We are often confronted with situations in which there do not appear to be good solutions — only solutions that vary in the degree of evil that they will perpetrate. These are typically false dichotomies, which Satan manufactures for the purpose of obscuring the right thing to do. But there is something far more sinister in a pattern of such dichotomies. If we get used to always accepting the lesser of two evils, Satan seems to lose every battle, but he still wins the war, since once we have accepted that the world has to have evil in it, then it's just a matter of degree. We will then find ourselves on that slippery slope where a little more evil won't make enough difference to be worth putting up a fight, and before long, we have slid all of the way to the bottom. Then Satan makes it look like it will be impossible to ever get back up to the top of the moral hill. So we must always acknowledge that the lesser of two evils is still evil, and the objective is not to strive for a little less evil in this world, and then to think that we're OK. Rather, the objective is goodness. If we're still below sea level, it really doesn't matter whether we're one meter below, or two, or three — we still can't breath fresh air. So the objective is to get above sea level.

 

When confronted with false dichotomies, look for another option at a higher level, that solves all of the problems, without creating any new ones. Such solutions are always there. There isn't always time to find such solutions, but if we look for them, we'll find them, and if we make a habit of looking for the higher view, we'll further develop the ability to find such solutions. Then we'll spend a lot more time above sea level.