Some people consider themselves especially enlightened because in their approach to human problems they are, as they may express it, realistic in their thinking, or they believe the common-sense or matter-of-fact point of view to be the only sound attitude to maintain in any situation.
This often means dealing with evil and error, in whatever manner these may present themselves, as real and formidable, perhaps even unconquerable, and preparing to deal with these false claims by such human recourse and on such terms as may seem available or expedient, or by fighting evil with more evil, or by surrendering to it as inevitable. The last state of thought may ultimately amount to an attitude of utter resignation to the claims of evil.
An anomaly of mortal mind in this connection is that it may recognize evil as inimical and attempt to avoid it, while fearing or believing that, despite the best efforts human ingenuity may devise, no means will be found to accomplish its destruction. Thus mortal belief may acknowledge that evil is undesirable and abnormal, and yet fail to go further and question evil's claim to reality, or seek out a satisfying distinction between what is real and what is unreal.
