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Meanness, Cruelty
 (& Ruthless, Brutish, Treacherous, Dangerous)

Knowledge Base
by Roy Posner and MSS

 

On Meanness
Meanness is a weakness that calculates and demands from others the virtues one does not possess oneself. (The Mother)

Definition (of the Opposites) of Generosity & Meanness
 Meanness is an attitude of asking another to do what we cannot. We can construct a definition of generosity based on it. To give another man, without his asking, what he cannot accomplish by his best efforts can be defined as generosity. Even that generosity when it is tinged with ego is impermissible or at least will be a lever for him to hurt you. The opposite of generosity is meanness. (MSS, somewhat modified)

Definition (of the Opposites) of Generosity & Meanness
 Meanness is an attitude of asking another to do what we cannot. We can construct a definition of generosity based on it. To give another man, without his asking, what he cannot accomplish by his best efforts can be defined as generosity. Even that generosity when it is tinged with ego is impermissible or at least will be a lever for him to hurt you. The opposite of generosity is meanness. (MSS, somewhat modified)

Meanness and Ill-Will in Pride and Prejudice

On Cruelty
 Love is the reverse form of cruelty.

As years pass by, human cruelty decreases. School children being beaten up till they bled is no longer an acceptable behaviour. Punishment is replaced by discipline.

As a rule, the earlier the period we examine, the greater the cruelty permitted.

Humanity outgrows its cruelty though suffering acknowledged, tragedies, etc. Personally one can see in one's own life whether his cruelty rises or decreases. If so, what were the landmarks in his life of such a changeover to humanity or greater cruelty.

Where the personality is large and the energy great, the distorting effect of channeling all for one's own utility creates greater intensities of cruelty.

Cruelty is in the physical consciousness.

King Lear's rashness and rage borders on pure cruelty and madness.

There is an unconscious cruelty in [King Lear] Cordelia's action born out of indifference or self-forgetfulness which parallels her father's unpardonable curse on the marriage.

Instead of being expressed and out-grown the capacities for selfishness, cruelty and perversity in man get organised beneath the surface into pure evil of great intensity.

The occasion of war is a natural scene for the most primitive impulses of cruelty and animality to arise in man under the fear, stress and chaos of the situation.

The physical coming into its own has thrown up the leadership of a BRUTE. The behaviour of a brute, the cruelty of the malicious, the tyranny of the vulgar became the culture of the period.

Physical punishment and vital offence from outside presses the energy out of it by force. Hence, tyranny and cruelty are [in one sense] Grace. Discipline is a civilised version of cruelty.

The superstitious righteous weak accept their fate as a virtue of necessity. In them, the subconscious grows in revolt. When these people emerge in an altered social situation where they are masters, they tend to be cruel and enjoy their cruelty.

If the mind overstrains without sufficient emotional or vital support, the act which results is a violence against the lower nature and it has the character of cruelty. Such an act evokes a violent response from life.

Individuals, Society Abuses & Crushes the Weak or Perceived Weak
 -Society is pleasant to you when you are strong. If you are weak, or if others think you are weak, they poke fun at your expense.

-If you are quiet, the fun becomes ridicule. Soon several people will join together to fool you.

-When a poor man is found to be a success or gifted with a talent, society around him at once turns hostile and tries its best to crush him out of existence. This rule, as many other rules of life, has no exception. Neither the brother nor the mother is an exception, if there is no affection in the family. Even when someone is not weak, if they think he is weak, they try their best to cheat him, ridicule him, slight him, and neglect him publicly.

-What is respected is strength, social status.

-Bernadette was a simple, poor girl in France of the 19th century. She had a vision near the side of a river. The vision of a Lady whom others took to be the Virgin Mary repeated eighteen times in all. The girl was in bliss kneeling before the lady. The place eventually became famous and the girl after several decades was canonised as a Saint. It is a deep lesson for any observer to learn how, when she first saw the vision and word got around, the local officials ostracised her, teased her, harassed her, jailed her and her family. All for what? Because they found her defenceless, the entire society revealed its nether side of wickedness to crush her out of existence. The Church did its worst. The Major, the Magistrate, etc. joined the bandwagon. What matters to us is not what the society is, but what we are INSIDE. Let us look inside and see whether we are capable of such ridicule, whether we have treated anyone like that. If it is there, there is no spirituality as long as it is alive. (MSS, extracted)

 

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