But the root of evil may not be just error but the result of deep, instinctive, unchecked survival impulses. To be an effective emotional warrior you must be able to admit to your own aggression, selfishness and greed, your own inborn urge to survive at all costs. You must also be aware of these impulses in others. An Emotional Warrior must be aware that we all have selfish and aggressive instincts, and that managing those instincts in an ethical way is one of the primary aims of emotional wisdom. There is a dark side, not only to human nature, but also to the human condition.
All human beings live every day with the possibility of loss, tragedy, and even disaster.
In the modern world we have protected ourselves from many types of tragedy through our technology. The awareness of tragedy is relevant to the pursuit of emotional literacy, especially for the emotional warrior. Some survivors of tragedy feel that they no longer have the resources to worry about the rights and needs of others. An emotional warrior must understand this temptation to succumb to the dark side of our nature and must be able to resist this temptation. Violence and Abuse.