Reading Ivan Ilyin's 'On Resistance to Evil by Force' w/ Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson - Pt. 23

Summary

---

The Pete Quiñones Show: Reading Ivan Ilyin’s 'On Resistance to Evil by Force' with Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson – Pt. 23

Aired: August 5, 2026
Host: Pete Quiñones
Guest: Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson

---

Episode Overview

In this installment of Pete Quiñones' ongoing series exploring Ivan Ilyin’s philosophical treatise On Resistance to Evil by Force, Pete and Dr. Matthew Raphael Johnson continue their in-depth reading and discussion, focusing on Chapter 16, which delves into "the modifications of love." The dialogue explores the distinctions and gradations between lower, sensual love and higher, spiritual love, the necessity of 'negative love,' and the moral struggles inherent in confronting evil within people and society. The conversation is rich with personal anecdotes, Orthodox Christian perspectives, philosophical references, and the gritty realities of navigating relationships in a morally compromised world.

---

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Distinguishing Types of Love

• Lower vs. Spiritual Love (05:33–09:47)
  • Lower love is based on attraction, instinct, and pleasure: “The lower form of love is structured according to the formula of one is good because one is attractive…sometimes reduced to instinctive enjoyment of another’s presence…” (C reads Ilyin; 05:33)
  • Dr. Johnson: “This is how Americans seem to function these days. It’s not to say it doesn’t have a place, but it is still the lowest place… It’s a necessity, but it has to be controlled by reason.” (B; 08:00)
  • Spiritual love prioritizes the good and aims at spiritual perfection, even at the cost of suffering.

2. Benevolence and the Difficult Path of Authentic Love

• Benevolence Over Pity (09:10–09:47)
  • True spiritual love doesn’t seek pleasure or happiness, but the perfection of the other, sometimes requiring suffering.
  • Dr. Johnson notes: “If that’s your true goal, then yeah, the path to that goal is often extremely difficult.” (B; 09:47)

3. Levels of Identification and Limitations of Empathy

• Love for Saints, God, and Others (10:58–12:34)
  • High-level spiritual love manifests in special relationships: towards saints, God, or those genuinely seeking help.
  • Dr. Johnson: “Greatness never comes through indulgence. And love certainly doesn’t refer to indulgence.” (B; 11:35)

4. The Dangers of Sentimentality and Unprincipled Kindness

• Shallow Love and Pity (15:03–16:15)
  • “Ordinary love comes to love the earthly composition of an individual person and knows nothing greater. Hence its result is a sensual and sugary morality…” (C; 15:03)
  • Dr. Johnson: “Objectless affection, which of course is never real. And kindness—he says unprincipled kindness. And he’s right…there are no principles there because what you want is not a principle, it’s a given.” (B; 15:19)

5. Conflict Between Love for God and for Neighbor

• Moral Hierarchies and Apparent Contradictions (16:15–17:44)
  • At times, service to God demands “merciless severity” toward others, and misplaced pity can be a betrayal.
  • Dr. Johnson: “Love of God and love for one’s neighbor. They should be one and the same. But…it’s very hard to keep that as one thing. And pity could lead us astray, just like lust can lead us astray.” (B; 16:54)

6. Negative Love: The Stern Face of Benevolence

• The Role of Rejection and Tough Love (18:30–20:16)
  • It’s sometimes necessary to cut people off for the sake of higher good: “A sternly condemning rejection is just what they need. It says here, maybe it stops and sobers him…I suppose there are some people who simply can’t be rehabilitated.” (B; 18:30)
  • “Going along to get along is evil. It’s a terrible thing.” (B; 18:30)

7. Philosophy: Beyond Appearances to Universal Truths

• Nominalism Critique & Plato (20:40–24:01)
  • Dr. Johnson criticizes nominalism for judging by outward appearances: “When you reject nominalism, you realize there’s a lot more than outward appearances. And people will not like you for this.” (B; 20:40)
  • Reflects on Plato’s significance: “It absolutely blew my mind that there was an actual logical argument for the spiritual life.” (B; 22:57)

8. Accepting the Burdens of Truth and Love

• Love’s Modifications in Encounter with Evil (26:06–27:10)
  • “Spiritually loving person necessarily experiences a whole series of modifications…even in the ability to treat him with elementary pity.” (C; 26:06)
  • Dr. Johnson cautions about confronting evil in others: “Sometimes that’s like awakening a sleepwalker. You better be prepared for an extreme reaction… But that’s still your obligation.” (B; 27:10)

9. Therapy and Enabling Evil

• The Dr. Melfi (The Sopranos) Analogy (30:09)
  • Dr. Johnson draws a parallel between Melfi’s therapy of Tony Soprano and spiritually enabling evil: “I couldn’t help but thinking of Dr. Melfi… when she realizes that’s in fact true. Sociopaths use therapy to get someone on their side…” (B; 30:09)

10. Boundaries of Love and Adaptability

• No Purely Evil People, Only Gradations (36:12–37:02)
  • “There’s nothing purely evil that we come across on earth. There’s always some good in something… semi evil…maybe he’s starting to be upset by what he does…you have to be very, very, very careful in what you say.” (B; 37:02)

11. Negative Love’s Final Forms

• Separation and Execution (Spiritual & Earthly) (40:26–46:34)
  • The ultimate form of rejection, after all remediation is exhausted, is removal—execution or permanent severance.
  • “Negative love gradually finds its fulfillment in the earthly removal of the rejected evildoer…even during this removal and after, spiritual love does not turn into malice or become evil. Man is given the power to pray for the executed evildoer. The church knows this prayer. It’s usually Psalm 23.” (C; 41:06)
  • Dr. Johnson: “This is also an act of love, getting rid of [evil] for the sake of others, becoming the chemotherapy of a cancerous element in society that absolutely comes from love.” (B; 41:06)

12. The Sequence of Responses to Persistent Evil

• From Disapproval to Execution (46:34–54:45)
  • Ilyin’s list of escalating actions:
    • Disapproval – Lack of Sympathy – Grief – Reprimand – Condemnation – Refusal to Cooperate – Protest – Denunciation – Persistence – Mental Coercion – Infliction of Mental Suffering – Severity – Indignation – Anger – Refusing to Communicate – Boycott – Physical Coercion – Disgust – Disrespect – Suppression – Ruthlessness – Execution. (C; 45:27)
  • Dr. Johnson: “Execution only when everything else has failed…And even then, if you’re a member of the firing squad, you’re never quite the same again…this kind of life, when you truly have principles and God is your end, it’s not going to be easy.” (B; 46:34)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“Greatness never comes through indulgence. And love certainly doesn’t refer to indulgence.”
— Dr. Johnson (11:35)

“Going along to get along is evil. It’s a terrible thing.”
— Dr. Johnson (18:30)

“When you reject nominalism, you realize there’s a lot more than outward appearances. And people will not like you for this.”
— Dr. Johnson (20:40)

“Negative love gradually finds its fulfillment in the earthly removal of the rejected evildoer…But as Ilyin says, even then, spiritual love does not become malice or evil — one can still pray for the condemned.”
— Dr. Johnson, paraphrasing Ilyin (41:06)

“Execution only when everything else has failed. And even then… you’re never quite the same again.”
— Dr. Johnson (46:34)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 05:33–09:47 – Distinction between lower love (attraction, instinct) and spiritual love (benevolence, perfection)
• 16:15–18:30 – Conflict between love for God and neighbor, justification for ‘tough love’
• 20:40–24:01 – Nominalism vs. universals, Plato's relevance, foundations for spiritual logic
• 26:06–30:09 – Modifications of love when confronting evil; dangers in trying to help those who don’t want to change (Sopranos analogy)
• 36:12–41:06 – Boundaries of love, adaptation, and justice; semi-evil people, limits of teaching and intervention
• 45:27–54:45 – Ilyin's sequence of spiritual responses; from grief to execution, and the personal aftermath

---

Closing Reflections

Both host and guest emphasize that true, spiritual love requires courage, discernment, and at times, profound self-sacrifice. The path is fraught with personal loss and social alienation—but is rooted in a deep responsibility to truth and ultimate good. The struggle, as they observe, is existential and ongoing.

Dr. Johnson: “It’s a day to day struggle and everyone knows that. And yeah, you can’t go to a person and say you’re going to have a great life following this kind of thing because you know they won’t. I mean it’s the truth and only the truth. And that’s what provokes love, true love.” (B; 55:13)

---

Next Episode: The reading and discussion of this chapter will continue, diving even further into the nature of resistance to evil and the moral responsibilities of those who recognize it.

---

For further support, references, and ways to access the show ad-free, visit The Pete Quiñones Show website and check the listed show notes.

Transcript

[A]

Hey it is Ryan Seacrest here. If you love great games and a little extra excitement to your day, I got something fun for you. Chumba Casino and I have teamed up to create an exclusive online social casino game. It's called Ryan Seacrest 10K Ways. It's fun and free to play just like all your favorites from Chumba Casino. And Every spin brings 10,000 ways to keep the good times going. Check it out and play for free today at chumbacasino. Com. No purchase necessary. VGW Group Void where prohibited by law. CTS and C is 21 sponsored by Chumbacasino.

[B]

Sam.

[C]

With election time approaching, political ads will be inserted into the episode along with other ads that frankly I'm not going to like and you aren't going to like. So please ignore them, skip by them, whatever you have to do. I don't endorse any of the ads that are inserted, but it is another way for me to generate income. So I appreciate you guys putting up with them. If you don't want to deal with them, go to the peak and yonas show.com you can subscribe through Patreon. You can subscribe through Substack which is my preferred one because with both of those you get an RSS feed. Only Patreon and only Substack give you an RSS feed. There's also a link to my website Gumroad and Subscribestar where you will get the audio files that you can download and listen to or you can stream in most cases through those locations as well. So if you want to avoid the ads, consider supporting the show. If not, just know none of these ads get any endorsement from me. Skip by them, do what you need to do. I appreciate all of you. Head on over to the Peak and yonashow.com you can get the show early and ad free over there. If not, here's the show. I want to welcome everyone back to our reading of On Resistance to Evil by Force by Ivan Ilein. Dr. Johnson, how are you doing today?

[B]

You know when I got during my divorce hearings because I took them, I didn't take them seriously. I didn't even have a lawyer. This was not in front of a judge. But my ex wife's lawyer asked me big mistake on her part how I would like to be addressed and I said well please refer to the list of titles that the present dictator of North Korea has. There are like 200 of them and pick one. She said well I said my favorite, my personal favorite Ruler of Dominica. She said okay and so wasn't the final decree, but the early paperwork says Matthew R. Johnson, a.k.a. ruler of Dominica. My divorce papers. Early. Early divorce paper. That's how seriously I took it.

[C]

Did you get divorced during COVID

[B]

Me? No.

[A]

No.

[B]

2014.

[C]

Oh, okay, okay. A long time ago, I. I got. I got divorced during COVID And there was, like, no, nothing. It was all paperwork. No. No meeting, no nothing.

[B]

Oh, no, we met. And this was not in front of a judge. I wouldn't. I'm not stupid. I wouldn't say that in front of a judge. But it was in front of one of these. In Pennsylvania, we have these masters. Divorce masters, whatever the hell they're called. And I got a smile from her, so. And the paperwork says, AKA Ruler of Dominica, I'm telling you. Oh, and also, there's a law in Nebraska that says that whale hunting is not permitted. And since there are no whales within a huge, you know, thousand miles from Nebraska, I'm assuming it refers to fat girls. I'm not 100% sure. Say how weird. How weird that state is. I'm telling you, it's the weirdest state on the planet. Especially Lincoln.

[C]

I think it's episode 61 of 200 Years Together, where at the beginning, Dr. Johnson goes over his experiences in. In Nebraska. People want to go check for that. I'm not sure. It's. It's definitely in the 60s. So,

[B]

yes, it's. I miss it sometimes. I do. But it was the weirdest place. I was there for five years. The weirdest place I've ever lived. And even every state has these weird laws, but Nebraska has the weirdest. And just, you know, almost every day I saw something bizarre coming up or down the street. So, yeah, yeah, I could go on and on for hours about that.

[C]

All righty, let's go on with the text.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[C]

Chapter 16 on the modifications of love. The beginning of the spiritual life modifies the internal structure of love in the form it takes. Usually or often only one of its varieties is called love, and the last spiritual one at that. The lower form of love is structured according to the formula of one is good because one is attractive, and is sometimes reduced to instinctive enjoyment of another's presence, or sometimes exhausted by pity for another's physical and mental suffering. In contrast, the spiritual principle, limiting the senseless outpouring of sensitivity and pointing out to love its true worthy object, constantly trains it to not idealize what one pleases it. It is good because it is attractive, but to delight in what is perfect, it is attractive. Because it is good. Furthermore, it imparts to love the inner flexibility and the diversity of outward expressions essential for spiritual life.

[B]

Those two phrases are extremely important. And it almost marks the difference, just in those few words, between medieval and modern or medieval and utilitarianism. You know, what he's really talking about here is eros. To be attracted to something the least of all, the lowest of all the levels of love. And it takes the form either of us lusting after somebody, or this endless pity for the world, suffering or something like that. And so this is how he's introducing all the limitations of the concept of love and the forms that it takes. Because it has to be limited, because we're human beings and we have very limited capacities for this

[C]

in a spiritually undeveloped and helpless person. Love begins where they like something or where they enjoy something. It flows on the plane of a soulless connection and strives for maximum inner and outer pleasure. The soulless love is most often diverted from will and reason and turn to imagination and sensation.

[B]

Yeah, this is based on fantasy, you know, this is how demons get to us. They create an image for us. They can't create, but they can invent images. And the fantasy, we may have the fantasy never. Even if we get what we want, it's never. It never comes true. But he has love here in quotes. He has quotes in the original. And it is a soulless connection. This is how Americans seem to function these days. It's not to say it doesn't have a place, but it is still the lowest place, you know, and diverted from will and reason to the lower levels of imagination and sensation. And we all know how the regime can use imagination to make money, especially from men. And so he's still talking about the lower forms of love, which, again, it's a necessity, but it has to know its place, just like passion. It's a necessity, but it has to be controlled by reason.

[C]

On the contrary, spiritual love has the power to turn away from the pleasant. It has the power to establish itself at the level of a persistent rejection. It is capable of taking the form of a difficult and joyless service. The only constant function of spiritual love is benevolence. This means that it always and sincerely wishes for everyone. Not pleasure, not enjoyment, not success, not happiness, and not even the absence of suffering, but spiritual perfection, even when it can only be acquired at the cost of suffering and unhappiness, if that's truly

[B]

your goal, and that's truly the goal you have for people, then it is a loving benevolence. It is a spiritual love. People may not like you because of it. They may not understand why you're rejecting certain things because it's harmful. Especially in raising of children, for example. Just realizing how irrational people can be and how powerful the passions are. And who controls the passions. This imagination, what he's talking about. So spiritual love, however, comes from a certain level of suffering. And if that's your true goal, then yeah, the path to that goal is often extremely difficult and the person in the middle of it may not understand and may not like you as a result.

[A]

Looking for a little Hollywood style fun? Check out Ryan Seacrest 10K Ways exclusively at Chumba Casino. There's 10,000 ways to play Get Spinning for free at Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary vgw group void we're prohibited by law. CTS and CS21+ sponsored by Trump a casino.

[C]

The next function of spiritual love, the experiential and intuitive perception of another's personality, brought in its fullness to the point of artistic identification, is far from always realized. At the lower levels of spiritual self education, it is realized primarily in relation to ideal perfect human models, saints and heroes. At the middle levels it can only be in relation to God, meditation and solitude. And at the highest levels, only in God and through God and among people, only in relation to those who themselves ask for help.

[B]

I think this is a specifically orthodox point of view where man can be the greatest saints can be deified, so to speak. And again, there's nothing wrong with having your favorite saints. I certainly do. Trying to approach Logos through meditation and solitude. Absolutely. Which is always a struggle. You're always being diverted, you're always being distracted. And I'm certainly no teacher of that. I need assistance myself, though I've been asked. But if someone knows what they want and if they want the right things, they'll understand that it's not going to be easy. A master of anything, I don't care if it's a musical instrument or anything at a very high level is not going to be easy. Greatness never comes through indulgence. And love certainly doesn't refer to indulgence.

[C]

Love at this level always wishes well, but does not always identify. And when identified, he does not always accept, approve or pity. When he approves, it is not at all out of kindness. But when he pities another, it is not with a weak willed softening either of themselves or of the sufferer. Their love is for the perfection of the beloved. And this love for the perfection of the beloved always remains stronger than the fear of their possible suffering.

[B]

It's almost a definition of being weak willed, right, that you can't handle pain, so you just won't do it. And that goes for anything worthwhile. Anything worthwhile in the world comes through pain, a discomfort of some kind or another. But. Using words like identify and identification, this could have been written again the other day. They stood the test of time. Wishing well is almost like saying goodbye to somebody, saying, I wish you well, but I certainly don't accept what you're doing. And the approval, as he says here, is not just because, oh, I love you so much, but because it's leading you to the right direction. And it's hard to do that. You see this in raising children. Sometimes the abbot of a monastery. There's a million situations like that where you have to bring people through the crucible so they come out extraordinary people on the other end. And this is. And so the weak will don't want to do any of that. They want it given to them, they want to cheat, They want to take shortcuts. And that happens all the time. But true love, and of course, the final end, of course, is God himself. St. Augustine would say that one end that never changes. Because placing your love on something on this earth, you could lose it tomorrow. So that's only a very conditional love. But even there, that's just one step to the proper worship and love of God. And bringing someone to that can be very difficult.

[C]

Ordinary love comes to love the earthly composition of an individual person and knows nothing greater. Hence its result is a sensual and sugary morality which places above all else objectless affection and unprincipled kindness.

[B]

No one in the universe has ever fallen, has ever lusted after the concept of a woman. It's always a very specific one, the, the earthly composition. It's never, it's never the form. No one, you know, the love for the. The form of a woman or man has no relationship to the love for the erotic love for just an individual. And this is all nominalism understands. And when it comes down to morality, it's a very I love everyone kind of thing. Objectless affection, which of course is never real. And kindness, he says unprincipled kindness. And he's right. Ultimately it's about what you want. And so there are no principles there because what you want is not a principle, it's a given.

[C]

On the contrary, spiritual love knows that this higher reality and in the face of it, is able to control both its tenderness and its kindness. It knows that between the two fundamental Commandments of Christ, love for God, and love for one's neighbor. Apparent conflicts are possible in which service to God's work may require merciless severity toward man. While pity for man can be tantamount to the betrayal of God's work. Knowing this, it also can navigate these apparent conflicts. But its relationship with God always remains the standards which its relationships with others are subordinated.

[B]

You know, we have to deal with this quite often. We have to cut people off. We have to cut people out of our lives because they are not interested in what we do. They have no real conception of what love is. Many people are not capable of love very much like, in my opinion, many people are not capable of being free. Love of God and love for one's neighbor. They should be one and the same. But because we're human and we live in a society and we meet many, many different people over the course of a day or a month or a week, you know, it's very hard to keep that as one thing. And pity could lead us astray, just like lust can lead us astray.

[C]

Therefore, there can be no circumstances under which it would be appropriate to betray God's work out of pity for another. But situations are always possible in which, out of love for God, one can and should restrain love for man and reduce it to the strictness of spiritual benevolence so that the second commandment remains unbroken. For generally speaking, love is not at all reducible to animal pity, which weakens both the one who pities and the one who is pitied. A person who has distinguished the image of God within himself needs not a weak and sympathetic acceptance, but is sternly condemning rejection. This rejection, which stops and sobers him, can and should have its true source and love for God in heaven and for the divine and the fallen and spiritually extinguished soul.

[B]

This is an extremely powerful paragraph. And for those who are reading along, they should probably read it a few times. You know, we may go way back with somebody, old friends, whatever. But if they're absolutely doing the wrong thing, if they become an evil person, we can't go along with it. We can't even pretend to accept it. They have to be cut off. Now, sometimes a sternly condemning rejection is just what they need. It says here, maybe it stops and sobers him. And because, you know, they respect us, we go way back. For example. Let's use an example. We go way back. And maybe he's right. But all of that should have the true source and love for God in heaven. And as he says, for the divine and the fallen spiritually extinguished soul. Again it comes back to the question whether or not logos can be completely extinguished in an individual because of its total saturation in the regime's morality. It's conceivable, I suppose there's some people who simply can't be rehabilitated. And the last thing his friends, if he has any left, should do is accept it. Even just to get along. Going along to get along is evil. It's a terrible thing. But when someone they respect says, no, I don't like this and you're doing the wrong thing, it may be exactly what they need to hear. And if that doesn't work, you may have to simply cut them off.

[C]

Thus is born and formulated that negative face of love which has always led and will continue to tempt short sighted and sentimental people, judging everything by its outward appearance and seeing neither sweet sympathy nor tender pity in the manifestations of such love. They begin to speak indignantly of hatred or malice, expressing horror and calling for an anti spiritual and cowardly compassion.

[B]

Well, most people know I have a very, very good selling book on nominalism and it's specifically its condemnation by the Church fathers. And to some extent this very concept can be found there. Nominalism leads someone to judge things by their outward appearance because there is nothing else, you know, anomalous, rejects any universal truths, there are no such things. What's left? Someone's material presence. And that's about it. Anything. And it does take a tremendous amount of strength. It was just why, you know, I mean, when I, when I first read Plato's Republic when I was 17, it, I was actually. No, I was 18. I'm sorry, it absolutely blew my mind. I never heard any argument for a form or the spiritual life at all. But such a thing has. There's no faith here. It's logic. Faith is fine, but it has to be based on a logical foundation. And Plato was extremely important in the early Church Fathers. They always used his language. Although you can't accept Plato 100%, we all know that Plato went about as far as naked reason could go. But coming across that for the first time, I began to realize, and my career almost has been expanding on that idea consistently. When you reject nominalism, you realize there's a lot more than outward appearances. And people will not like you for this. People won't understand. And it was the first step for me personally in breaking out of this epistemological dependence on the system. The, you know, the empirical locking an idea, you know, the positivist Idea that we're all raised with, that's very hard to do. And reading Plato at such a young age, and he was, you know, he's an excellent writer, so he was graspable

[C]

by me

[B]

and that was my foundation. And it absolutely blew my mind that there was an actual logical argument for the spiritual life. In his case, we're talking about the forms, and the forms, you know, later being collected into Logos or the second person of the Trinity later on with someone like Saint Justin Martyr. Saint Justin Martyr was a full scale Platonist. Of course he could reject certain aspects of Plato. You know, Plato didn't know the fullness of revelation, but the fullness of revelation is too based on a logical foundation. That's what, that's what apologetics is all about. But talking about this to your typical normie out there, it's either not going to understand you or they're going to simply reject you. And they're going to. And you'll be punished for it. The fact that you stay with it and you stick with it, that's what love is.

[A]

Tyler redick here from 2311 racing another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chumba. Jump [e-mail] let's Chumba. No purchase NECESSARY BTW GROUP VOID WHERE prohibited by law CTNC21+ sponsored by Chumba

[C]

Casino Meanwhile, in reality, the spiritual formulation of love, so necessary for a man and so difficult to acquire, imparts to love a whole series of precious modifications and in no way extinguishes or distorts its fundamental loving nature. In saying no to someone on this basis, man loves his real genuine object no less than his spiritual yes, and much more than in the typical non spiritual approval. Moreover, love capable of taking on a spiritually negative face is always deeper, more intense, more faithfully devoted than the love which in a cowardly way turns away from evil in order to avoid seeing or even to compassionately accept it.

[B]

Yeah, or simply denying it exists. You know, if you are truly convinced of God and Logos and his truth, even if you're put in that sitting, the example I always use about being forced to work in a bar, et cetera, et cetera, you will still say no every single day. That's almost a found, that's almost a heroic no. Because you know what the truth is. And these people are idiots. And when you're sober, I mean, I don't drink, but when you're sober and you watch people who are drunk, you realize how stupid they look. And that goes for any fashion not just, not just alcohol or drugs goes for anything. So, and you can have allies who will either just turn away from it or even pretend it's not real, because such a person will eventually come to accept it as true and they will drag you down because of it.

[C]

In order to understand this negative sort of love, it is necessary to keep in mind that spiritually objectified, informed love, while always remaining benevolent desire, is nothing but the spiritual enlightenment and transformation for every person. It cannot love anything evil in men. Therefore, wherever it perceives evil in a person, not weakness, not error, not a fall, not sinfulness, but self affirming, anti spiritual malice, it finds itself forced to modify its individual attitude toward the person in accordance with the evil present in his soul, while always desiring his conversion and purification, and perhaps joyfully trembling at the mere thought of the possibility of such a transformation of an evil soul. A spiritually loving person necessarily experiences a whole series of modifications in all the other functions of his life. In sympathy, approval, assistance, creative acceptance, in the desire to identify with him, in the willingness to communicate, and finally, even in the ability to treat him with elementary pity.

[B]

This is a dangerous thing. Let me break this down. Most simple element. We see someone who we like for we've liked for a long time, who is living an evil lifestyle. We attempt to talk him out of it. Well, sometimes that's like awakening a sleepwalker. You better be prepared for an extreme reaction. I mean, it's possible that they may be transformed, but not always. But then again, he's not talking about, you know, weakness or error. He's talking about anti spiritual malice, self conscious malice, you know, and you better, you better be careful. You better know what you're doing. You can't just go to someone and start preaching to them. I have long experience in this. You have to know how to approach them. You have to know them to begin with on an individual level. You have to know how to talk about it, how to bring it up. And even then the chances of you succeeding, especially today, are minimal. But that's still your obligation. You don't run away from it. If you actually, you know, love anything that's, that's part of our commission here on earth. But going off without fully knowing that, you know, you can, you can get yourself hurt doing this, depending on what we're talking about here. You know, as a criminal drug dealer or something like this, you better watch what you say. But you know, it's, you know, it's still your obligation to maybe bring them out of this some way. And you Know the chances of you doing it are probably extremely low. But you know, if you don't try, then no one will and God knows what will happen as a result. Again, that's what love is. That's what true love is. In this case, negative love. It's a rejection. But not doing anything or pretending it doesn't exist is the opposite of love.

[C]

Each of us must know this from our own experience. There are evil deeds to which we give neither sympathy nor approval. There are evil goals to which we cannot contribute. So that the mere idea that I was used to commit evil acts overwhelms the soul with mortal anguish. There are evil situations in life which the imagination finds repugnant to enter and the will find and. And the will find unbearable. There are evil people from a simple conversation with whom the soul begins to groan as if wounded. There are villains towards whom the last flash of extinguished pity can only express itself in hastening their death sentence.

[B]

Big image I have when I translated this was Tony Soprano's therapist. Initially, she thinks she can do. She can do good by him. Later on in the. In the series, she finds out, yeah, I was used to commit evil acts. Or at the very least her. Her colleagues, knowing who she was treating, explained to her that for that kind of mind, what you're doing is giving him ways to overcome the good in the future. They're just using you, you know, pointing out weaknesses. Well, that's great for them, not good for you. And I couldn't. If you haven't seen Sopranos, well, there's probably something wrong with you, but I couldn't help but thinking of Dr. Melfi, this whole. This whole paragraph, especially that phrase, I was used to commit evil acts, because that's really the. The zenith of their relationship. When she realizes that's in fact true. You know, sociopaths use therapy. I'm not a big fan of therapy. I don't think it works. But sociopaths use it to get someone on their side to plead their case and to get someone sympathetic to them that will eventually accept what they do. But that's not the case here. She always maintained her distance. And as any therapist can do, therapy comes down to. What comes down to. Comes down to logic. Your mind is confused. You know, your ends are wrong. And the means that you're. Even if you have good ends, the means that you're using to go about them are wrong. And, you know, therapy is pretty much what it comes down to. There's kinks, like a kink and a hose. And you're trying to unkink it, but for a criminal, that's good. You're making them a better criminal. And Yeah, I think Dr. Melfi was just immediately rushed into my mind when I saw this. This is exactly a huge part of the plot of the Sopranos and their relationship.

[A]

Tyler Redicure from 2311 Racing. The rush of racing. Nothing beats it. But Chumba Casino comes close. Chumba's got fast spins, fun games, daily bonuses and all the action you can handle. Now that's a ride. Ready to hit the throttle. Get in the driver's seat and head to chumbacasino.com let's Chumba Sponsored by Chumba Casino no purchase necessary VGW Group void where prohibited by law 21 terms and

[C]

conditions apply all these states, in their fundamental essence and the element that saturates them, remain a modification of spirituality and love. And therefore they can and therefore they do not become evil states and do not lead to evil deeds. Only short sightedness and superficiality can characterize them as manifestations of evil and malice. However, within the limits of love accessible to man and possible moral perfection, these states are of course incomplete and flawed. Only love for God can be absolutely whole and complete love for an absolutely whole and complete perfection. Such an attitude toward man as such.

[B]

I told a friend of mine that he was in prelest, which in Russian, the Orthodox means that they're in a state of delusion. Prelest is a Russian word for charm or charming. And it's not heresy, but it's, you know, they think things that simply aren't true. They believe themselves greater than they are. And he told me, if you were a friend, you would never accuse me of prelest. And I said, no, that's what friends are supposed to do. That's exactly the obligation of a friend, is to tell you when you're going off the path. In fact, he was an Old Believer and he had just so many converts to that. I have a book out on the Old Believers. I respect them very much and sometimes they go a little bonkers. And I started to get the impression that he was trying to find a church worthy of him. And that's when I said, okay, there's something wrong here. And I told him that. And I haven't spoken to him since. I don't know if anyone else has said the same thing. But he's not the only guy I've come across who thinks that. They come to the strictest true Orthodox Church, all calendars, not because they want to seek the Truth, but because. Or serve God properly because it makes them appear extraordinary and of great principle trying to find a church worthy of them. Sometimes that could be hard to detect. And I've detected it a few times in my life. And when you see it, you got to mention it. And among other things, that's what pre list means in Russian. It's a state of mind that you shouldn't be in. And it could go as far as actually being having total delusions about things, but it doesn't have to go that far. But when he said friends don't make those accusations, I said, that's exactly what friends do. If they give a damn about the person, that's exactly what friends do. What is wrong with you? And well, that was the end of that.

[C]

To love a person taken in isolation from God would always be incorrect based on blindness and idealization in love. For a person who reveals the true source of evil love, the necessity of curtailment and incompleteness becomes self evident. Here there is a substantively just measure, a necessary and subjectively irremovable boundary. Of course, this measure of love does not lend itself to precise quantitative determination and the mental dissection of a semi evil person into beloved virtue or unloved vice remain unrealizable. It is precisely for this reason the complexity of an incompletely loved object requires a corresponding complexity in, in the structure of an incompletely loving act. It demands self control and adaptability from love.

[B]

Of course, there's nothing purely evil that we come across on earth. There's always some good and something, you know, what's the word perversion mean? You know, in its root it means to turn away or inversion, turn something completely upside down. Something that already exists. It's good in and of itself, but you use it for evil, evil reasons. And he says something like, you know, semi evil. Meaning there's a chance here. Maybe he's just going along, maybe there's some good in him. Maybe he's, he's starting to be upset by what he does. Maybe you notice that he is, you know, getting upset by what he does and the group that he's with or whatever. Ah, that's a person. And if you, especially if you know him, that's a person. You may approach, you have to watch yourself. Again, I speak from experience. You have to be very careful with this kind of thing. And usually you can't just come, you know, blaring, you can't come straight out with it sometimes depending on circumstances. But you know, he says, this is very, very fuzzy there's no clear boundaries here. It just comes from experience. You have to know, you have to have a certain intuition about this stuff. And it's difficult. Which is why when you go on this path, you're going to lose a lot of friends, you know, whether you're converting to Orthodoxy and of course the nationalism that it implies, royalism, the anti Jewish question, you're going to lose a lot of friends. But we do this because we love the truth. And God said, I am the truth, truth, light and the life. And that's why we do it. There's no hate involved there whatsoever. But this is why we do it. And that's what love ultimately is. And we know we're going to suffer. It is not in our interest to do any of the things that we do, You know, interest in the sense of socially or financially or professionally. It's not in our interest to do what we do. But we come to a certain realization and now we have no choice. We couldn't possibly lie about it. I couldn't possibly go in front of a group of students and start talking about the Holocaust as the most evil thing that ever happened, you know, and I didn't. But you simply can't, you simply can't go along with that. So you know, this, this and this gets very complicated over time. But when you approach, he's really talking about teaching somebody and any relationship that might exist could be friends, it could be in a monastery, it could be in university, doesn't matter. Approaching them is a dangerous game. And you have to be very, very, very careful in what you say. And the better you know the person, maybe the better the chance you have. But the fact that he uses this semi evil concept, he's referring to somebody who has shown signs that they don't like where their life is going and now you really have an obligation.

[C]

All these modifications of love brought about by the encounter between genuine spirituality and genuine evil boil down to the loving acceptance, becoming impoverished in its functions, curtailed in its fullness. And as the object deteriorates, increasingly approaching a well wishing rejection, negative love gradually finds its fulfillment in the earthly removal of the rejected evildoer. But even during this removal and after its spiritual love does not turn into malice or become evil, man is given the power to pray for the executed evildoer. And the church knows this prayer. It's usually Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

[B]

Yeah, it took me a little while. There is several prayers, both in Russian and in Greek for inmates. There are special prayers for Inmates who were there unjustly, there's prayers for them who are there justly. But for executions, usually it's Psalm 23. And now you know whether that's something that someone like that is going to ever accept. You know, you never know. But as I've said before, the old medieval concept still works. Here, he says negative love gradually finds its fulfillment in the earthly removal of the rejected evildoer. Someone who has declared war on society. It's like a cancer and we are the chemotherapy or as many others example, many others have used a limb that's become saturated with gangrene. It has to be removed because if you don't remove it, it's going to kill you. It's going to take over your entire body. So you got to chop it off. This is what capital punishment means to me. The way of course Americans do. Capital punishment is absurd since it's very rarely death penalties ever. Rarely even for first degree murder. Rarely given. And when it is given, it takes what, what's the average 25 years before the execution. So you can't talk about whether or not it's deterrent or it's not a deterrent. I've known many people who reject capital punishment and they talk about that. I say, well, you only talk about its deterrent value. If it's always for first degree murder, let's say, or child molestation has passed that law in Florida, a couple of other places. But it has to be every single person. It can't just be a handful of people. First degree murder is usually life without parole. So you can talk about. But if it was automatic first degree murder, death penalty carried out in a relatively short span of time after your appeals and all that stuff, then we could talk about its value. But right now it's rarely used. And the gangrene has saturated so much of this country, as we well know. And. But that's what. But you know, that's also an act of love, getting rid of it for the sake of others, becoming the chemotherapy of a cancerous element in society that absolutely comes from love. Now, there are others who might be on our side who will do that just because they love being violence or whatever it is. That's not the person you're dealing with here. That's not what we're talking about. It's done strictly for the love of God as love of man, love of God, love of neighbor, as being one and the same thing. And so Russia didn't have a death penalty for quite a while. It went back and forth on it. And that was unfortunate, especially near the end. But yes, Psalm 23 is that prayer that the church uses for the condemned and usually at the act of execution, you know, just before it happens.

[A]

How to have fun anytime, anywhere. Step 1 Go to chumbacasino.com chumbacasino.com Got it. Step 2 Collect your welcome bonus. Come to papa.

[C]

Welcome bonus.

[B]

Step 3 Play hundreds of casino style games for free.

[A]

That's a lot of games all for free. Step 4 Unleash your excitement. Woo hoo. Chumba Chumba Casino has been delivering thrills for over a decade. So claim your free welcome bonus now and live the temple life.

[B]

Visit chambaccsino.com no purchase necessary VGW Group

[A]

void where prohibited by law 21/ Terms

[C]

and conditions apply in this objectively forced functional impoverishment and the gradual strengthening of the element of rejection within the bosom of acceptance. Spiritual love passes through a whole series of classical states. Spiritually necessary, objectively justified, and religiously true. These states express the gradual separation and removal of the one who loves from the one who loses the right to the fullness of love. They begin with the fullest possible love for a person and end with prayer for the executed criminal. These are in gradually increasing sequence. In gradually start over again. These are in gradually increasing sequence. Disapproval, lack of sympathy, grief, reprimand, condemnation, refusal to cooperate, protest, denunciation, demand, persistence, mental coercion, the infliction of mental suffering, severity, indignation, anger, refusing to communicate, boycott, physical coercion, disgust, disrespect, inability to understand their situation, suppression, ruthlessness and execution.

[B]

That. That's, you know, this is one of the more interesting passages, I think I really hope to God I got this right. You know, sometimes I use, you know, Google Translate, but you know, as just a starting point. And it usually is pretty useless on stuff like this. So I have to use my own knowledge to go in and correct it. And this is something I had to go in and correct. This seems to be, you know, from the most basic, you know, start off with. With disapproval, show that you. And of course grief. You know, you're very upset by this and that's not. This goes for individuals. This goes for, you know, states. It goes for anything. Then, you know, goes to denunciation, which is a bunch of louder concepts. Persistence of mental coercion actually is probably. I shouldn't have a comma there. Now you start getting into the affliction of mental suffering and the severity of the indignation, you know, not. Not because you enjoy causing pain. You're trying to get someone to see their light. And then if that all that doesn't work, you go to disgust and disrespect because they don't understand their situation whatsoever. And then even after you do this on a ruthless level, maybe all you have left, if they're totally incapable of freedom or love and they're, you know, maybe executioner is all you have left for an evil person society, this isn't semi evil at this point. By the time you get to disrespect here, you're starting to wonder maybe this person is incapable of loving whatsoever. This person is incapable of doing anything but being at war with society. And it's something that's an absolute. You don't like it, but it's an absolute necessity if nothing else works. And he's been saying that from the very beginning. The confrontation of evil by force, it's only justified, as St. Augustine said many times over, when all other aspects, all the other aspects fail. So if you get by execution, it could be execution by the state or it can also simply be in our personal lives, just cutting this person off, realizing that logic doesn't mean anything and you can't really talk to them anymore because they just have gone down this path. They're so deep into it, there's nothing you can do that would be that version of execution. Because if you maintained any kind of, if you maintain this, any kind of connection with them, even that level of disgust and disrespect, it might infect you. And as we said also from the beginning here, you can't allow this stuff to affect you as a person. You know, soldiers in warfare never come back the same way if they've been killed somebody. I don't know if I've said this before, but I think I have. My father used, you know, my father used to say in the Marine Corps in Korea, he said, you know, you could spot a phony war story and they just talk about it to just anybody, then you know it's not true. So. But it gets to the point really where even on a social level, there's nothing more you can do than death. On the personal level, no matter what you say, they have to be cut off by you. And that may affect you terribly. You may not be the same again even after that. That takes a lot to do that. Personally, I think all of us, I think everyone listening here has had to do that at least once in their life, including my people who are very close to us. And I'm always very suspicious of Someone who. You know, my first thought when I'm in a conflict with someone individually is to. Is to what? I first. I usually write them, you know, here's my point of view. Please tell me yours. And if they refuse to answer, I'm suspicious. Now, if they cut me off, then I don't think I have an answer, that I am right about it, and they just don't want to be reminded of it. So, yeah, I mean, there is a possibility that there's people out there who are. Well, in this case, I know that there are people who are incapable of love. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're evil in all they're doing, but there are people who simply cannot think this way. They're incapable of looking to the heavens. They are. They're animals, where logic is just a way to get to their next passion, next desire. That's all that logic is to them. But if we know people like this, ultimately we have to cut them off, depending on where we're from. Some of us have come to the church. I converted in my 20s. So what do I do? I'm already saturated with an evil society before then I have to cut a lot of people off. They don't understand. So this is a very, very heavy paragraph here. This works at the social level as well as in the individual level, but execution only when everything else has failed. And even then, you know, if you're a member of the firing. I was just listening to one of the members of the firing squad that killed Ceausescu, and he was never quite the same again. He was never in combat before, but he was never the same again because he killed two people. And whether they deserved it or not is not the point. He was not the same man again, and he did have nightmares and stuff like that. And so this kind of a life, when you truly have principles and God is your ultimate end, you know, it's not going to be easy. You know, it's funny. We know the Gospels are true, at least in part, because Christ didn't offer us. Christ offered us what? Social rejection. We're probably going to get killed. We're going to be rejected by the world. If you're trying to start a religion. Is that how you talk? It's going to be miserable for you for a while. Yes, you have heaven if you stick to it. But Christ offered zero earthly goods by following him. What kind of religious cult leader does that? That's how you know the Gospels are true. Because no one would actually advocate that unless he was truly from God and that when people are so saturated in sin, you know, why was Moses commanded to slaughter entire groups of people? It was the same thing. They had been so saturated all the way down to everybody with evil that they simply couldn't exist anymore. Same reason why God flooded the earth. Society had gotten that bad that their death was probably the best thing for them. And people don't like talking like that. People don't like even thinking about that stuff. But we have to. And this list of things may not be the exact sequence for all of us, but that's basically what it is. And it's a lot of work and it's a lot of pain, but that's the life that if we choose this life, we have to expect this kind of thing and we're never going to be the same again.

[C]

All right, we should stop it there and complete the other half of the chapter on the next one.

[B]

Geez, my Lord.

[C]

Heavy stuff. Heavy stuff that a lot of people don't want to. A lot of people don't want to consider it. Most people don't consider it. All right.

[B]

It's. It's a day to day struggle and everyone knows that. And yeah, you can't go to what. You can't go to a person and say you're going to have a great life following this kind of thing because you know they won't. I mean it's the truth and only the truth. And that's what provokes love, true love. And that's what this chapter has been about so far.

[C]

All right everyone go over to the Show Notes, go over to the descriptions and the videos, donate to Dr. Johnson's work and we will be back in a few days with to finish up this chapter. Dr. Johnson, thank you.

[B]

I appreciate it my friend. Thank you. Bye bye. Bubba Wallace here from 2311. Racing on the track. My car's look is everything. But today I'm talking about more than just paint schemes. I'm talking about about my favorite games at Chumba Casino. Check out exclusives like Stampede Fury and my own King Croc Fury. It's just as wild as my car looked in Texas. With over 200 games and new ones weekly play for free at chumbacasino.com let's Chumba.

[A]

Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary VGW Group voidware prohibited by law 21+ terms and conditions apply.