This rule is true enough: men are only as good as the conditions they face. Starve him and his psychology will soon adapt to a mindset of survival, where good manners, social etiquette and high ideals become irrelevant, a luxury, and soon fade away. Exceptions exist to prove the rule and more or less also provide us with examples of men who have somehow exceeded ordinary norms. It does not however take away from the fact that most people live in a purely passive state of consciousness, and merely assume their character and personality to be the driving force of who they are. They will hardly ever suspect that it is the peaceful conditions of their current circumstances that engender in them a peaceful disposition, and that if conditions change, they will follow in suit. Nor will they see themselves in the monstrous and criminal behaviours of others who were likely raised in difficult, trying and desperate conditions. The circumstances of life define the person and shape him in whatever forms life sees fit. Whether we can be aware of this fact, and if we are able to struggle to develop something inside ourselves that is larger than life, and therefore independent of its shifting sands, is a question that opens up entirely other possibilities.