Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes

imposed upon other people by means of pathological egotism.

We can observe marginal Christian sects today whose begin-

nings were doubtless of this nature.

If a religion which later fell apart into numerous doctrinal

variations had such a beginning, the above-mentioned regen-

erative processes effected by healthy common sense will bring

about a point of advancement that the said religion’s ministers

perceive to be a threat to the religion’s existence. Protecting

their own faith and social position will then cause them to em-

ploy violent means against anyone daring to criticize or bring

about liberalization. The pathological process begins anew.

Such is the state of affairs we may be actually witnessing to-

day.

However, the mere fact that some religious association has

succumbed to the ponerization process does not constitute

proof that the original gnosis or vision was contaminated from

POLITICAL PONEROLOGY

273

the outset by errors which opened the door to invasion by

pathological factors, or that it was an effect of their influence.

In order for the doors to be opened to infection by pathological

factors and furthering progressive degeneration, it suffices for

such a religious movement to succumb to contamination some-

time later in its history, e.g. as a result of excessive influence

on the part of initially foreign archetypes of secular civiliza-

tion, or of compromises with the goals of the country’s rulers.

This succinct summary repeats my above adduced causes

and laws of the course of the ponerological process, this time

with regard to religious groups. Important differences should

be underscored, however. Religious associations are among the

most enduring and long-lived social structures, historically

speaking. The ponerological process in such a group runs its

course in a much larger time frame. In effect, man needs relig-

ion so much that every such group, provided it is numerous

enough, will contain a large number of normal people (gener-

ally the majority) who do not become discouraged and form a

permanent wing inhibiting the process of ponerization. The

equilibrium of the dissimulative phase is thus also to the advan-

tage of those people whose human and religious feelings are

normal. Nonetheless, isolated generations may thus have the

impression that the observed state represents its permanent and

essential characteristics, including the errors they cannot ac-

cept.

We must therefore pose the following question: Can the

most constant and sensible action based on the natural world

view and theological and moral reflections ever completely

eliminate the effects of a ponerological process which has long

been surmounted?

Based on experience gleaned from individual patients, a

psychotherapist would doubt such a possibility. The conse-

quences of the influence of pathological factors can only be

definitely liquidated if a person becomes aware that he was the

object of their activity. Such a method of careful correction of

detail may sound reminiscent of the work done by an art re-

storer who decided against removing all later paint-overs and

revealing the master’s original work in toto, but rather retained

and conserved a few failed corrections for posterity.

274

PATHOCRACY AND RELIGION

Even against the conditional backdrop of time furthering the

healing process, such efforts at step-by-step untying of knots

based on the natural world view only leads toward a moralizing

interpretation of the effects of uncomprehended pathological

factors, with the consequence of panic and the tendency to

retreat to an apparently safer side. The organism of the relig-

ious group thus will retain some dormant foci of the disease

which may become active under certain permitting conditions.

We should therefore realize that following the path of natu-

ralistic apperception of the process of the genesis of evil, at-

tributing the proportionate “fault” to the influence of various

pathological factors, can ease our minds of the burden repre-

sented by the disturbing results of a moralizing interpretation of

their role in ponerogenesis. This also permits more detailed

identification of the results of their operation, as well as defini-

tive elimination thereof. Objective language proves to be not

only more accurate and economical to work with, but also

much safer as a tool of action when dealing with difficult situa-

tions and delicate matters.

Such a more precise and consistent solution for the prob-