I was working in Champaign, Illinois, one time, or oncet, as Sam Clemens used to say, and I stopped at a popular donut shop to get a dozen or two donuts to take into work. It was a cold slushy day, and the place was packed with people sitting down and eating donuts and drinking coffee, as well as others lined up for to-go orders.
I gave my order and the gal got them and I handed over $10 or whatever. She handed me back two dollars extra change. Very quickly, I thought two things: (1) “Wow, two extra bucks!” and (2) “Come on, man – do the right thing!” It was exactly like the devil and the angel. But then my life has always been a moral battleground.
I said, “Oh hey, you gave me too much change.” She said, “Did I give you an extra dollar?” I felt bad for her because I didn’t want to make a statement about her ability to make change. But I had to go on, so I said, “No, you gave me two dollars extra.” I was in anguish as I said it.
Suddenly from behind me came a deep voice. “Allow me to introduce myself.” I turned to see a tall older gentleman in a long black coat, looking exactly like The Devil in The Master and Margarita. But it wasn’t The Devil.
“My name is Diogenes,” he said, “and I have finally found my honest man!”
There’s no getting away from characters like this in a university town.
devil or angel
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The Everlasting Now 
You were experiencing conflicting emotions, the sort of conflicts that are so common among us humans that we associate them with metaphorical entities, such as the devil and angels. Selfishness and greed are common to us all, and so naturally you felt delight at the windfall of two dollars. But you have been socialized by church, school, family, and stories such as the myth of Honest Abe walking miles to refund a few pennies, and so you immediately felt compelled to act like Honest Abe, and identified your selfish inclination with the Devil, who prowls the world seeking the ruin of souls. When the lady asked if she gave you a dollar too much, you felt another emotion, compassion for the lady behind the counter who might suffer some loss of self-esteem if her inability to make change was exposed.
We humans have the inclination to find moral justifications for despicable actions that benefit us personally. Robber Barons and greedy capitalists justified working children and workers for pennies in sweat shops and toxic death trap coal mines by telling themselves that the laws of economics required that wages be at the lowest the market would allow, and that to raise wages out of sympathy would only hurt the workers by upsetting the balance and destroying jobs. Slave owners told themselves that it was a merciful thing to do to kidnap slaves, whip, rape and work them to death because they were better off than in their African homes and because they had learned about Christianity. The slave owners also told themselves that black Africans were the children of Ham, cursed by his father Noah to be servants of their white brothers for having laughed at Noah’s drunken nakedness. So enslaving them was blessed and mandated by God and their religion. At a high school or grade school basketball game the crowd will imagine they are being cheated and roar at the injustice when a foul is called against the home team, but will cheer that Justice has been done when a foul is called against the visiting team. The point is that we humans will most often conjure up a version of Truth and Justice that coincides with our own self-interest, wishes and personal objectives.
Have you noticed that when there is a proposed tax cut for the wealthy or a war to be fought and a trillion dollars to wind up in the pockets of defense contractors, the Congress that receives its campaign funds from those same people don’t hesitate to spend the money? Have you also noticed that any proposal that funds health care, child care tax credits, cleaning up the environment to remove toxins from the air or drinking water are opposed by the same Congressmen because it is just too expensive and will raise the national debt?
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Very interesting thoughts, Jack. I have long been interested myself in the perceived presence of good and evil. In studies at Laurentian University in Canada, it was found that when people feel a very strong presence of good or evil, a particular place in the brain lights up and the presence is felt as being on the left side (evil) or on the right (good). I thought you might be interested in that little bit becuase I think you view the world through a very scientific lens. I bet the circuits were in the limbic system, and I think the researcher was Michael Persinger:
https://www.wired.com/1999/11/persinger/
I did not know there were so many fundamental lies and self-deception as you expressed in your second paragraph. And the dark-skinned brothers who laughed at Noah, that’s kind of a bad rap to dump on some folks, especially when it was Noah’s daughters got him drunk? (Genesis 19:33)
I don’t watch or listen to much news, but I keep up with the latest events via NPR and PBS. What interests me the most is the fact you related recently – that Republicans are the A-team for the wealthy and a certain number of Democrats are the B-team. Only Noam Chomsky seems to have the best overview of how the rich get rich and the poor stay poor. 🙂
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