The villain and the victim

A few weeks back I was working with the incredible Celeste Halliday—a woman who I suspect might literally change the world—and she was talking about that fact that, through structures like the patriarchy, capitalism, etc, we are both the villain and the victim.

When she said it, I had that feeling you get when you realise you’ve just been slapped in the face with the Truth. She articulated an insight which I had perhaps always known, somewhere deep in the recesses of my subconscious thought, but now had a (powerful and poetic) way to describe it.

There’s no doubt at all that, as successful business-people in modern Australia, we are absolutely the villains in the story of capitalism, benefitting the most from a gigantic pyramid scheme which is doing its best to destroy the planet.

Equally, we are the victims of the very same scheme, individually incapable of switching it off and averting disaster, and living daily with the guilt of knowing that we are contributing to a gross miscarriage of justice.

We are the villain, and the victim.

Since being introduced to this idea, I’m seeing it in many places. In some ways, I think it’s true about everything that we do. Every mistake, every bad decision, everything we do… we are both the effector and the effected.

The wisdom that comes from this realisation? I’m still processing it, but my first thought is that it underlines the importance of accepting both responsibility (as the villain) and empathy (as the victim) for everything we do.

If you don’t accept responsibility for your actions, you take on the role of the victim, and leave little possibility for improvement and growth.

If you don’t accept empathy for your feelings about the consequences, you take on the role of the villain, which usually manifests in negative psychological loops and self-destructive behaviours.

If you can offer and accept both responsibility and empathy for your actions and their consequences, I think you provide yourself with the best platform for creating lasting positive change; for yourself, and for the world around you.