A drop of delusion

Delusion is the fuel of evil. It gives oxygen to the flames of hate. It casts a shadow upon the soul, and sets up the ego as a false dictator over the true self. Mass delusion brings evil men to power, and vilifies good men as weak, clever men as ineffectual, and just men as vainglorious.  It cherishes small minds with narrow, self-important thoughts. Delusion is the fuel of evil.

It has always been with us. Bahá’u’lláh said with dismay “They regard a single drop of the sea of delusion as preferable to an ocean of certitude.” Where-ever men have brought death and operatic violence to the world, delusion has been given a free ride on the shoulders of those men.  And now it is not only spilling the blood of the innocent on the pavements. It is literally killing the world.

White nationalist are deluded into thinking they are God’s special little snowflakes. Climate change denial is a delusion that, if left unchecked could kill every living thing on the earth.  And everyone daydreams they are a superhero, as if reality has ever been able to match our deeds in our imaginations. “Earth’s dying?  We’ll just live on Mars”, say the deluded while processing through their manic phase. “God will fix it” says another, quite forgetting that their scripture quite clearly says he gave the job of overseer and caretaker to man. And who can deny that all of the greatest killers in history were also the most out of touch with reality?

The greatest weakness of democracy is that as long as people deny their responsibility to overcome their own delusion, and instead make a false virtue out of embracing it, they shall choose the most terrible and most deluded of souls to lead them into the night.