Many people passionate about politics call their opponents demonic or embodiments of evil. It does not matter how genuinely monstrous that enemy may be: until we understand that this monster lives not only outside us but among us and within us, we will never understand what sustains its presence among us and in our society.

We will remain perpetually at war with what is outside without seeing that, long before, we were defeated inside the house of our own soul. In this way, fighters against authoritarianism fail to see the depth of authoritarianism within their own psyche. They stare into a dark abyss without recognising that the abyss also stares into them, and in fighting the monster they themselves become another monster.

As long as we search for darkness outside ourselves, we will always find some demonic figure out there to call our enemy. This gives us a cheap sense of comfort and satisfaction, but the price is that we lose the ability to see the enemy within, and what we flee from confronting will eventually stab us from behind.

Perhaps the Devil’s greatest error was not the sin he committed, but his refusal to see and accept it.

Aydin Areta

(*) Nietzsche