter, terrorism, stabbing, police attacks against people who want to live independently. It may seem strange, but my impression is that they are somehow interconnected. Moreover, I think that until the world adequate people understand what the common root of evil is, these cases will continue to multiply.
But to look for these roots in conspiracy theories: among Masons, Soros, Russians, Americans, the West, Islam, or various “power centers” means not only to take the wrong direction but also indirectly to increase the scale of evil. The root is in us, inside all humans on the planet. More precisely, in the “shady” sides of our souls.
To put it shortly, our shady side is intolerance. We all believe in something, we have some goals, preferences, and plans, it’s normal, it’s impossible to live without them. It is abnormal when we give too much importance to those, absolutize, and idealize those. This brings us to the path to intolerance, and sometimes to fanaticism. Because when we absolutize anything, even principally very good or right thing, we are “isolating” ourselves from the world in this regard, and being able to communicate exclusively with the people who share our idea for 100 percent. (Since there are almost no such people in nature, in extreme cases it leads to absolute loneliness, and in this situation to become a fanatic, a serial murderer, or a “warmonger” takes only a step).
It is possible to idealize, absolutize anything: your perfection or imperfection (“I’m powerless to do anything”, or the opposite, “who are they to talk about my disadvantages?”), own health or illness, success or failure, wealth or poverty. As well as relationships with close people (“I could not expect such thing from him”), religion: how does he dare not to be a Christian (Muslim, atheist, “Jehovah’s Witness”), nationality, party membership, political doctrine, etc. Territorial integrity and right to self-determination. Receiving or failing to receive a state award. As soon as we enter the “absoluteness” field, the likelihood of taking a knife or other weapon is dramatically growing. The only way out for mankind is to step back from the “absoluteness” and to find compromises in the “relativeness”.
… After the 1988-90 revolution, renowned theatre expert Henrik Hovhannisyan was appointed a chairman of the State Television and Radio Committee. According to the victorious ANM members’ standpoint, he did something wrong in his position: I don’t remember what was that anymore. At the session of the Supreme Council, he was not only “fired”, but also subjected to a whole process of trial and judgment. I do not know why I recalled this now.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
