“The
tyrant seeks to bend the world to their will. They apply power externally to
remake the environment, people, or culture around them, often in the belief
that if they can just change enough out there, they will finally feel whole
inside. Saints, on the other hand, reverse this equation. They focus their
power inward—working on themselves, healing their wounds, mastering their
habits, refining their values. Ironically, it’s through this inward mastery
that they end up changing the world more deeply than any tyrant ever could.”—
Dr. Jordan Grumet, “Tyrants vs. Saints: The Power That Changes Everything”
(“The Regret-Free Life” blog), Psychology Today, Apr. 15, 2025
The image
accompanying this post shows perhaps the epitome of a saint in conflict with a
tyrant: left to right, a pensive St. Thomas More and a browbeating King Henry
VIII (played by, respectively, Paul Scofield and Robert Shaw) in the 1966 Best
Picture Oscar winner, A Man for All Seasons.
The crisis
that Henry forced on More is a reminder not only of the heavy burden that
public officials face in drawing a moral line that arbitrary rulers cannot
cross, but also the responsibility that ordinary individuals must maintain in
upholding the primacy of conscience.
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