So what do I mean by divided self? The aspects of the human self, mind, soul... whatever you want to call it, has long been considered to be constituted of parts. The Egyptians had nine aspects of the soul. Freud broke the unconscious mind into three parts (Id, Ego, and Superego). Jung divided up the unconscious mind into a pantheon of archetypal psychic entities, many of which mingle with others. Aristotle said the soul was divided into two parts (rational and irrational). So forth and so forth. Julian Jaynes even discusses a theoretical second mind within our own conscious minds, a thought experiment he called the "bicameral mind." In many ways there are, indeed, two minds: the conscious and the unconscious, and both can interact together or independently of each other.
So why wouldn't we have a dualistic nature concerning ourselves with being good or wicked? Perhaps some fictitious examples might suffice to express it better. Take for instance my favorite monster: Frankenstein's monster. He is made of all bad parts, give the brain of a criminal, and I suppose ultimately designed to be evil and wicked. But Frankenstein's monster only wants to be good. But all his acts of kindness and goodwill ultimately end in destruction and ruin. How is it that a monster made of all bad parts could try to be good? Similarly, there is Stitch from Lilo & Stitch, who is quite the same monster as Frankenstein's. Stitch wants to be part of a family, try to be good to them, and defend them from aliens, but he always ruins everything. Is it possible for one aspect of ourselves to be wicked and another good? Can anyone ultimately be evil, but want to be good (like Alex from Clockwork Orange... or was he ever really good or wanted to be good?), or vice versa?
Perhaps an even more perplexing example is 3:10 to Yuma (2007). Ben Wade is an evil man: he steals, murders, robs, and is completely unjust. Escorting Wade to prison is Dan Evans, who is a good man and is doing this deed to make money for his family. There are a number of moments concerning aspects of what makes a man wicked in this film. For instance, Dan's son tries to tell Ben Wade that he's not wholly evil and that there's a person in him somewhere. Or another moment when Ben Wade says, "Even bad boys love their mothers." But the scene that best demonstrates the divide of good and evil in this film is the ending scene: Wade, who is conscious of his own wicked nature, agrees to go to Yuma Prison so Dan can get the money for his family. He does it because he knows Dan is a good and just man and deserves it. How?! How can an evil someone know what good is? So he murders his own men because they killed a good man.
This is, more or less, my point: how? I suppose it's something undefinable or misunderstood by us. While I recognize that that is a bit of a cop-out, the answer concerning the divided nature of the self between good and evil is beyond me; much like the problem of evil concerning God has long eluded philosophers. I can't imagine this problem of evil is any different. Perhaps it's biological: the animal instinct in us battles with the human side of us. Perhaps it is a gift and curse from God. Maybe it's just who we are and what we do; it's neither good nor wicked, but just the manner of being human. Maybe it's the body that's corrupt and the soul that fights for virtue. Maybe the soul is helpless to the body and can only observe the drama of justice and wickedness exhibited by the whims of the body. Who knows. All I know is that it has been on my mind, and I can only seem to understand it through a few films I am fond of.
"There are two of you: one that kills and one the loves."
