“Motivelessness”
I made up the word- motivelessness.
Motiveless (That does not have a motive) + ness (Making it a Noun)
We struggle hard with ‘motivelessness’.
From when we start making sense of the world and our actions, we have always explained ourselves in terms of motives, in terms of reason. Education and socialization makes us motive-seeking human beings, and when people ask why we do certain things, we have to reply with a reasonable explanation of what motivated us to do so. We need reasons like we need food; a reason to learn how to play guitar, a reason to love somebody, a reason to live, a reason to steal and a reason to kill people.
Motivelessness offends us. We often can’t make sense of it.
Is there motiveless benevolence? Yes, this is called altruism. Here, doing good to others is seen as its own motive — ‘to do good’ IS the motive, doesn’t need any other ulterior motive (though often people will look hard to find ulterior motives).
So can doing evil also be its own motive and its own reward for some people? Do they bask in the pain and misery they cause in just the same way that others might cheer with joy and hug each other as another refugee gets saved from the Mediterranean? For them, the pain and misery of other people IS the motive?
When there is a mass-murder, or a school shooting by 13 year old, or senseless killing by a seemingly normal person; everyone tries to find out the motive; why did this person do that sort of thing. But we always rule out ‘motivelessness’ or doing evil for it’s own sake as a possible motivation.
Or may be, when I struggle to make sense of the world, when I grapple with understanding the motive of certain actions; I find some solace thinking about all these. (See? Still struggling with ‘motivelessness’)
