Ch 6. Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world

The Columbine shooters and mass murderers exhibit a deep, religious-level resentment toward existence.
They see humanity as irredeemable and Being itself as corrupt—leading to the desire for total destruction.
This echoes Goethe’s Mephistopheles, who states:

“I am the spirit who negates… It were better nothing would begin!”
The Columbine shooter’s manifesto reveals this nihilistic 虛無主義的 ideology:

“KILL MANKIND. No one should survive.”

Life is inherently filled with pain, injustice, and limitations.
Some suffering is self-inflicted due to poor choices or malevolence.
However, much suffering—disease, death, accidents, bureaucracy—is beyond human control.
Whose fault is it?
- Some blame God (if religious).
- Others blame fate or society (if secular).
- Some internalize blame, leading to self-hatred and despair.

Leo Tolstoy confronted the meaninglessness of life, struggling between faith and nihilism.
He identified four responses to existential crisis:
1. Ignorance – Pretending the problem doesn’t exist.
2. Mindless pleasure – Distractions like alcohol, entertainment.
3. Passive resignation – Living despite knowing life is meaningless.
4. Active destruction – Ending one’s life or destroying others.
Tolstoy feared suicide, but some go further—committing mass murder before dying.

Mass killers justify their violence as a response to life’s cruelty:
Carl Panzram, a serial killer, was brutalized as a child and took revenge on the world.
The biblical Cain & Abel story mirrors this:
- Cain suffers and blames God.
- Instead of improving himself, he kills Abel out of spite.
- The ultimate vengeance: destroying what is good to punish the creator.

Some choose a different path.
Examples of overcoming suffering without turning to evil:
- A Native artist, abused as a child, used art to heal rather than destroy.
- A woman with a cruel upbringing became a loving mother, breaking the cycle of abuse.
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a prisoner in Stalin’s gulags, rejected nihilism and exposed the evils of communism through his writing.

He suffered under Hitler, Stalin, and cancer—yet refused to become bitter.
He examined his own life, asking:

“How have I contributed to my suffering?”
Instead of blaming God, fate, or others, he took responsibility.
His book The Gulag Archipelago helped bring down the Soviet Union.

The Hebrews blamed themselves when things went wrong, not God.
Their cycle:
- Prosperity → Arrogance → Corruption → Collapse → Repentance 悔改 → Rebuilding.
- They saw failure as a failure to live righteously 公正地, not evidence of a cruel world.

The disaster was blamed on nature (act of God).
But failure to prepare was human negligence—sin by willful blindness.
The Dutch prepare for “once-in-10,000-year” storms.
New Orleans failed to complete levee improvements for 40 years—leading to disaster.
Moral lesson: Is it the world’s fault, or ours?

Suffering is inevitable, but our response defines us.
Two choices:
1. Curse existence, seek revenge, and spread destruction.
2. Accept suffering, take responsibility, and strive for goodness.
If your suffering is unbearable, and you are becoming corrupted, ask yourself:

“Am I blaming the world instead of fixing myself?”

Have you taken full advantage of your opportunities?
Are you working hard on your job/career, or letting bitterness hold you back?
Have you made peace with family members?
Are you treating your spouse and children with dignity?
Do you have self-destructive habits?
Are you taking full responsibility for your life?
Have you said what you need to say to those who matter?
Are there things you could do today to make life better?

Stop doing what you know is wrong—right now.
Don’t waste time overanalyzing—if you know it’s wrong, stop.
Trust your instincts; you don’t need to explain everything to know it’s true.
Avoid deflection and endless questioning—act instead.
Quit speaking and acting in ways that make you weak, ashamed, or deceitful.
Say only what makes you strong, and do only what you could defend with honour.

Don’t blame capitalism, politics, or external enemies.
Don’t try to fix the world before fixing yourself.
If you can’t bring peace to your household, don’t try to rule a city.
Follow your own judgment, but also respect the hard-earned wisdom of the past.

You will untangle your past and gain better judgment.
Life’s tragedies will remain tragic but will no longer spiral into bitterness and despair.
Your soul will strengthen, making you more capable of handling suffering.
Resentment, anxiety, and anger will fade.
You may come to see your existence as something to celebrate, despite vulnerability.
You will become a greater force for good and peace.

If everyone did this, the world would cease to be an evil place.
With effort, it might even cease to be tragic.
Who knows what heavens could be built if truth and responsibility guided all?