Morality is an attempt at explaining bad behavior without looking any further than the perpetrator. In any war, everyone thinks they’re the good guys. Terrorists think they’re fighting evil. “Oh, but they’re wrong! They think they’re good, but they’re mistaken.” That’s probably what they say about you, too. If there’s no good and evil, why do people steal and hurt others? Because they’re dumb. They just don’t know any smarter and more rewarding ways to live. It is not about good and evil but smart and dumb.

What they lack is wisdom. Insight. They just don’t know how to cultivate peace in their lives. So they grasp at things that provide fleeting scraps of fulfillment: money, power, gratification. They don’t know where else to look. But of course it’s never enough, and so desperation mounts. They begin to feel an even stronger draw towards gratification and security, mistaking them for some kind of salvation, and soon they’re stepping over others, or worse to acquire these things. Evil is simply unenlightened.