“No tree can grow to Heaven unless it’s roots reach down to Hell.”

“No tree can grow to Heaven unless it’s roots reach down to Hell.”

-Jung

In the journey to become enlightened — the path to become the greatest version of human possible — you must see the evil within yourself. Think of the worst atrocities that humankind has committed — then realize and come to terms with the fact that you hold the potential within you to commit those same atrocities. It is not enough to merely acknowledge the potential — you must truly understand/comprehend the capacity for evil within you. You must meditate on these evils, and their accompanying motivations, consequences, and feelings…feelings of enjoying inflicting evil and suffering upon others. You must feel how gratifying it can be to be Adolf Hitler for example.

Only then are you truly capable of embodying the greatest good. True goodness does not emerge from a happy ignorance of evil — these people fall apart when they encounter true evil that they do not have a theory for. This is how PTSD emerges. Goodness can only come from a true understanding of evil, and the choice to act in the good in the face of the suffering of life. This truth is written in our genetic code, and is likely why we all feel a sense of gratification when the evil villain redeems himself into the hero that saves the day.

This idea of goodness being emergent from the understanding, and subsequent rejection of evil is reflected in the story of Christ (the central figure in Western culture) rejecting the temptation of Satan three times in the Judaean desert, where Christ plays the archetype of the perfect human: he who, through unjustly being nailed to a cross and tortured by the world of unenlightened man, willingly embraces his own suffering and carries it on his back along with the suffering and darkness of all men. If we envision life as a game, and “God” as the rules/enforcer of the rules of the game, then Christ is the “perfect player” of the game who makes the correct decision in every circumstance that he encounters — that which all can aspire to. (Neo from The Matrix also plays this archetype)

The central story of Christianity is that a divine light exists within all individuals, and thus redemption and the ability to “walk in the footsteps of Christ” is inherent in all — regardless of class or status.

But first you must sort yourself out, and clean your room (both literally and metaphorically). Go into the darkest caves in your soul, and confront and slay the dragon. Then bring the treasure back to your community, returning as the triumphant hero.