Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last several decades, it is no secret to anybody that our world is in chaos at all levels. Whether it is global regional conflict, poverty and starvation, economic disparity, political corruption, human trafficking and slavery, climate change, environmental destruction, the rise in chronic disease, pandemics, addiction or any number of other societal issues, our world seems to be falling apart at the seams.

In last week’s article, I discussed the fact that there is real evil in the world and if you don’t believe this then just look at the history of all the psychopathic political leaders who have cursed humanity from Hitler to Pol Pot to Stalin to Mao and many others, too numerous to mention here. If you read the history of these world leaders, then there is no denying that there is real evil in the world. The question is why?

This is too complex a question to answer in such a short article but I will introduce an important concept here, which is that of complacency. The reason why evil still flourishes in the world is because the majority of us are complacent. This is just another way to saying that we lack awareness. Suffering is real and rampant throughout the whole of humanity and, although there are many reasons behind this, the biggest reason is because most of us are asleep, complacent and do not speak up and take action against it.

Many people will make the argument that they are solely individuals with no voice and no power. If this were truly the case, then the founding fathers of the United States would never have waged the American Revolutionary War, which liberated the original thirteen colonies of what is now the United states from tyrannical British rule. I use this as a prime example of many cases in which a handful of individuals have stood up against tyranny and fought back for freedom.

You may make the argument that people in the developed world do not live under the same tyranny that generations in the past have suffered. However, this is far from the truth. Tyranny and corruption are rampant in the world today and the only reason you may not realize this is because you have not yet opened your eyes to it. A simple example of this is government, which heavily taxes its citizens, in most parts of the world, far beyond what it needs to efficiently runs its services. Taxation is a form of tyranny and, in my opinion, is downright evil because you are taking away somebody’s hard earned wealth, regardless of what it is used for.

Therefore, nobody in the world is free from tyranny, oppression and injustice, which are all forms of evil. We have just become so used to giving up our sovereignty that we do not even think twice about it. Not only do we give up our sovereignty to our governments but we do not think twice about the campaigns they wage domestically and abroad. For example, US foreign policy is largely based on controlling as much of the world’s natural resources and wealth as possible. This is why they have always had a vested interest in middle eastern politics, because this part of the world has the largest reserves of fossil fuels, which global economies are so highly dependent upon. In fact, if you trace back the history of US foreign policy, you can find a parallel with the rise of global terrorism.

If we can accept that we are all the victims of evil in the form of tyranny, oppression and injustice, then the question arises, why is this the case? Why have we allowed this to happen? I already mentioned that the biggest reason for this is our complacency but we have to dig deeper. You see, the roots of complacency lie in one of two places, ignorance or denial. The majority of people are not educated about the inner workings of governments and how their sole agenda is to control their population. Then there is denial, in which people may be aware of what is going on but do not acknowledge it or deny it altogether despite the evidence that is staring right at them.

It is not only governments, which are the perpetrators of tyranny and injustice but religious institutions as well. Anybody who tries to tell you that you should live your life a certain and that their way is better than another way is leading you into falsehood because if their way truly was the right way, they would not have to convince you of it. Multi-national corporations are also guilty of committing evil because they operate from the profit motive which trumps all other considerations including the raping and pillaging of nature and the earth, the wellbeing of their employees (look at sweat shops around the world where most of the products we enjoy are produced) and what will benefit their customer (look at tobacco, alcohol, processed food and fast food companies, which promote ill health in their customers, knowing very well they are doing it).

The question then arises, if most people are complacent due to ignorance or denial, then how can we do anything about the evil in the world and the institutions, including government, which perpetrate this? This will be the topic of my next article. In the meantime, look deeply at yourself and start asking yourself what you have done about the injustice that you see in your immediate environment, in your country and around the world? I am far from perfect in this regard but am always questioning myself and the answer is usually always that I have not done enough.