Let My People Know

"Like the consequences of realizing that one can get away with a lie"

 
Evil is not simply a sum of certain drives and impulses but is the result of man's inability to separate himself from the corrupting effect of "knowing." 

It is like the consequences of realizing that one can get away with a lie. 

So long as–like in nature–it is inconceivable for a wrong action to succeed, there is no danger in multiplying knowledge. 

But once man learns the power of untruth, that it is possible to satisfy his desire with a lie, this knowledge can be disastrous. 

–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
 
From In the Beginning by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz