The Pete Quiñones Show - Reading Ivan Ilyin's 'On Resistance to Evil by Force' w/ Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson - Pt. 20

Episode Date: July 25, 2026

51 MinutesPG-13Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson is a researcher, writer, and former professor of history and political science, specializing in Russian history and political ideology.Pete and Dr. Johnson continue a reading and commentary of Ivan Ilyin's 1925 book, "On Resistance to Evil by Force."Tolstoy's "What is a Jew?"The Lies of Leftism: Ivan Ilyin, Atheism and the Death of Reason in the East and West by Dr. Matthew Raphael JohnsonDr Johnson's PatreonDr Johnson's CashApp - $Raphael71RusJournal.orgTHE ORTHODOX NATIONALISTDr. Johnson's Radio Albion PageDr. Johnson's Books on AmazonJohnson's Law in Action: Venezuela and the Foreign Policy of Mass PresumptionDr. Johnson's Pogroms ArticleThe Orthodox Nationalist: Karl Marx “On the Jewish Question” (1844)Article: Karl Marx’s Theses on the Jews and the Necessity of Free Trade: Zur Judenfrage (1844) by Matthew Raphael JohnsonPete and Thomas777 'At the Movies'Support Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's SubstackPete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

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If not, here's a show. I want to welcome everyone back to our reading of Unresistance to Evil by Force by Ivan Eileen. Dr. Johnson, how are you doing today? You know, when I lived in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, I was getting my house repainted. And it was, I wanted a lighter, you know, sagey kind of green. And I was looking through the names, not the colors, but the names for the accent color. And I saw Foxy. And I said, oh, I want that one.

You said, don't you want to see it? I said, no. No, I picked it just solely because of the name. and it turned out to be like a red, you know, reddish color. It worked well. But I saw Foxy. I said, that's the one I want. So that's how I pick house colors, you know, if the name appeals to me.

I think my wife would certainly disagree with you. You sure you don't want to take a look at it? No. All righty. We got a couple pages left in this chapter, so I'm going to start reading. Physical coercion is fundamentally applicable when and to the extent that a person's inner self-control fails, and there are no spiritual and mental resources to restrain and stop their antisocial actions. This means that the threshold at which physical action becomes necessary is determined negatively. This threshold is the spiritual inadequacy of,

the person being educated and the spiritual vulnerability of the educator. Clearly, these two dimensions are not only jointly established the limit of permissibility and necessity, but also, to a significant degree, mutually determine each other. Thus, the lesser the spiritual inadequacy of the person being educated, the greater the spiritual potential for influencing them, and, accordingly, the further the threshold at which physical action as necessary is pushed. On the other hand, the educator has even less grounds to cite the objective absence of spiritual and mental resources, and an inappropriate reference to this absence directly reveals their own inadequacy. Vice versa, the more corrupted, malicious, and aggressive

the person being punished is, the sooner an objective lack of spiritual and cognitive resources can be revealed, and the sooner even an executor can give up. Yeah, the executor, not, I'm not talking about execution, just someone who brings it about, the executive branch, the implementation, you know. I struggled with the word educator. That's the word he uses. And he seems to deny that earlier in the book, that physical coercion should not have any intellectual or religious or the actual. act itself in the process of it. And I think I use the example of beating someone with an icon of Christ right in front of him. So then he'll associate Christianity with being beaten. I think he meant it in a very specific way. But there has to be, and he's talking about very ignorant. He's talking about people that we deal with every day. Back in grad school, I had many

discussions on the question of whether or not natural law can be completely eliminated from a human being to the point where there is simply no hope outside of a miracle you know and I cited you know prison documentaries you see some of these guys being put in solitary because even in prison they're uncontrollable They're in prison because they were uncontrollable. Is it, you know, is it possible that someone could reach that level? Outside of a, but, you know, now he's here, he's talking about physical coercion as in and of itself a form of education. But the threshold, as you says, yes, is at least in part based on the ignorance of the person being educated.

there's some people who there's nothing more irritating than someone who's both arrogant and ignorant sometimes I envy those people who could know nothing and they don't know that they don't know anything

and so they're very self-assured you know and that's something along the lines of what he's talking about here in the words maybe they really are in incapable of reason, partially what I mean by natural law, enhance freedom.

They can't have, they're incapable of autonomy. They're incapable of a free act based on a real rational and cognitive process. And we know we have people like that, but is it possible to totally eliminate that? and you know the american prison system does a pretty good job of that in some people but i i do think it's possible and and you know you can't assume that and it's pretty easy to realize uh in a conversation when you're dealing with somebody i think i think you know this pretty quickly that the guys are ignoramus and because of that uh reason may not be the best route to get to him.

You know, it's this is, you know, he's, and he realizes how difficult this is. The good, those who want to bring about a positive result in society have so many variables to take into consideration. The evil have nothing. They could just do whatever the hell they want. But the good has to be extremely careful. And the evil always have that, the evil always have that, the advantage, at least for that reason, among many others. But, you know, the more corrupted, malicious, and aggressive the person being punished is the sooner the objective lack of spiritual and cognitive resources can be revealed.

And then the next step, the sooner even an executor, someone who's actually doing the punishing, to simply give up because even that won't have any impact. Now, I don't know if he's talking about mental illness here, where they're simply, They really are incapable of they don't live in the real world. Or they're just talking about normal people who are simply evil. And that line, again, is very, very, very difficult. So, you know, the use of physical coercion is necessary in many, on many occasions. And it seems like he's already almost admitting that, yeah, you're going to make mistakes.

nothing's perfect no system is perfect no individual is perfect um but you know as I was translating this reading this I was thinking of a few people popped into my head from many years ago people who I don't think were capable of of any sustained thought whatsoever so getting them to do something you had to have a carrot and stick very obvious carrot and stick in front of them

and that's to a great extent what he's talking about about here. Physical influence is permissible when it is necessary and it is necessary when mental and spiritual persuasion is insufficient, ineffective, or unrealizable. The conditions that determine the occurrence and presence of such a moment are varied and complex and can hardly be fully listed. These may be, firstly, objective conditions not connected with the personality of the person being coerced nor with the personality of the one coercing, such as are the conditions of time, space and scope of influence. The shorter the time given for influence or for prevention, the shorter the period of time.

The more immediate the action, for example, one moment before a shot from a pistol, the greater the distance separating the intervener from the perpetrator. The more extensive, the composition of the object of influence, for example, the need for rapid and energetic influence on a crowd, an army, the population, the population, the population, the population of an occupied territory. The less feasible are internal measures of struggle, the sooner their expediency, perhaps their complete hopelessness is revealed. These may be secondary, subjective conditions associated with either the personality of the person being coerced or the personality of the coercer. And again, in this case, I think about, you know,

policemen, especially inner city policemen, the minute he used that as an example, shot from a pistol, and how their lives are simply impossible right now if they're white. And I know that there are policemen getting killed or beaten because they don't want to shoot. They don't want to be on the evening news and I protest and everything else. They know what the media is capable of. you know, in certain cases, you simply have to make a decision right away. You have to be totally stuick about it.

And that's the end of it. Whatever happens happens. All you know is that it's necessary right now, even if it leads to terrible circumstances later for you personally. Well, you personally, that's not the issue here. we talked last time about how the regime romanticizes criminals and criminality all the time especially non-white criminality I don't want to talk about IQs or anything like that

response times and all the rest but in many cases there is no in struggle. You can't sit there and reason it out. You are put in a terrible position right away. And I know I read about, actually, I've read about it in American Renaissance and places like that, a policeman who simply just been shot because they're scared to shoot first, even though they know that the person is armed, he's of the wrong race. It's an impossible position. and yet the stoic mentality it seems that you do what you do your duty regardless of what happens to you as a result which is easy to say us sitting here in our offices but for someone who

chooses that kind of life you know they have to be prepared for that kind of thing to happen or they themselves will be murdered. Now, we keep using the example of the guy with a kid and the knife. But we haven't mentioned whether or not the person will just turn around and do it on you. And the minute he turns around, you may have a very short period of time to think this through. I think, you know, in America we have the, I don't know, I'm sure Alabama is a standard ground state for home invasion. But prosecutors have ripped that apart. Yeah, you're going to be in court for a long time, even if you're 100% self-defense.

And you're going to be in the newspaper. And God forbid, there's a difference in races. Black guy invades one of our homes, God forbid, that will be on the news, no matter how obviously self-defense is based on it. you know, you don't have very long to think about it. And God knows you can't quote scripture to the guy expecting any change in behavior. So there's a lot of examples you could use here. But again, it just shows how absurd Tulsaoy's point of view is, especially in these extreme examples.

The lower the general spiritual level of the person being coerced, for example, mental retardation or moral stupidity. of a person, ignorance, illiteracy, drunkenness of the masses, upbringing in a religion of cruelty and hatred, weakness of legal consciousness and patriotic feeling in the country, the stronger the person's obsession, for example, the violence of a madman, mass psychosis, or his evil will, for example, the cruelty of a career criminal, the sooner the critical moment may arrive, weakening all mental and spiritual means as such. Finally, the more mentally helpless, such as a deaf, a foreigner does not speak the language, or spiritually disarm the person coercing, such as a pedagogical inexperienced, the uncalled-for leader, the impotence of the government in the absence

of public opinion, incorruptibility, and honest press in the country, the more difficult it is for him to wage to struggle by purely spiritual means. How many times have I said, this could have been written yesterday. Problems are exactly the same. You know, they make the argument, the left makes the argument that a huge percentage of those in state prison for violent crimes are mentally ill. And my answer to that is no kidding, you know, because I have committed these acts. But I absolutely love his examples. Ignorance, drunkenness, upbringing in a religion of cruelty and hatred. You know, Talmudism is probably what he's referring to that.

I don't think he's talking about Islam. I mean, I don't think he would have experienced that at all. You know, and then, of course, interestingly, the impetus of the government. Now, natural law is very clear, and I think there's no society in the universe that rejects this notion, that if the government cannot or will not protect you and your property, you have to do it yourself. And of course, in America, that will be punished. I don't know. I mean, I remember back in 92, the rooftop Koreans, some of my favorite people on the planet,

they were arrested for breaking into the gun shop across the street and the fact that they were successfully protecting their stores, really from an ethnic point of view. This is Korea town, you know. The left was outraged with them. They probably had been conscripted. They served in the South Korean Army at one point. They knew what they were doing.

And in fact, they stopped whatever the rioters were doing at that point. Impetence of the government, no question. And, you know, honest press, all of these stories, and we all know what I'm talking about, are lied about. White comp suits a black guy. The press says he's doing it for no reason. He shows a picture, his third grade graduation picture or something like that to inflame public opinion. And you have to go to one of our journals to get the real story,

what actually happened. And, you know, their love, their love for the left in general, their love for the violent criminal. It's a certain type of violent criminal, you know, That's something I've considered for a long time. But the impotence of the government could be, you know, deliberate or indelibur.

But I also think of something like Shays Rebellion. Now, I'm right here, Shays Rebellion was in Massachusetts. Whiskey Rebellion was right here where I live. And over fairly small increases in taxation, that would benefit the wealthy, you know, they shot the tax man no problem. I mean, to the extent where George Washington had to get out of retirement to fight them. I mean, ultimately, that's where, right after the, right after the Revolutionary War ended. And that they were immediately ready to form militias and take violent action. I mean, it was inconceivable today what was considered normal at the founding generation.

Of course, there was ethnic concerns. I spent a lot of time, actually, on the anti-federalists and Chez's Rebellion and Whiskey Rebellion, the Freeze Rebellion. But this is a situation where rather than government impotence, they're talking about government overreach. And the only way to deal with that was with violence. And there's a reason that no one knows about these rebellions. you know, specialists know about them, but otherwise, you ask someone, give me your opinion on Shay's rebellion, they don't know what the heck you're talking about. Back in 2020, they were going to defund the police and essentially for law enforcement,

law enforcement they were going to use, you know, psychologists who are going to wage the struggle, as he says, by purely spiritual meaning. I can't, you know, I can't imagine. And they don't, in certain places, they did. You know, the Detroit Police Department was cut in half, even though it's overwhelmingly black. Over the years, the LAPD has been less than half as it was in 92. So the point is, the context of all this is extremely important. We're dealing with somebody, you know, especially if someone you don't know, who may be drunk, who may be mentally ill.

what I mean by retarded a talmudist who doesn't know anything but cruel to your hatred and no one's going to come and support you because of the lack of patriotic feeling in the country so you know I think the Shate Rebellion is is extremely important to bring up I love talking about it because it fits in perfectly here.

The government was raising taxes so that the federalist wealthy get their money on war bombs, and they wouldn't have it. They were hanging people, you know, something that was, again, inconceivable today. And in this case,

they weren't even talking about whether the, you know, their opponents were not illiterate, They were not ignorant. They were not, you know, retarded. It was simply a government overreach. But the fact that he uses, you know, lack of an honest press, where the Normans really do think that white cops shoot, you know, black people for no reason all the time. We're at a point now where we can't wage the struggle by purely spiritual means. We don't even speak the same same language anymore.

We seem to have mass mental illness. Talk about weakness of legal consciousness. You know, lack of patriotic feeling. You know, we can go on and on about why our position is extremely difficult. It always reminds me of that couple. Do you remember them during in 2020 riots in St. Louis? the guy comes out with an M-16 and she had a pistol because the mob had gone out.

You remember them? The mob had left the city and had gone out into the suburbs deliberately. And they were going to start. They were destroying things. They didn't shoot anybody. They made sure, though, that they knew that we were armed. And they were arrested. And if it wasn't for the fact that they had a Republican governor

who would have pardoned them, no matter what to happen. It would be. So even taking action, even symbolic action to defend yourself was frowned upon there. The rooftop Koreans were arrested, and it wasn't just for breaking into the gun shop. So, again, this isn't necessarily, you know, impotence of the government. It's a deliberate impotence of the government. It's a system where they're there it's designed now not to defend you. So therefore you have to do it yourself and you get in trouble for it.

All of us should really be worried if we're in a position. I mean, I think of poor James Fields every day, I don't know how he's doing it. He just wanted to get home. And I watched the video when it was first aired. Some of them had guns pointed at him. and he was going like 20 miles an hour and someone had a heart attack and therefore he's in prison for the rest of his life. You know, when it comes to something like that, there is no legal protection.

Natural law has no presence there. It's a completely arbitrary system at this point, especially for people like God. Waging it by purely spiritual means? Well, that only then applies to a certain sensitive person who actually is legitimately seeking the truth. Ah, that person we can work with. What's the percentage in the population? I don't know. It is impossible to establish here, once and for all, any single meaningful criterion for an infallible solution to the problem in specific historical situations. It is possible that a spiritually strong, wise, and experienced man will continue the spiritual struggle where a spiritually weak

and experience an unwise person will be inclined to admit that spiritual means have been exhausted, but the opposite is also possible, namely that a spiritually strong and insightful person will turn to the sword where a weak, short-sighted or foolish person will still try to persuade and argue. Yeah, that they'll persuade and argue, let's say in a healthy society and something terrible happens. They will persuade and argue only because they, and that could be someone on our side, you know, short side we have plenty of short sighted to foolish people on our side will do that just precisely so they don't have to take any further action you can't blame them half the time but he's getting into the concept of self-defense here and all

the criteria that impinges on this historically socially and in your mind and the person being coerce mine. And so he comes right out and says it. It's impossible to establish a single meaningful criterion. There is no infallible solution. And the only chance we have is that spiritually strong, wise, experienced man continuing the battle and doing what we have to do regardless of the consequences. The fight against evil is a living process, a very complex one in which evil always presents itself in the form of a singular, individual, or social phenomenon. The task of the struggler is always to objectively comprehend the nature of a given phenomenon and find appropriate means to overcome it.

Participating in this struggle, each person must act according to their own best judgment, driven by love, trusting their spirit, and relying on their observation, and no one acting in this way can consider themselves immune from possible error, oversight, failure, and harm. impulse control is a big part of this. We know there's a connection between IQ and impulse control. At anything that we may do, defend ourselves, you have to be very careful about impulses. You have to be very careful about allowing the emotion of the moment, the adrenaline of the moment, to take over from your reason. That's extremely difficult to do.

he's not talking about soldiers on a battlefield he's talking about social life here and the evil always have that advantage they're sociopathic they don't have to worry about right and wrong they don't have to worry about anything they can simply do what they need to do

I mentioned the Russian Civil War before the Red Army did things to maintain unity that the white army couldn't even conceive of very harsh punishments you know they rather lose men than um and shoot them than lessen their cohesiveness that's one of the reasons they want uh the extreme levels of violence that they would take to uh not even not on on their on their own men as well as on an occupied area again something the whites couldn't conceive of and it's unfortunate That is one of the many reasons that the whites lost.

Being virtuous means that there's a certain delay in your response time. Or a sociopath, it doesn't matter. So I think of this all the time when it comes to, you know, policemen, especially in the inner city, have to follow a procedure, a set of rules, a long list of things that we're about media and everything else. And your non-white criminal doesn't have to worry about a damn thing. They could do whatever they please.

They don't have to worry about standards. And it's automatically an unequal fight. And this is why people get killed. And, again, part of why the inner cities are the way they are. For even the most sincere and well-intentioned man is prone to error, especially when forced to fight with extreme measures. No one is safe from error and harm. neither he who abstains from the struggle altogether, for he certainly does harm by encouraging and indulging,

nor he who resists with purely spiritual measures, for, given their possible inappropriateness, he gives the villain freedom of action, and at the same time profanes and discredits the power and sanctity of spiritual conversion, do not give what is holy to dogs, Matthew 7, 6, nor he who resists with external coercion and suppression, for he can overestimate power of evil will and underestimate the power of spiritual coercion. All that philosophical research can provide as a criteria for guidance is resisting evil is reduced entirely to a few comparatively formal guidelines. Okay. One, the resistor must develop sensitivity and keenness to recognize evil and distinguish it from phenomena similar in appearance. This is achieved only

gradually, only through a long and moral and religious purification of his soul, only through personal and genuine spiritually meaningful life experience. This is unfortunate because you have someone who is thrown into this position. It's not their fault. You know, a normal but decent guy goes into the wrong room and sees what I, you know, that guy with the knife going on. and what do I do? Do I kill the guy? You know, I'm armed. Do I kill the guy?

What if you kill, you know, and you know, how fast the brain processes this, but they have no experience in it. And it's not just your own personal experience. It's like the tough cop. It's been around a long time. But also your mental state. The very fact that we have

to recognize evil and distinguish it from phenomena with similar in appearance. Well, this is one of the things that evil does. It dresses up in other people's clothes. An angel of light, as a Bible says. So that's a, you know, and they're very good at that. Doctrines that sound good on paper, but are extremely destructive in practice. But those resisting evil, yeah, you know, me and you have been doing this for a very long time. We're not talking about violence here necessarily, but at this point, we know who can be reached and who can't be.

We've heard it all. I know every single one of their arguments. Actually, I could make them better than they can, which is a good position to be in, as Dostoevsky would say. but that even lowers the number of men you have that can fight. And it's a very daunting prospect, especially for a young man. And this is why you have to have a master of someone, Obi-Wan-type guy to bring you through the early stages. And, of course, have the proper religion that you could purify your soul this way

and have the mentality that God will, you know, God wills, whatever he wills, but I still have to take action against evil, including violent action, if absolutely necessary. So just in this one guideline here, we have an extremely complex set of variables. Two, the resistor must strive to understand the paths and laws by which the process proceeds. The life of evil in human souls, as well as all the techniques for its internal overcoming, developed by great righteous men and ascetics. Only those who master these laws and these techniques will be able to correctly resolve all the current issues of social education.

So he's talking about a lot of different things. In this case, we're not talking about, you know, shooting somebody. We're talking about our own soul. We're talking about, you know, protecting ourselves. And how does evil work? You know, we could explain it to people. You can explain it in great detail. You know, we know that the left functions almost exclusively by deceit and violent.

Liberalism, leftism, Marxism, they always have to be imposed at the barrel of a gun. We know their lies by now. Just because it's on a piece of paper doesn't mean it's true. Now, asceticism is really important that kind of discipline because that makes you free. that allows you to see things for what they are. You know, the concept of autonomy versus freedom. Autonomy is to will the correct thing without either internal or external force versus freedom. We should just do whatever you want, so long you don't hurt somebody.

Two very different things. autonomy comes from cynicism freedom just comes from our animal impulses if you want and the term is very abused right now but you know

he just it's such an understatement only those who master these laws and these techniques would be you know that's a huge huge statement there today

because evil has become so dominant they aren't disguising themselves Michael Hoffman taught us all about the revelation of the method came from the Rosicrucians in the 18th century that evil when it exposes itself and takes action not even disguising itself and nothing happens to them

they know that they win they've dominated us I remember thinking after the 2008 meltdown and the taxpayers were forced to bail out all of these major banks. And I say, you know, if nothing happens here, they're coming right out and saying we're bailing out these banks. They may have foreclosed on your house,

but we're also forcing you to pay to bail them out because they're in trouble now. And of course, nothing did happen. No one even talks about it anymore. They weren't hiding it. We see this many times. They're not hiding it anymore. And it is a huge risk for them, by the way.

We see what happens in Gaza. That was a huge risk and it backfired. But the example of the bailouts, that's what was very important. Nothing happened. Taxpayers were forced to bail these people out as they were foreclosing on your house. Nothing happened as a result.

But, you know, of course, he was living in a very different society than we do. he was living in a far more healthy society than we do. When choosing measures and means in the struggle, the resistor must always mentally begin with spiritual means, descending to external measures of struggle only insofar as spiritual means prove unrealistic, ineffective, or insufficient. And even when the need for physical force becomes clear that from the very beginning,

the resistor must remember that the measure is not independent, but secondary, subordinate, and extreme. God forbid, anyone listening to this has to come to this, in this situation. In many cases, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. As a white male, any action taken to defend yourself is going to be looked at differently than anyone else. No, in some cases, it's obvious. You're dealing with a psycho.

You know, you can't quote the Psalms to them. That's not going to work. Therefore, if he turns his gaze on you, you may have to defend yourself with your pistol, your rifle, whatever you have. And many of us realize, thank God this never happened. Hopefully it never will. But we know that we're going to spend, God knows how many years in court, even if we're 100% correct and exonerated, We're still going to go broke, defending ourselves from this kind of thing. But the obvious example of the psycho, you know, but there's less obvious examples.

And that's where the struggle can be found. That's where the real problem can be found. When resorting to physical force, a resistor must always seek the moment and conditions under which physical force can be used without harming the spiritual struggle, paving the way for it and thus yielding its place. for when the struggle against evil is waged correctly, all countermeasures, from self-indulgence of benevolence to one's personal enemy to the death penalty for the absolute criminal, existed an internal, organic connection of mutual support and subordination to a single goal.

And that goal is a healthy and just society. Whether it be the proper arrangement of your soul, as Plato would say, or, of forces in the state, it's basically the same thing. You know, when the struggle of evil is weighed correctly. Well, that's a big win there. And now he uses two examples that are very important, are personal enemies. Even when we've been wronged personally, especially if they're a member of the church, we have to be as apologetic as possible. outside of violence, of course.

But then he moves it to the state, the death penalty, the medieval's. And I think most rational people support the death penalty under certain conditions. That is done quickly, not like it's done today. you know people people talk about that the capital punishment doesn't work doesn't deter crime said well it's it's you have

first degree murder conviction of first degree murder they're not given a death penalty it was automatic for that or automatic for certain kinds of paedophilia that was the automatic punishment would be a different story

and also that it wouldn't it wouldn't take 40 years for it again to you, then we could talk about whether or not it worked. But theoretically speaking, the death penalty is the removal of a gangrenous limb from your body. And that's how you have to view these things. I first came across that in Thomas Aquinas. But in all the church fathers, you have some variation of this. The Russians had had a problem with the death penalty for a long time, even in the Tsarist era. but if you have a gangrenous limb that's going to infect your whole body, you have no choice but to amputate it.

And that's what the death penalty is for society. These people have declared war on society and therefore have declared war on you. And the medieval conception of penal law was, you know, you didn't have a prison system. So either you had execution Or The family had to pay huge fines Or you had to do work You know, you have become a serf for the person who you've wrong

Whatever it is or replace what you've taken Etcetera That was pretty much it Only modernity Only really Only post modernity Has required a prison system That I'm not sure what the alternative is today

Right now in 2026. But no one can think that's... I mean, it should be a huge deterrent to crime. But then again, we're also talking about people who with no impulse control who aren't thinking about that at the time a crime is committed. Or they think that they're so smart

that they're going to get away with it. So, you know, any act of violence the state or the person has to be done not because you're you're angry of course you're to be upset no reason has to dominate it and you're doing it because you want to bring about a healthy society you know i use the example a few months ago spanking your your kid you do something that that drives you crazy you don't spank them because you're pissed about it that's wrong you spank them because you want that to end. That has to be your motivation. It has to be your rational motivation, not an emotional one. Five. The resistor must constantly examine the true internal sources and motives of his personal struggle

with evil in the confidence that the objective comprehension of the evil being overcome and the mastery of the spiritual technique of struggle and the choice of means and the implementation of the struggle itself depend on this. Moreover, he must be sure. that his personal rightness and steadfastness and resistance depend on this, that in the final analysis, this determines victory or defeat? You have to be in a position to meet out that kind of punishment on a personal level. You see, and she comes all the time. You know, a teenage guy comes to take out the teenage daughter and the father gets all mad,

you know, you better not. And I always say to myself, he's going to do what you did just a few years ago with other girls' daughters. How can you possibly condemn him for wanting to do or doing the exact same thing? You can't do that. You have to be righteous first.

And it's not merely the state, but also those who work for the state in the political side of things. So again, evil doesn't have have to worry about any of this. Organized crime has to worry about this a little bit, but in terms of evil in general, they have no standards. And so these are extremely complex things. These five guidelines, and I chose that word deliberately. They're not laws, you know, like the canons in the church. They're not laws in the sense that the penal laws of Pennsylvania are laws.

their guidelines. These guidelines have developed because through spiritual experience, the people who wrote them down know exactly what they're talking about. And this list of five things may summarize a lot of what we've done up until this point. And that's why I actually list them with numbers. because I think this is extremely important. So what he's going to do, you know, he said the first four

to not raise any doubts, but everything established above. However, the fifth rule is the issue, the state of your soul as you resist evil. That's a different story. and it's hard to punish somebody for things that you just did a few years ago, you know, in family life, for example. So I think these five, this summarized a lot of what we've done up at this point. One last sentence. If the first four rules should not raise any doubts after everything established above, then the fifth rule still requires in-depth analysis and justification.

Yeah, I think this is a great place to end it. You could, you know, people who are reading this should read and reread these five things and see where you personally stand in any of this stuff. How do we go about fixing it? Because none of us are perfect in any of these things. God forbid we're putting that terrible position that we've been talking about.

But cops in the inner city, they're putting that position in every single night and we know what can happen to them. And no one gives them, you know, James Fields, any of these situations, God forbid, anyone listening to this has to deal with this. But as things get worse and worse, the chances of us having to deal with it are, you know, they go up. And so I spent a lot of time in translating these five things, made a numbered list out of it.

and I think this is extremely important for anyone who cares about this topic. All righty. I will encourage everybody to go over to the show notes and to donate to Dr. Johnson's work by his latest book, sign up for his Patreon or send them a one-off. And yeah, we'll be back in a few days with another episode. Thank you, Dr. Johnson. Appreciate you. Thank you, my friend. I appreciate you too.