“And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given unto men. And by the law no flesh is justified; or, by the law men are cut off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever.
For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.” 2 Nephi 2:5,11
The challenge in life of opposition will lead us to the Lord or to Satan. Remember we are not being forced to choose, as that was Satan’s way. We truly are free. That is the biggest tool the evil side uses against us. They make bad choices look so good. Once we give into the enticing’s of evil, unless we repent fairly quickly, our desire will be to go back to that evil thing as it says in D&C 121:39, “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.”
Almost all men, to me means the world has a strong tendency to do wrong. As you read the information below about the Native Americans, you will see they are blessed with a very unique awareness of the good in life. It seems they didn’t come with a great need to be prideful, thirst for power and money, but the Native Americans seem to have been blessed with a penitent spirit and love of that Great Spirit they revere.
As former Southwest Indian Mission President Golden R. Buchanan said, “It is interesting to note, in closing, that I know of no Indian language in which one can take the name of the Lord in vain. Indeed, I do not know of an Indian language in which they can even swear. They have to learn English or some white man’s language before they can defile the name of Deity.” LAMANITE TRADITION by Golden R. Buchanan PRESIDENT, SOUTHWEST INDIAN MISSION IMPROVEMENT ERA APRIL 1955 SPECIAL LAMANITE ISSUE
On the opposite side of that, defined in Free Dictionary.com, a Wetiko is a “diabolically wicked person or spirit who terrorizes and cannibalizes others by means of evil acts.” According to The Minds Journal, Wetiko is “a term used by Native Americans to designate an evil person who doesn’t care about the well being of others or a person who engages in selfish acts despite the cost.”
I think you will see in the following information, that the White Man seems to have this evil desire even more than the Native Americans. I realize much of the information may be myth or legend, but the evil nature described sure lets us know this life is a constant battle between good and evil. In this political and derisive world today that is the main battle, God vs. Satan.
I am thankful for the spirit I have felt in the lives of most Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Mexican Americans and others that I have come in contact with. Of course I have many White friends who are the salt of the earth as well. It’s just interesting to see the sweet spirit of many of those I will call wonderful Lamanites.
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Wetiko: The Virus of Egoism and Selfishness According to Native Americans
Did you know that according to the Native Americans, humans tend to be infected by a virus called “Wetiko” or the “virus of selfishness”? Seems absurd right? To be able to think that humans may be infected by a selfishness virus is beyond what one can fathom.
Superstitions are quite common among human beings. More often than not, we tend to believe in things that cannot be logically explained. Native Americans believe selfishness is a virus that can affect us. They believe it to be a pathogen that forces the victim to feed their incessant need to be selfish. This allows humanity to become its worst enemy. This unrealistic view comes from a piece of literature called “Dispelling Wetiko”. Carl Jung wrote this literary piece to explain the concept of humans getting infected by wetiko. He pointed out that we live in an era where psychosocial phenomena prove the existence of a “virus” of selfishness.
“Wetiko” is a term used by Native Americans to designate an evil person who doesn’t care about the well being of others or a person who engages in selfish acts despite the cost. This book is not negative or reproachful. It has merely explained how every virus tends to seek a host to invade and feed off but we all have our immunity system or defensive barriers to protect ourselves. It is possible to strengthen our “psychological immune system” to keep ourselves protected from the selfishness virus.
How the Wetiko came into being?
Jack Forbes, a historian explained an interesting aspect of human selfishness in his book Columbus and Other Cannibals. When indigenous communities came into contact with European pilgrims, the Native Americans pointed out that they were infected by Wetiko. Indigenous mythologies believe that indulgent self-destructive habits are inspired by the wetiko. The tribe of the Cree of Canada first used this concept as well. It was also found that Ojibwa, a tribe, was already using this concept with the well-known term “wendigo”.
They had an odd notion that the white or the “civilized” man is an individual affected by the “virus” or “selfishness”. The virus drives them towards greediness and being selfish towards others. Paul Levy, a journalist and author explains that this idea is the same one Carl Jung used to explain the concept of Shadow. Shadow is defined by the archetype of the unconscious that we all share. Thus general emotions like jealousy, greed, thirst for power, or selfishness are products of our collective unconscious. This dark shadow allows humans to get carried away in awful acts. The Native Americans, on the other hand, believe it wasn’t something that came from the external world that is hell bent on possessing us. It resides within ourselves. We carry the shadow of selfishness within, but it is up to us whether we let it feed on us.
Wetiko is believed to be a psychic form of blindness. Psychiatrist Carl Jung refers to wetiko by the name Antimimos that is described as the “imitator and evil principle”. Antimimos is a kind of deception that can be thought of as counter mimicry. Antimimos is an evil force that attempts to lead humans astray and transforms truth to falsehood and falsehood to the truth, which ultimately leads us to forgetfulness. It is believed that potentially anyone can fall into the shadow and unwillingly become an instrument of the virus attempting to act its will through us.
The Wetiko’s Disguise
The Wetiko is often portrayed as a shapeshifter like a werewolf, that can appear disguised as a good spirit. In the indigenous legends, the wetiko eats another person, who then grows larger in proportion with every meal it feeds on. Such a person can never be fully satisfied no matter how much he feeds. It is almost as if a psychic tapeworm has taken over our brains and tricked us into believing that whatever we are doing is only empowering us. But in reality, it is only a means to our own end.
It is seen as the autoimmune disease of the psyche. Just as in autoimmune deficiency syndrome, the immune system tends to attack the life that it is trying to protect, the wetiko drives humans towards self-destruction. In an attempt to live, it ultimately tries to destroy its own life. A classic example can be how humans are destroying the biosphere of the planet which is the very thing that life depends on. Wetiko is behind humans’ never ending greed which ultimately sets them up for destruction.
Wetiko is believed to be highly contagious that spreads through the channel of shared consciousness. But the infection doesn’t travel with a physical pathogen. This bug tends to feed on our unconscious blind spots. The greatest danger that humanity is presented with is the possibility of millions falling prey to the unconscious together which ultimately will lead to self-destruction.” by https://themindsjournal.com/wetiko/
