Whenever we start looking into the abyss, we need to even more urgently and regularly start looking into the mirror.

The term abyss is often used to refer to the darkness that exists within the human heart. We see it manifested in some of the darkest chapters of human history, when mass destruction or slaughter occurred, and in some of history’s darkest characters—those who killed relentlessly and remorselessly, devastating countless lives.

Reflecting on the darkness of which humanity is capable can be valuable. It cautions us against the dangerously deceptive thought that small indulgences, minor lapses into wrongdoing, or subtle compromises in moral values are too insignificant to matter. While every such compromise does not necessarily propel a person down a slippery slope toward monstrous behavior, some certainly can. The Bhagavad Gita (3.37) warns that within every human heart exists a monster—a vicious and voracious craving for pleasure that can grow to monstrous proportions. The same monster that became fully unleashed in some individuals and periods of history exists within our own hearts too, though usually in a far weaker and less developed form.

Yet studying humanity’s darkest chapters and characters carries its own danger. While such study can be sobering and instructive, it can also awaken a similar darkness within us. In trying to understand such people, we may gradually move from understanding to sympathizing, from sympathizing to justifying, and from justifying to imitating—even if only in small ways. We may begin thinking, “Throughout history, people have done far worse than this. What’s wrong if I do it to a much smaller degree?”

To guard against such rationalizations, which pave the way for hellish actions impelled by the demoniac force within us, we need to look regularly and rigorously into the mirror. That mirror is our own heart. We need to examine our motivations honestly and watch carefully for subtle changes in them. Such shifts are often gradual and therefore easy to overlook unless we cultivate deliberate self-awareness.

By looking into this mirror, we can notice when we begin justifying the spread of darkness within ourselves. We can then step back and establish healthy boundaries for our engagement with the abyss. The Bhagavad Gita describes two broad dispositions—the divine and the demoniac—each characterized by corresponding qualities. Some demoniac qualities may already exist within us in seed form, and they can grow if they are unknowingly nourished through prolonged contemplation of people in whom such qualities are powerfully manifest. Association is contagious. Even mental association through repeated contemplation of dark characters or dark episodes can subtly influence our own consciousness.

Ultimately, it is far more important to associate with and reflect upon the lives of saintly personalities who manifested humanity’s divine nature. Such association awakens and strengthens our own godly qualities.

In summary, studying the darkest chapters or characters in human history can be spiritually beneficial if it reminds us that every human heart contains a dormant monster that must be kept weak, silent, and unimportant. However, if such study is uncritical—or worse, pursued with morbid fascination or perverse delight—it can nourish the very tendencies we seek to understand. We may unknowingly awaken the monster within ourselves and begin sliding toward behavior that is destructive both to ourselves and to others.

Therefore, whenever we need to look into the abyss of humanity’s darkness, we should protect ourselves in two ways. First, by regularly looking into the mirror of self-examination to observe how our own motivations are being affected. Second, by intentionally associating with saintly personalities whose godly example can awaken the divine qualities within our own hearts.

Summary:

The Bhagavad Gita (3.37) warns that the same dark tendencies that have manifested in history’s worst individuals exist, in seed form, within every human heart, making honest self-examination essential whenever we contemplate humanity’s darkest chapters.

By regularly looking into the mirror of our own motivations, we can prevent understanding from turning into sympathy, justification, and imitation of destructive tendencies.

At the same time, intentional association with saintly personalities awakens our divine qualities and protects us from allowing the dormant monster within to become activated.

Think It Over:

Recollect an incident you read about that made you shudder at the extent of human perversity and made you resolve, “I never want to do anything like that.”

Recollect an occasion when reading about or watching monstrous behavior subtly led you to justify similar behavior in yourself, even if only to a much smaller degree.

If we have to look into the abyss of darkness within the human heart, what two practices can protect us from being influenced by it?

***

03.37 The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.