We think we know what scary things exist in this world, but for most of us, thankfully, this is simply theory.
Often, we separate ourselves from the bad in the world and think of morality in terms of a rational choice made between right and wrong, wherein those who do wrong have simply made a poor choice. Most people who do wrong are people just like us who have gone astray, perhaps out of fear, selfishness, a perceived lack of choice, bad influence, or simply by mistake.
They are otherwise good people who have made mistakes. In many, if not most cases this is true. Somewhere far beyond this rationalized sense of morality, however, exist anomalies, aberrations of humanity who are simply evil.
There is no rationality behind who they are or what they do. They do wrong and they harm others because there is something sick or broken about their souls. These are the people, too far gone to be reasoned with or rehabilitated, for whom there is no return to decency.
These people are not like us. Their very presence feels alien. There is something deeply disturbing, even disgusting about them, but they may hide this part of themselves so well that we cannot see it.
There is no preparing for who they are or what they are capable of because it is so far removed from what it is to be human that it is unpredictable to our rational brains. It is animalistic and predatory. It is terrifyingly inhuman and inhumane.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Artwork by Ana, except where otherwise noted
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Meditations on God 