Am I Friendly ?

The above question can be asked by everyone from oneself and there will be no difficulty in getting the true answer if one is truthful to him / her self. In case your answer is “yes” but you are unable to have friends then main reason is that you are not Hypocrite. This outcome is obvious. Straight-forward people make good friends among themselves but such people are few. Further, due to prevailing Hypocrisy, they hesitate to come forward. The result: Non-Hypocrites have very few or no friends. Similarly, Hypocrites make friends among themselves (though, apparently, they are friendly to everybody). They are more social because they lose nothing as they do help a person when it suits them and ditch him / her when it so suits them. This sort of behaviour is disliked by a non-Hypocrite, the result: he / she does not have friends or have very few only.

Hypocrisy and the Holy Book

Sorry to have been absent for over two weeks. I had been out of my town and away from any computer.

It is commonly known that the generations that lived before us had a much stronger moral foundation than the one we find today. The Holy Book was used as a guide for all sorts of matters that would be unheard of today. The Holy Book was used as reference in such common fields as business, education, and politics. Oddly enough, I have noticed the cry over Hypocrisy then was much louder then than it is today.

The decline in moral standards is the most obvious reason we see a shift in human behaviour. To we think that Holy Book has nothing to do with our life, it is meant for the Church / Mosque only while the Holy Book shows us the right path..

If people don’t live by a moral code, they really can’t be considered in violation of something they never vowed to uphold in the first place. Thus they can not be called Hypocrite. Generally people fall victim to this analogy and assume that the followers of the Holy Book are Hypocrite, but these so-called followers of the Book only pretend that they follow the Book.

Hypocrisy at high Echelons

At the level of leaders (including governments) of nearly all the countries of the world, Hypocrisy is very common; most of them having it as a haul mark. Here are a few websites that complain about Hypocrisy at high echelons:

http://home.no.net/kkahrs/vietnam.htm

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hayden.htm

http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=2798

http://www.africana.com/columns/alexander/bw20040908RNC.asp

Only some websites have been referred to above. It at least reveal one thing that public / media in these areas are vocal. Media / people in other countries are either careless or coward or suppressed.

NOTE : I shall be away for a fortnight. Post during this period is a rare chance.

Self Assessment

Because the main task of a moral commentator is to convince people to do things that contradict their material desires, any indication of a double standard completely destroys the message.

Most folks spend far too much time assessing wrongs of other people. Instead of measuring our lives by what Hypocrites do, we need to model our lives after the one who sets the perfect example.

Renowned philosopher poet Dr Iqbal said:

Mita day apni husti ko agur koochh martaba chahay
Keh dana khak main mil ker gool-o-goolzar hota hey

Means something like:

Finish your arrogance if you want to rise
That a grain, after mixing with earth, flourishes in to flowers and fruits.

Here is what some anonymous wise person said:

He, who knows not and knows not he knows not, is FOOL. Shun him.

He, who knows not and knows he knows not, is SIMPLE. Teach him.

He, who knows and knows not he knows, is ASLEEP. Awake him.

He, who knows and knows he knows, is WISE. Follow him.

Loose Sand Covered with Flowery Meadow

Studying cases of Hypocrisy, one may not find a single person who liked Hypocrisy or intended to become a Hypocrite. Most people start off with good intentions and along the way their moral values somehow get off track. Once they are in it, in stead of coming back, they keep sinking in it. Hypocrisy is a sea of loose sand covered with a beautiful flowery meadow.

Temptations are instilled in our body by Satin (Iblees). Thus, our body likes the things of this world and we become materialistic little realising that it happens at the cost of moral. We forget the aim of creation as human beings. Compromise is inevitable for those people who play with temptation. If one keeps dancing on the edge of the abyss, he / she will eventually fall in. It takes people who are honest and humble to know their limits.

Hard Disk, RAM, Firewall, Way out

Twenty year years back when I started working on computer, there were very few people in my country who had even seen computer. Now computer is known to everybody. Basic components in a computer are: Central Processing Unit (CPU), Random Access Memory (RAM) and main storage (Hard Disk). Initially, there was no problem of virus and spam mails. Later, it became a real threat. Now, we use defender software like Firewall, Norton / McAfee and Mail Washers.

Dear friends ! I am not about to deliver a lecture on computers. I only want to use it as a simulator for my problem solving regarding “Hypocrisy”.

The Creator has placed in His creation, human beings, a Hard disk and a RAM. The Hard Disk (brain) is protected by a Firewall which protects the Hard Disk from spam and virus. This Firewall is designated as “Conscience”.

Human Hard Disk can be accessed through RAM. This RAM has been given in to individual control of every human being. Human beings use this RAM to seek advice (information / data / programme) from the Hard Disk for any action. It is here that judgment is personal affair of the individual.

The RAM due to contact with the environment prone to receive spam and virus (sometimes deadly virus). Satin (Iblees) works to store the wrong in this RAM. Human being, contrary to his / her exhibited behaviour, due to attraction of brightness / lust for momentary pleasure, falls prey to the wrong and, misjudging, disables the firewall (conscience), perhaps thinking one time no harm, thereby letting the spam and / or virus to enter the Hard Disk. This is how spam and virus pollute / infect the Hard Disk. Once gone for lust, fear of wrong reduces and human being repeats “disabling of Firewall”. Repetition of such carelessness weakens the Firewall to such an extent that it becomes nearly ineffective. In the long run, Hard Disk is largely infected and the individual is unable to perceive the difference in what is good and what bad for him / her. For such a person it is said that his / her conscience is gone asleep.

Many believers who decided that no harm would result from going out to smoke a cigarette or to have a few drinks (alcoholic) with friends or co-workers have later wondered how smoking / alcohol was able to destroy their lives.

To avoid becoming a Hypocrite, one has not only to abstain from whatever is wrong, but also to abstain from whatever appears to be wrong. What makes this advice to follow is our inability, at times, to use proper judgment in avoiding wrong action. By the time we realize that we have gone too far, turning around becomes difficult.

Ref: Comment on Post of Sept 29, 2004 at 11:39 PM

Anonymous :
You have nicely and comprehensively described the present-day behaviour of human beings. Yeah, situational Ethics has become rule of the day while moral ethics is the requirement.

It has been my habit (since childhood) to do things in a planned manner. Before starting my blog, I spent many days in planning the methodology and broad outline. I try to keep my plan but, the blog being open-ended, I feel it my duty to take up earlier the chapter planned for later date if friends, who spend their precious time to guide me, take up that point.

Further, if an answer to / clarification / comment on a comment of a friend appears to be useful for friends at large, I record it in the main post in stead of the comments section.

I want to stay unbiased but the comments I have so far received indicate that Hypocrisy is more in the West than the East. (border line between East and West ?) I am living in the East. I have been to Middle Eastern countries, Africa, Turkey, Europe, UK and USA but have not been to Far East. Still I like to put it as: Hypocrisy is being felt more by the friends in the West than in the East because of two possible reasons:

(1) When things go too bad, due to human instinct, persons start searching the good.
(2) People of the West are more educated than people in the East.

You have, also, correctly pointed out the role in which God and national interest is being used (in fact misused). In my country, the phrase “In the best interest of the country” has been so frequently used that we may require to change all the dictionaries. Some rulers / leaders of my country (especially the present one) have even dared to mistranslate the Holy Book to justify their unjustified actions.

So far as emotional response from the masses is concerned, it is result of their blind faith in the ruler / leader due to lack of knowledge of moral ethics. Masses are, also, lead astray when several consecutive rulers consistently maintain Hypocrisy.

I have not mentioned religion because, in our struggle for material gains, we have placed religion in a safe locker and forgotten about it.

Again you are right that nations eat themselves up when they go too far. It was not only Rome and Greece, there were many others; Pharaoh of North Africa, Fire worshippers of Faris (now Iran), the most developed rulers of (the lost) Atlantis, etc.

Misuse of Moral Compass

Perhaps, due to the built-in moral compass kept in human beings by The Creator, we feel the need to justify our actions, but we use it the wrong way to suit our materialistic wishes. It gives us comfort to point to the deeds of someone else and say that I am not as bad as he / she is. A person who is 30 kilogram overweight can locate someone who is 50 kilogram overweight and marvel at the other's obesity, though he can not make himself thinner by finding people who are fatter than he / is, the fatter person may have a lower percentage of body fat than other people. This way Hypocrisy grows and spreads.