“The whole philosophy of Hell rests on recognizing the axiom that one thing is not another thing, and specially, that one self is not another self. My good is my good, and your good is yours. What one gains another loses. Even an inanimate object is what it is by excluding all other objects from the space it occupies; if it expands, it does so by thrusting other objects aside or by absorbing them. A self does the same. With beasts the absorption takes the form of eating; but for us, it means the sucking of will and freedom out of a weaker self into a stronger. ‘To be’ means ‘to be in competition.'”
-How the senior devil explains things to his nephew, in The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
Gladsome Lights 
This reminds me of this:
There are many ways to talk about the problems of the world, but one way or another, all of them have to do with polarization. We all have a tendency to divide people, things, and ideas into sharply contrasting categories. Consciously or unconsciously, we carry around concepts of “us” and “them”, “right” and “wrong”, “worthy” and “unworthy” – Pema Chödrön
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I’ve read other things by her that really resonated with me! Thanks for sharing.
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This is a really topical quote in today’s society. “My good is my good, and your good is yours. What one gains another loses.” Very sad and we are seeing it all too frequently these days.
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Wow. That is fascinating. I’m thinking about it in terms of my current reading The Divine Comedy.
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