In an ordinary criminal, the evil inclination appears as a negative desire that is not connected with anything else. If you speak to a murderer, or a rapist, you will always find a person who thinks that what he did was just. Simply thinking that a certain person is evil is still not considered “the recognition of evil.” The recognition of evil is when one sees one’s self as evil.

People who begin to understand themselves more deeply will not become felons. They do find seemingly appalling attributes in themselves, but they regard them as obscene and wicked, and not as qualities they would like to realize. They are presented with obscenity within them as if on a screen before their eyes, but at the same time they understand that it’ s the Creator who plants these attributes there.