Spirit Blade

About the Book

Morality is a subject thousands of years old in its discussion, garnering contributions from religion, philosophy, sciences, arts and politics across many cultures and eras. It is also a subject of dubious practical progress. Does each successive generation as a whole possess a better understanding of good and evil than each previous generation? Do the people of the world today possess a more moral spirit than their ancestors? How much evil has civilization genuinely eliminated, how much has it merely hidden away from sight, and how much has it simply become blind to?

Spirit Blade is a treatise which returns to the conceptual roots of the subject and addresses them with an introspective approach to identify the spiritual origins of good and evil long before they manifest in practical action. Presenting an original analysis from first principles in four chapters, rigorous theoretical arguments are combined with intuitive examples to draw the line between good and evil with ruthless clarity. Accepting that evil has been the dominant alignment in our civilization so far, it envisions that a moral revolution could occur at any time, but only provided we firstly become aware of the full extent to which evil may be harboured beneath our various motives and values in life, and secondly are prepared to fight this inner enemy without expecting any gain for ourselves. Otherwise, no matter what systematic methods we use to drive evil out, evil will always find a way back in.

Prior acquaintance with moral theory may be advantageous but is certainly not essential for readers to appreciate this book. Reference to external sources has been kept deliberately light, and explicit definitions are given for any important terminology used. The whole approach of this book emphasizes that the purest way to study morality is not by studying its academic history but by studying the good and evil of what constantly occurs around us.

About the Author

Moral issues have been my concern since childhood and the most consistent motivating force behind my writing. I do not enjoy the subject of morality as such; my ideal would be a world without moral problems to face in the first place, and it is in pursuit of this ideal that I choose to face these problems as an author. Debuting with Spirit Blade is only the beginning of my response. My current writing projects include a direct sequel to Spirit Blade, which I hope to be able to share with you some time in the near future.