Yesterday Reva was going through some old papers. She came into the room with an odd, quizzical look and handed me two typewritten sheets. "Look what I found," she said.
Here is what I had written twenty-five years ago.
I was utterly amazed.
IN SEARCH OF THE EVIL EMPIRE
The President has referred to the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire. While I regard this as simplistic, it did set me thinking. Is there really an Evil Empire out there somewhere? Where is it? In what way does it threaten us? What should we do about it?
In order to get a handle on this question, it is necessary reach back into our ancient past and look into the process through which the race has emerged from savagery. In the earliest times we survived only through constant vigilance. To be strong, alert and wary were primary survival traits. They were bred into the race. The need to guard the home was a real every-day consideration. Threats from outside, from over the next hill, were always imminent. In this context the inner voice whispered, "Fear the stranger, trust nobody, above all, survive!"
And we survived. We thrived. The necessary skills bred true. Strength, coupled with a fierce drive to persevere, was a remarkably effective combination. And always, always, we fought. Thus did the race grow and prosper for thousands of years.
As time passed, the basic context in which we lived gradually changed. Certainly vigilance and wariness remained useful qualities to have, but fighting became outmoded as other means of settling disputes became more widespread. The tribe living over the next hill became cooperative neighbors, no longer to be feared. But it is as though we have a biological need to distrust and fear someone. So we reached further afield; somewhere out there, beyond "our" domain, still lurked the threat.
Events progressed. Over the millennia one can see three factors falling into place:
- 1. Our need to find someone to fulfill the role of alien threat drives us to look to the most distant lands.
- 2. Our technological ability to do harm steadily increases.
- 3. The rational basis for our fear and hatred grows less convincing.
At some point it became apparent to advanced thinkers that our most ancient atavistic urges were no longer working to our advantage. The great teaching, "Love thy neighbor. Be trustful." was preached by many teachers, in many lands. This marked the point in history when we first began to appreciate our fundamental problem. The real Evil Empire had been glimpsed. For the past few thousand years we have seen the three trends gradually sharpen and focus into our current crux.
1. The focus of our fear and hatred is now
on the most distant and inaccessible of
lands.
2. Our ability to do harm has become total
-- we could easily destroy all of civilization
3. A rational basis for our savage urges no
longer exists.
The grand question before the world is whether "good" will triumph over "evil." On the side of good we have love, trust and brotherhood. Evil is represented by fear, distrust and hatred. The central thrust of religions worldwide is to promote the former characteristics. Working against that effort is all the weight of our inborn savagery. Deep down we feel that we must fight to win our security. And now, unless we see past that anachronistic compulsion, we may very well all die in a final spasm of violence -- the ultimate capitulation to our darkest drives.
Faced with this prospect, what should we now regard as the Evil Empire? The villain is not "out there," it is within each of us. Whenever we think, "It would be nice to disarm, but we can't trust Them," we reveal our ancient problem. To state it most simply, the Evil Empire, truly, is the need to believe in an Evil Empire. And while our President remains firmly in the thrall of this atavistic compulsion, then we are all in the hands of the Evil Empire. The Evil Empire dwells in the heart of Ronald Reagan, and in the heart of everyone for whom suspicion, distrust and fear seem more reasonable than trust, love and brotherhood.
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