The line separating good and evil…passes…through every human heart

The title paraphrases Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Russian author of the 20th century, coming from his book, The Gulag Archipelago, a massive work of some 2,000 pages based on his experiences as a political prisoner during after WWII. Through his experiences, Solzhenitsyn came to realize that “in my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good”.

A seemingly straightforward thought, it presents a compelling metaphor for moral struggle based on Solzhenitsyn’s observations of prison life. How do our hearts manifest in life? Is there a line we experience? How does such a line twist and shift?

I am reminded of a famous book that many of you will have read, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. A well-known quote from Frankl’s book is, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

So where do Solzhenitsyn’s and Frankl’s ideas take us? How do they manifest in our lives? What are our experiences that relate?

I am away in December. I invite you to book 10 am on Sunday, January 11, 2026. We meet at The Common (coffee house), 28 Wilson St. in downtown Guelph.

I will suggest some resources over the next few weeks. Perhaps you might dust off your old copy of Frankl over the holidays?

Best wishes for the holiday season.