👿EVIL PEOPLE ON PURPOSE? · Mindset MasterClass

👿EVIL PEOPLE ON PURPOSE?

THEY HURT ME ON PURPOSE

THEY DID THIS BECAUSE THEY DON’T LOVE ME

We often infer intent to people who do nasty things to us. We convince ourselves they knew better and did evil on purpose.

But, that’s a cognitive distortion called mind reading. People actually do wrong things because of misguided reasoning. It makes some kind of twisted sense to them. They listened to the wrong thoughts in their head and those twisted thoughts deafened them to higher, holier thoughts.

Has that ever happened to you?

Marcus Aurelius (Meditations, Book 2.1):

“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly… They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil.”

People do wrong because they are mistaken in their judgment—not because they consciously choose evil.

That’s a Stoic lens. But it’s echoed—almost word for word—in Scripture.

➡️ Jesus, as He’s being crucified, says:

“Father, forgive them—they don’t know what they’re doing.”

(Luke 23:34)

➡️ Paul, looking back on his violent past, admits:

“I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.”

(1 Timothy 1:13)

➡️ Stephen, while being stoned, echoes the same mindset:

“Lord, don’t hold this against them.”

(Acts 7:60)

Here’s the wake up call: In both Stoic thought and Christian wisdom, wrongdoing is most likely from IGNORANCE; (absence of knowledge) misguided cognition—faulty beliefs, mistaken thinking, and chasing false rewards.

That doesn’t mean we excuse harm. But it does mean we can understand it—and stop wasting energy on demonizing people who are, most of the time, blinded by the darkness of their own ignorance.

💬 Your turn:

Where do you need less condemnation and more cognitive awareness? Where do you need to direct less judgement and more enlightened understanding?

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