(This is Part 26 of a series. Go back to Part 25.)
Last night I saw a very interesting documentary film. It was simply a 1 1/2 hour interview with Hitler's private secretary from 1943 until his death in 1945. She was in daily contact with him during this time, and what she has to say about him is quite fascinating.
She describes a man who was so consumed by an idea that he could think of nothing else. Hitler did not originate this idea, which had been expressed by various right-wing ideologues for some decades, but merely bought wholeheartedly into it. The added filip is that he then found himself in a position to be able to put it into action.
What was the idea? That he, Hitler, should create a greater Germany, a magnificent structure of a pure Aryan race which could show the world what a truly superior country could look like—Greater Germany was to become a sort of shining country for the world, as it were.
Now of course in order to achieve this magnificent structure some aspects of society would have to be removed, those Jews and immigrants not formed of pure Aryan stock. However, by his private secretary's account, this did not trouble Hitler at all. Why? Because these troublesome aspects were serving the much greater cause, and could not compare with the noble goal he was bringing into being.
We may note several things here:
1) Hitler set up what he thought was a noble ideal, and then became obsessed by it. In other words, he attached very, very tightly to a thought, and identified with it.
2) Step two is that Hitler came to the conclusion that his end-goal was so wonderful that any means were justified in bringing it about. If millions of human beings needed to be crushed, that was okay, because it would enable this wonderful goal to be realized. A goal that, from step one, Hitler was obsessed with and could not hold lightly. Step one tends to lead directly to step two, the notion that the end justifies the means.
And in turn, once any means are justified, the gates of hell open and tremendous suffering entails.
Earlier in this series the concept was put forth that:
The means we use to achieve our end
is the actual end we achieve.
In Hitler's case, for example, the means he used were extreme aggression against other countries, and the forced liquidation of various segments of his own population.
Thus this was the actual end he achieved. Hitler is remembered for the tremendous amount of conflict and suffering that he brought to the world. The means he used became the actual end.
In a relationship, if we manipulate our partner to achieve something we want out of the relationship, what we actually achieve is a manipulative relationship. The means we used becomes the very atmosphere of the relationship itself, and that is the true end that we achieve.
If we want to bring peace to the world and yet use violent means to achieve it, we help to bring about a more violent world. If we want to bring peace to the world and we use harmonious, non-violent means to achieve it, we help to bring about a harmonious and non-violent world.
The means we use to achieve our end
is the real end we achieve.
This can be shortened even further, to the statement that the means becomes the end. But even that isn't truly distilled, because actually the means is the end. If we're using loving and compassionate means towards our end, for instance, we're achieving love and compassion right now. There's no waiting. The means is the end. Let's ponder it:
The means equals the end.
In my desperate attempts to rise out of my well-deserved insignificance, I've even formulated it into a formula. How's this for borrowed glory? I've re-arranged Einstein's famous formula e = mc2 a little bit so that the letters can apply in the area of human action. It goes like this:
The First Equation for Proposed Action:
m = e
That is, the means equals the end. What it means is that if we're thinking of any proposed action (on the level where we seem to be personal beings making choices), we take a look at the means we're using or proposing to use, knowing that this is the actual end we're presently achieving and will achieve. Then let's ask if this actual end is what we truly desire.
For instance, if we spend our life pursuing some desired aim, and in the process spend our days in dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction is what we achieve. The process of how we're living our life, the day-to-day means and process of it, is the actual end we're achieving in our life. And that is the example we're setting for others, that is what we're teaching.
And as these pages have noticed before, we can't help but be always teaching whatever we are. The process, the means, of achieving our goals, whether we're a person or a religious or political group or a nation, is our true end and also our teaching to others.
(This is the end of Part 26. Go to Part 27.)
—jim sloman, 3.20.03 for 7.8.03
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