Ron, I'm just saying the tendency is in every human being to be thoughtless of the rights of others at times (specially when under great stress). The ego thinks of itself first, and others after that. That's where we get the word "egocentric" from. This is very noticeable in very young children, for example, but they learn to control it as they mature (hopefully).

Is that so hard to grasp? I'm not saying that it predominates in all of us, or that we can't control it and rise above it, I'm saying the tendency to be selfish and negative is there...and the process of gaining some maturity is to overcome those tendencies.

Hitler was a man who fell deeply into control of his darker impulses. We ALL have some darker impulses, and those are what I mean by "the little Hitler" within everyone. Merely their tendency to be destructive.

And I think that is what Roger is saying also, in all probability.

I'm not saying anyone IS a Hitler in any exclusive or all-embracing sense, I'm saying they have some negative tendencies in their makeup as well as some positive tendencies. Would you mind if I also say that we all have both a "little Hitler" and a "wondrous Angel", within us? That would be another way of putting it. It's a metaphor. Which one wins out in any given moment is the vital question.

You are taking issue with a semantic interpretation of my words and Shambles' words that is strictly your own, and has nothing really to do with what was meant by them, as far as I can see.

I am in no way talking about the third Reich, I'm talking about the potential for light and darkness that is within every human being ever born...and I'm calling the darkness by a metaphor "little Hitler". I could just as well call it "Little Al Capone", "Little Blackbeard", "little dictator", "little bully", "little devil" or anything else like that, but they don't seem to fit as effectively or carry the image as well as "little Hitler", that's all.

As Jesus is reputed to have said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." ( And not one stone will be cast, I can assure you! Because in every breast hides both the Angel and the Little Hitler.)

Oriental spiritual disciplines aim for the egoless state because it is the only way to completely eliminate the vicious side of human nature. In a given human generation on this planet, a mere handful of people reach that state. It is virtually unknown, in fact, but it does exist. I haven't achieved it, needless to say. I'm not even close. I doubt that anyone here on this forum is, judging by what I see here every day. (which, let me tell you, is not too encouraging...)