I was reading
The Plague by Albert Camus and I came upon this quote
"The evil that is in the world always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding. On the whole, men are more good than bad; that however, isn't the real point. But they are more or less ignorant, and is this that we call vice or virtue; the most incorrigible vice being that of an ignorance that fancies it knows everything and therefore claims for itself the right to kill. The soul of the murderer is blind and there can be no true goodness no true love with the utmost clear-sightedness."
This is a very insightful observation. I whole heartily believe what Camus is saying in this passage. Here Camus has put into words what I have so often failed to explain to others. Reading this quote has caused me to reflect upon my beliefs and perceptions of life.
One might argue that people take actions that hurt others and understand that they will do harm. I however, think that this is not totally true. If the ill willing person completely understood the harm they were doing to another person and the harm that this thinking does to themselves then they would act differently. From my observations I think that many times evil is a cycle. If one is surrounded by people who are not virtuous, it is difficult to be virtuous themselves. In this way negative thoughts and actions are allowed to manifest themselves and are spread from person to person. One persons ignorance is passed to another. An innocent child surrounded by ignorance will not know how to do good, regardless of intent. Not being able to see the opportunities for happiness that are available when helping someone else, for example.
Likewise it is more troubling for one who has been surrounded by love and compassion to do things that they know will harm others. This person probably understands, at some level, that if they make a decision that will lead to someone else being affected negatively that they would feel negative emotions such as guilt or regret.
What interested me most about this quote is what Camus says about intent. A good intention will still result in negative consequences if understanding is missing. This gets to the root of the problems that affect people everyday: lack of understanding.
