One of the books that has had a huge influence on my worldview is Conrad's Heart Of Darkness. Along with other works of art influenced by it (e.g. Apocalypse Now, Ad Astra). I read this during the first COVID Lockdown in 2020 when the West was rife with the BLM movement. I remember that the legacies of people long dead, such as Columbus and Churchill were then being fiercely debated.

Kurtz the central character hardly makes an appearance. Yet his menacing but revered aura is felt from the start. He appoints himself as the Demi-God ruler of a tribe deep in the jungles of the Amazon. Where he expresses his power through grotesque displays of mutilation. Establishing himself, as we're led to believe in the start, the man with the Heart of Darkness.

We accompany the narrator in his search for Kurtz encountering many unfortunate but memorable experiences. By the time we actually encounter Kurtz, what becomes apparent is that all of us, you and me included, possess a Heart Of Darkness.

This book beautifully deals with multiple themes like colonialization, racism, oppression, dehumanisation etc. But my one key takeaway from the book was that there is moral high ground doesn't exist. It's just a fantasy.

Given the right circumstances and motivation, we will resort to what we call 'barbarism'. But barbarism is the human part of us we're trying to forget. As we have learnt, creating the right circumstances and motivations for this to take place isn't hard as we are witnessing now in Israel, Palestine, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Tibet, Juarez and countless other regions across the world.

If we were in any of these places, in any of the various warring factions, we like to believe that we would be kind and fair. But what I am trying to tell you, dear reader, is that's bullshit. We are heroes of our worlds. I believe this is true for you and I also believe it is true for the people who have committed heinous war crimes in any of these places. I believe that their conscience is clear, that they feel that their actions, however gruesome, are justified.

The uncomfortable truth is that we have to realise how easy it is for our hearts to become dark. That's how we can keep our basest instincts in check. That's how we avoid the unconscious slippery slope to 'barbarism'. When we stand on that moral high ground (usually because of mimetics and/or our need to belong), we look down on everyone else and delude ourselves into feeling superior. We feel that we can do no wrong. While others are standing for some evil motive or regime or economic system rather than just trying to exist like us.

Then it's 'us v/s them' again; then it's the right circumstance and motivation; then it's a gruesome tale as old as humanity. It's finally time to get off the moral high horse and look in the mirror.