have not yet elaborated a more valuable science, one which
would fill in the gap. We therefore need newly established
criteria which can become the basis for an analogous discipline
with an enduring structure; simultaneously, this would fulfill a
burning need in today’s world.
According to contemporary understanding, effective treat-
ment of a disease becomes possible once we have apprehended
its essence, its etiological factors and their properties, and its
pathodynamic course within organisms with dissimilar biologi-
cal properties. Once such knowledge is available, finding the
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
279
proper treatment measures generally proves a less difficult and
dangerous duty. For doctors, disease represents an interesting,
even fascinating, biological phenomenon. They often accepted
the risk of contact with the contagious pathogenic factors and
suffered losses in order to comprehend the ailment so as to be
able to heal people. Thanks to this, they achieved the possibil-
ity of etiotropic disease treatment and artificial immunization
of human organisms to disease. The doctor’s own health is thus
also better protected today; but he ought never to feel any con-
tempt for the patient or his disease.
When we are faced with a macrosocial pathological phe-
nomenon which requires us to proceed in a manner analogous
in principle to that governing contemporary medicine, espe-
cially with reference to overcoming diseases which quickly
propagate among the populations, the law demands necessary
rigorous measures which become binding upon healthy people
as well. It is also worth pointing out that people and political
organizations whose world view is leftist generally represent a
more consistent attitude in this matter, demanding such sacri-
fices in the name of the common good.
We must also be aware that the phenomenon facing us is
analogous to those diseases against which the old traditional
medicine proved inadequate. In order to overcome this state of
affairs, we must therefore utilize new means based upon an
understanding of the essence and causes of the pathocratic
phenomenon, i.e. according to principles analogous to those
governing modern medicine. The road to comprehension of the
phenomenon was also much more difficult and dangerous than
the one which should lead from such understanding to the find-
ing of naturalistically and morally justified, and properly orga-
nized, therapeutic activities. These methods are potentially
possible and feasible, since they derive from an understanding
of the phenomenon per se and become an extension thereof. In
this “disease”, as in many cases treated by psychotherapists, the
understanding alone already begins to heal human personali-
ties. The author confirmed this in practice in individual cases.
It will also appear that many known experiential results will
similarly become applicable.
280
THERAPY OF THE WORLD
The insufficiency of efforts based upon the best moral val-
ues has become common knowledge after years of rebounding
as though from rubber bands. The powerful military weapons
that jeopardize all humanity can, on the other hand, be consid-
ered as indispensable as a strait-jacket, something whose use
diminishes in proportion to the improved skills governing the
behavior of those persons entrusted with the healing arts. We
need measures which can reach all people and all nations and
which can operate upon the recognized causes of great diseases
Such therapeutic measures cannot be limited to the phe-
nomenon of pathocracy. Pathocracy will always find a positive
response if some independent country is infected with an ad-
vanced state of hysterization, or if a small privileged caste op-
presses and exploits other citizens, keeping them backward and
in the dark; anyone willing to treat the world can then be
hounded, and his moral right to act be questioned. Evil in the
world, in fact, constitutes a continuum: one kind opens the door
to another, irrespective of its qualitative essence or the ideo-
logical slogans cloaking it.
It also becomes impossible to find effective means of thera-
peutic operation if the minds of people undertaking such tasks
are affected by a tendency to conversive thinking like subcon-
scious selection and substitution of data, or if some doctrine
preventing an objective perception of reality becomes manda-
tory. In particular, a political doctrine, for which a macrosocial
pathological phenomenon, in accordance with its famous ide-
ology, has become a dogma, blocks an understanding of its real
nature so well that purposeful action becomes impossible.
Anyone administering such action should undergo an appropri-
ate prior examination, or even a kind of psychotherapy, in or-
der to eliminate any tendencies toward even slightly sloppy
thinking.
Like every well-managed treatment, therapy of the world
must contain two basic demands: strengthening the overall
defensive powers of the human community and attacking its
most dangerous disease, etiotropically if possible. Taking into
account all the aspects referred to in the theoretical chapter on
ponerology, therapeutic efforts should be directed at subjecting
the operations of the known factors of the genesis of evil, as
POLITICAL PONEROLOGY
281
well as the processes of ponerogenesis itself, to the controls of
scientific and societal consciousness.
Present attempts at trusting moral data alone, no matter how
sincerely perceived, also prove inadequate as would trying to
operate solely on the basis of the data contained within this
book, ignoring the essential support of moral values. A pone-
rologist’s attitude underscores primarily the naturalistic aspects
of phenomena; nevertheless, this does not mean that the tradi-
tional ones have diminished in value. Efforts aimed at endow-
ing the life of nations with the necessary moral order should
therefore constitute a second wing, working in parallel and
rationally supported by naturalistic principles.
Contemporary societies were pushed into a state of moral
recession during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centu-
ries; leading them back out is the general duty of this genera-
tion and should remain an overall backdrop to activity as a
whole. The basic position should be the intent to fulfill the
commandment of loving one’s neighbor, including even those
who have committed substantial evil, and even if this love indi-
cates taking proplylactic action to protect others from that evil.
A great therapeutic endeavor can only be affected once we do
this with the honest control of moral consciousness, moderation
of words and thoughtfulness of action. At that point, ponerol-
ogy will prove its practical usefulness in fulfilling this task.
People and values mature in action. Thus, a synthesis of tradi-
tional moral teachings and this new naturalistic approach can
only occur with reasoned behavior.
Truth is a Healer
It would be difficult to summarize here the statements of the