I will admit it. I’m a fan of the TV show Criminal Minds. I know the show illustrates the seamier side of life. I don’t watch the show reveling in those things. The two things that I enjoy most about the show are: 1) the challenge of trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together along with the FBI agents in figuring out who the Unsub is and what is actually going on; and 2) the philosophical quote(s) that are sometimes thrown in during the show, and the ones that always occur at the end of the show as the agents debrief about the case. The following quote is one of the throw-ins. At one point, Agent Reid says “When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you.” When I tried to track down this quote I found it was part of a longer quote from Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil”
The whole quote is “Battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster. When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you.” Most commentators suggest that Nietzsche was trying to say that if you spend too much time with evil, you will fall into evil.
I would like to suggest another possibility for those of us living with aphasia, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s, or for those who serve as our caregivers. Spending too much time concentrating on what has been taken away, can draw us deeper into the abyss of negativity and depression. I know from personal experience how easy it is to get frustrated when I can’t do things that I could previously do almost without effort. When that happens I have to shift gears and listen to the other voice that says but look at what you can do. You are a person. You are alive. You still have so much to offer others. One of the most important things we can do is to stand on the edge of that abyss and warn others so that they can avoid falling into it.
Interesting post! On Nietzsche’s quote — isn’t it possible that if good people spend so much time with evil, the evil will fall into goodness? Sometimes there is no choice but to stay among evil but there is always a choice to not be one.
On concentrating on what has been taking away — one of the ways I cope with loss is to list down what were lost and opposite I list what are gained. Surprisingly there is so much gain coming from just one lost.
Blessings to you. You are special 🙂
Thank you and blessings to you. You are special.
Yes, sometimes there is no choice but to stay among evil. In fact, in scripture we are commanded to among them, but not of them. That is very difficult, look at some of the scriptural examples, Lot’s family was among evil, but couldn’t stay away from it. The Israelites were commanded not to marry the heathen because they would be dragged into their practices, look at Solomon. A picture that I just thought of and haven’t completly throught through yet is the idea of opening your house to one mouse or one cock roach, soon your house will be over run with them. There are examples where the righteous remained pure among the evil, such as Daniel and his three compatriots. But much of the time, it goes the other away.As you suggest there is always a choice to not be one. It is just so much easier to go along with the crowd.