The Delicate Relationship Between What We Believe and What We Know

Himmler was bothered by a true ethical problem, which is how could SS officers and soldiers do their dirty job without becoming beasts themselves. His solution was this kind of heroism that you perceive your very evil acts as the Supreme Act of heroism. It's a terrifying logic. Often people who believe with a distance often pray and obey the ritual, not a Pascal thought in order to really believe. Then maybe the solution is do as if you believe and your belief will be externalized in the ritual out there. You no longer will directly have to believe.