“Evil is never intended as evil. Indeed, the contradiction inherent in all evil is that it originates in the desire to eliminate evil. … Infinite players understand the inescapable likelihood of evil. They therefore do not attempt to eliminate evil in others, for to do so is the very impulse of evil itself, and therefore a contradiction.”

Psyched the kindle version of this book it due out June 14th – woot!

When in Bangkok I stay in an artists studio in Thonburi, near Wongwian Yai BTS; while I’d love to live in the heart of Sukhumvit there’s nowhere with the right kind of spaces for me to work, so I’m always on the edge of town.

Thonburi was as laid-back as always, and a non-Thai speaker could have no idea of what’s going on at the center of town. Still, when you speak with Thai friends – whatever their loyalties – the tensions and hatred were inflamed again this year and it was truly troubling. The long-term forecast doesn’t look good for the country either.

Still Bangkok has the right combination of elements for an Asian base for me: wonderful people and infrastructure, it’s a transportation hub for Asia and Europe, and offers affordable lifestyle and has a score of healthy galleries.

So I’ll be back in late August to speak at TEDxKrungthep. Hope to meet up when I’m back.

(It makes Wellington, NZ look like a poodle parlour!)

I’ve just discovered your site, and this was the first post I’ve read but I’ll be spending more time exploring some of your back catalogue, and look forward to seeing and hearing more from you.

Thanks… Ant (@trailofants)

It is a good reminder that if we are lucky enough to be safe, then life is not so bad. Complaining about a boring job or getting stuck in traffic really don’t match getting killed or having your life destroyed. I think we could all use a little perspective in our lives.

Hell of a post. Best thing I’ve read on any blog in quite a while, and I mean it.

The post you linked of Eric’s is amazing and opened my eyes to a lot of things – namely, the power that I hold. I hate to plug myself, but with AskExperience, I have the ability to ask the right questions – the tough questions – and hopefully inspire some change by getting my team to do something special.

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Back to your post, though:

There’s way too much violence in this world, for no reason. It’s all senseless, and out of fear.

What we need is more open-mindedness and tolerance… And those things are hard to develop.

Moreover, we need solutions, as you said. But they’re hard to develop. It takes time, thought, and all the dedication in the world.

I think the use of violence is relative to intelligence too. It CAN work in achieving things but only typically against other violent sorts.

Whether we are talking about bullies in a school playground, USA Vs whoever they fancy (Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam for examples), Che in Cuba or the red shirts in Bangkok. If you start violence it will eventually come back at you in the same fashion; The only way to win is to kill absolutely everything or get your opponent to surrender. This almost always never happens and as history as shown in Thailand it hasn’t got them anywhere. It is sadly human nature that most of the world hasn’t grown out of yet.

I think the best revolutiionary force we have had of recent years is the TED group of talks, understanding and educating one another with an open mind. There will always be dissagreements, such as religious beliefs or political sides, the solution so far to keep things peaceful is to divide the people with their own opinion.

I don’t mean to end on a pedantic note but energy isn’t formed or consumed, it is a constant that is transferred into different types.

SAME issue I have with the Yellowshirts too. And of course, I don’t like seeing the soldiers killing anyone either, but when provoked, that’s the only thing soldiers are trained to do, so what can you expect.

I’ve seen it twice now, around Songkran, and I agree, none of the root issues were solved—actually NO progress was made whatsoever—if anything it’s worse now. So I fear we’ll see this again next April if not sooner, and as much as I LOVE Bangkok, I’m having second thoughts about living in the center of the action…