It is not the self that changes; the similar, the unique.
The self is not something that requires others to acknowledge its identity. Self-identity is a mixture, a blend, of the many contrasting affiliations, each unknowingly wrestle with each other, contesting for control.
Nonetheless, the self should not be mistaken with the representation of the self. What we call the need for recognition is but merely a representation with which the self, whether consciously or unconsciously, fabricates to allow it to serve its societal function.
As for him, he truly believes that there is nothing absolute in life. There is no absolute right or wrong. Rather, there are only things that seem relatively right or wrong. There is no such thing as an absolute. And as he often says to me, "This world does not and will never revolve around your expectations."
I couldn't handle the truth back then. His words have shattered my naive belief that heroes exist. And evils shall perish under the ray of light.
But what of evil itself? Of good?
Evil is a concept, a notion, that does not exist in the natural world but is intimately tied with legends and religions. The same goes for good. When a lion hunts, kills, and eats an antelope, the lion itself is not evil. It is simply the order of the nature where the strong preys on the weak. There is no moral here. There is only the survival of the fittest.
I think the same thing can be said regarding the human condition. Hobbesians believe that the human nature is corrupted at its core. In simple word, humans are born evil. Without any law to restrain them, humanity will perish. Individuals would live fearing their neighbours. Societies would ceased to function.
Nevertheless, Hobbessian's belief is true insofar as the modern nation-state is concerned. By this, it also means the capitalist mode of production as well as it means and relations. A society built from this kind of system lacks imagination. Or rather, they are too preoccupied with and disillusioned by the many representations offered by determined choices. They are trapped in their own illusions of freedom.
Such society is driven by desires. And desires would mean scarcity, which in turn means insecurity and instability, which in turn gives birth to inferiority or superiority. This is the foundation of our present society. And it is controlled and regulated by laws. We are too conditioned by the law, and determined by the structures that exist only with the presence of that law until we can't seem to think beyond the very law that we created.
Thus, we read dystopian novels. We watch dystopian movies. Each and every one of them would portray the chaos that arrives with the absence of laws. There will be no order whatsoever. And humanity will be reduced to a mindless creature, an existence without any kind of determination. The portrayal of a dysfunctional society deprived of laws symbolises evil, for chaos is the very representation of evil.
To maintain order, humanity is compelled to place values onto everything that they do so as to allow its society to survive. In this regard, evil cannot be defined in scientific terms. It is merely the fruit born of human illusions.
Yet, this doesn't mean that there is no other way to approach this problem. There is still the option of the valueless and amoral natural world. But it is also a law of a sort. And with our contaminated mind due to the long exposure to capitalism, we may not be able to return to the state of pure survival instinct void of any moral notion.
It is a question I wish to inspect further.
