One and a Half Devils

The Great Sage asks the king to choose between one and a half devils.

The Great Sage looked at the new king and said, "Let me pose a question to you, Anax.

"What is more dangerous to a man's soul? A devil who encourages him to be evil while being completely truthful about what evil is, or a devil who poses as an angel and encourages a man to be good, but then tricks him into thinking that half good is wholly good?"

The king considered this.  "Let us assume that I am the man in question.  The first devil appears to me as he is - a devil.  And he tells me what evil is, and tells me the truth, and begs me to be evil, and uses all his powers of temptation to lure me into evil."

"That is correct."

"And the second devil appears to me as an angel, and begs that I be a good person."

"Yes, Anax."

"But when I ask this devil-angel what good is, he mixes truths with lies in even measure.  He may tell me, for example, that the murder of a stranger with one type of tattoo is evil, but that the murder of another stranger with a different type of tattoo is good.  Is that the scenario you propose?"

The Great Sage nodded.  "Yes.  And in both scenarios, you believe exactly what you are told.  You, as the man in question, cannot distinguish truth from lies."

"I understand, then."

"Very well.  I repeat my question:  Which is more harmful to a man's soul, the devil who is perfectly honest about what evil is, and then uses his hellish talents to try to convince the man to do evil, or the devil who mixes truth and lies about the nature of evil and good, and then uses his talents to try to convince the man to do what he has labeled as 'good?'"

The king thought for a moment. "I do not see how the temptation to be purely evil can be less dangerous to man's soul than the temptation to be at least partially good."

The sage rubbed his chin and raised his eyes to the king.  "Really? I remind you that in the first scenario the devil is honest and offers the man an honest and well-informed choice. In the second the devil lies and guarantees that the man will forever march crookedly toward the wrong objective, assuming the man's objective is to be as good as possible."

The king said, "I understand you, sage.  But I maintain that half good is better than no good at all.  Assuming that both devils are equally talented in their abilities to tempt humans, the lesser evil is the devil who tells the half-truth, and intentionally confuses good and evil in the mind of the man."

"You are saying, then, that the truth is more dangerous than the lie?"

"I'm saying that some good is better than no good."

"It is the liar that promotes what you call 'some good,'" the scribe reminded him. "And that lie, which will be believed, will ensure that the man can never be wholly good. At least with the first devil, the man would still know what good truly is.  It would still be possible for the man to achieve perfect goodness, because he would have a clear objective."

"Yes," countered the king, "but the first devil, despite having told this truth, would work on the man every second of the day to convince him to ignore goodness and seek only evil.  The power of such devils is well-established.  In which case, what does it matter whether a man can distinguish good from evil?  The lie of the second devil is better, for it allows for at least some good. I maintain that the first devil is more dangerous than the second."

The scribe nodded.  "I must go, Anax, for I have a tree to plant in the far garden."

Author's Note

The great sage against tests the new king, this time offering him a choice between two devils (or one and a half devils).